Times Dispatch.com September 27, 2013 Mount Vernon opens library dedicated to George Washington After years of planning and a $100 million fundraising campaign, George Washington's Mount Vernon estate is formally opening a new library dedicated to the study of America's first president and the Founding Fathers. A dedication ceremony is scheduled today at the 45,000-square-foot library. It will be home to visiting scholars who will live at Mount Vernon and research specific aspects of the Founding era. A rare-book vault houses dozens of books that Washington personally owned. The library will function in some ways like a modern presidential library. But the Mount Vernon library receives no government funding and is intended primarily to foster formal scholarship; it is not designed to accommodate casual tourists. The estate in 2006 opened new education and orientation centers to serve the public. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.