In 2021 Beinecke Library and Yale Library Special Collections began a reorganization, guided by a four-year strategic plan. The plan charted the merger of Beinecke Library with Manuscripts and Archives and positioned Beinecke to lead the harmonization of practices across Yale Library to improve access to special collections. By the end of fscal year 2025, we realized several goals.

 

We deepened engagement with students, faculty, researchers, and community members. Visitor attendance reached record levels, inspired by two landmark exhibitions and robust outreach programs. Demand for access in classrooms and the reading room remained steady, and online use of digital collections surged—growing more than 51 percent in just three years.

 

We built more sustainable systems and practices for stewarding collections, and we continued to invest in stafng, workfows, and training to ensure the highest standards of care. The organizational improvements described in this report underscore our commitment to preserving and sharing these collections for the beneft of all—today and for generations to come.

 

Each day at Beinecke, the transformative power of collections is vividly clear: a class animatedly poring over an Audubon folio, a family pausing in awe beneath the book tower, or researchers whispering with excitement as a new archival discovery reframes their work. Such moments are difcult to capture in numbers, but behind every visitor count or access statistic lies an individual story of insight, wonder, and new knowledge. We remain a vital part of Yale’s mission to improve “the world today and for future generations through outstanding research and scholarship, education, preservation, and practice.”