Vol. 17, No. 25	March 26, 1998

Librarian of Congress to address UD library group

The event, which begins at 6 p.m., will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the University of Delaware Library Associates. Billington, will speak on "The Historic Library and the Electronic Library."

The annual dinner is open to the public with advance reservations. Ticket prices are $55 per person for UDLA members and $70 per person for non-members. For a printed invitation, e-mail a request to UDLA@mvs.udel.edu or call the Office of the Director of Libraries at 831-2231. Reservations are encouraged by April 18.

A native of Pennsylvania, Billington came to the Library of Congress in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., where he had served as director since 1973.

He is the author of The Icon and the Axe, Fire in the Minds of Men and Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope. In June 1988, he accompanied President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan to the Soviet Summit in Moscow.

Billington received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1950. He earned his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College.

Following service with the U.S. Army, Billington became a history instructor at Harvard University and an assistant professor of history and research fellow at the Russian Research Center the next year. He moved to the faculty of Princeton University in 1962, where he was a professor of history from 1964 to 1974.

Also during the program, John B. Tepe Jr., president of the Library Associates, will pay tribute to the organization's founding charter members and/or their descendants or relations present at the dinner. Each founding member and/or their descendants will be identified by a flower.

Additionally, the Library Associates plan to present a special contribution of $10,000 to the University of Delaware for the library in honor of its 40th anniversary.

-Edward Okonowicz