This job wasn't just the Dickens,
but the Chaucer and the Churchill, too! But the dedicated
volunteers of Goldman Sachs left no dust jacket undusted
as they brought the library of The English Speaking
Union of the United States back to life.
After two years of construction - much of it done
while the staff occupied the building - the ESU has
nearly finished restoring the brick and brownstone carriagehouse at 144 East 39th Street. It's
easy to find - just look for the building
with the US and British flags flying from
the second story. While the two upper stories
function as office space for the ESU National
Headquarters staff, the high-ceilinged first
floor features the Ruth M. Shellens Library
and an attractive meeting space, punctuated
by a small outdoor garden gracing the rear
of the property.
Early in the morning of Wednesday, May 21,
2003, nine employees of Goldman Sachs forsook
their computer terminals and arrived in Murray Hill expressly to
liberate the ESU's library from two years
in storage boxes, clean each book, and place
each in its proper place in the floor-to-ceiling
rows of built-in shelving. "They knew what
they were getting into before they arrived," said
Alice Boyne, the ESU Executive Director, "And
they still showed up! They performed marvelously,
and we are most grateful to each volunteer
and to Goldman Sachs for doing this very
difficult job with such enthusiasm."
The volunteer librarians were participants
in Goldman Sachs' Community TeamWorks 2003
program. Under the program, thousands of
Goldman Sachs employees participate globally, volunteering
to help with thousands of projects in public
and non-profit institutions. The ESU's TeamWorks
leaders were Leon Chervinsky and Robert Knapp
of the Goldman Sachs Technology department,
who were joined by Technology colleagues
Jeffrey Brown, Cynthia Chan, and Anthony
Hui. Marie Gentile and Natalya Pikus from
Operations and Administrations joined them,
along with Yelena Liberman from the Finance
department and Bruce Mishkin from the Legal
and Compliance department.
The Ruth M. Shellens Library is comprised
of books that have won ESU book awards in
England for their power in illuminating British
life and culture, along with volumes of British
literature, mysteries, and English language
books. More than just an Anglophile's paradise,
the ESU's library is a lending library that
is now open to ESU members and to volunteers
for ESU programs such as English in Action.
"We are very happy to be in our new home
in the Murray Hill neighborhood," said Ms.
Boyne, "And we are thrilled to have our library
out of boxes and accessible once again." For
more information about the library you are
invited to drop by, call 212-818-1200, or
e-mail the ESU at info@esuus.org.
