ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 6 0 2 / C&RL News G r a n ts and Acquisitions The Library of Michigan (LM) Foundation has received a $305,000 gift from Lansing’s Talbert an d Leota Abrams Foundation to fund acquisi­ tions that will increase the size and breadth of LM’s genea­ logical materials collection. The new grant brings total gifts by the Abrams Founda­ tion to LM since 1987 to more than $500,000. According to state librarian James Fry, the gift should move the national ranking o f LM’s collection from its present num ber 10 “to one of the top five of all American libraries.” The N e w York Public Library's Oriental Division received a gift of $1.3 million from Japa­ nese publisher Kodansha, Ltd. to expand and increase access to the collections. One of the foremost resources for Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern studies, the Oriental Division houses nearly 300,000 books, journals, and other ma­ terials. Kodansha’s gift will enable the division to continue collecting and preserving a broad spectrum of materials, and to improve public access to its resources by renovating its read­ ing room. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) received $37,500 from the James Smithson So­ ciety for a one-year pilot program to establish a post-graduate residency for minorities in li­ brary and information science. The residency will improve SIL's effectiveness in responding to culturally diverse programs, to increase the num ber of minorities on its staff, and to en­ hance the career potential of minority mem­ bers of the library profession. The School of Inform ation and Library Science at the U n iv ersity o f N o rth C arolin a at Chapel Hill has been awarded a total of $169,600 by the Department of Education under the Li­ brary Career Training Program (Title ITB). These funds will provide fellowships for two master’s degree students and ten doctoral students en­ tering the school in the fall of 1992. Y o rk University Libraries, O ntario, have received a grant of $22,235 from the Ontario Council of Archives for a Humidity Control Replace­ m ent Program. The grant w as aw a rd e d u n d e r the Conservation Plan for Ca­ nadian Archival Records- Cost Shared Cooperative As­ sistance Programme and will support acquisition and instal­ lation of new air supply units. The Libraries of the Uni­ versity of Washington (UW) and the U n iv e r sity o f Or­ e g o n (U O ) h a v e b e e n aw arded grants of $135,000 and $65,000 re­ spectively from the Henry Luce Foundation to support further library development in the field of Southeast Asian Studies. The Southeast Asian Studies Programs at the two universities, to­ gether with the program at the University of British Columbia, make up the Northwest Re­ gional Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies. At UO the funds will be used to support acqui­ sitions activities and to strengthen vernacular cataloging capabilities. The UW will use the money primarily for cataloging activities. In addition, the Foundation has made avail­ able another $80,000 to the tw o programs: $30,000 for each institution for research assis­ tantships, and $20,000 to be jointly allocated as small grants to support predissertation re­ search and travel. Acquisitions A gift of 2 5 6 early botanical works with an estimated value of over $1 million has been donated to the F o lg er S h a k esp ea re Library, Washington, D.C., by collector Mary P. Massey. Given during the Folger’s 60th anniversary dia­ mond jubilee year, the books make up the larg­ est and most valuable collection of rare books ever given to the library. The collection of early herbals dates from the 15th to the 19th centu­ ries and represents many European countries. It is particularly strong in the earliest printed botanical works, including a copy of the first printed herbal De virtutibus herbarum (Naples, 1477). Other gems include the Hortus sanitatis