A Change and a Parting

Since November of 1964, Books at Iowa has been published twice a year by the Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries. This issue, Number 65, November 1996, will be the last. The staff of the University Libraries, along with members of the Advisory Board of the Friends of the Libraries, will be reviewing all library publications. The desire is to create publications that provide interesting, informative, and timely communications with the Friends about collections and services with special features on how Friends' support is making a difference in the quality of the University Libraries.

From 1964 up to the present, Books at Iowa has contained articles on many subjects including fine presses, Iowa authors, English and American literature, children's books, American history, European literature and thought, science and technology, and the history of the University of Iowa. Through its pages, many of the notable books and manuscripts on the shelves of the University Libraries have been described for readers. Much of the success of the magazine can be attributed to Frank Paluka, editor for twenty years, from 1966 to 1986. Special thanks are due to the University of Iowa faculty, Library staff, and graduate students who wrote articles over the years, and to writers from as far away as Australia who contributed essays.

Appropriately, in this year of the Sesquicentennial of Iowa, all of the articles in this farewell issue have the state of Iowa as their focus.