Norah E. Jones graduated from UCLA with bachelor's and master's degrees in French before going to the University of California, Berkeley, to pursue a master's degree in library science. She began her distinguished career at UCLA as head of the Reserve Book Room from 1949 to 1958 and was subsequently appointed the first head of the College Library in 1958. She served in that position until becoming head of the Technical Services Department in 1970 in what was then known as the University Research Library. Ms. Jones decided to make a life-income gift to the UCLA Library in honor of her good friend and colleague James Davis, who retired in 1997 as the rare books librarian in the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections. While receiving an annuity during her lifetime, Ms. Jones had the satisfaction of knowing that her gift ultimately funded a collection endowment to support the acquisition and preservation of materials from fine presses, with preference given to books published by the Whittington Press. Founded in 1971, the Whittington Press is a premier letterpress publisher in England and one of the very few to cast its own type, continuing a five-hundred-year-old tradition of creating and producing books by hand. In the face of rapidly changing technology, Ms. Jones's thoughtful gift helped ensure that the library has the resources necessary to uphold its strong commitment that the publications of fine presses continue to be a valued element of its collections.
