Watch List: Library Party

Among the many privileges that Duke offers its students, one is the opportunity to dance openly, drink and party in the middle of the library during the annual Library Party.

Since 2007, Perkins Library has been one of the only university libraries in the country to host an annual grand-scale party, said Aaron Welborn, director of communications of Duke University Libraries.

Some decorations from past library parties still adorn Perkins. The "Duke is for Lovers" and "Duke Arts" posters that hang behind the research desk in first floor Perkins were decorations for the first library party, Welborn said.

“The theme has always had some relation to library collections,” Welborn said. “The first one I worked on was Mad Men and Mad Women in 2011. That was a lot of fun, partly because I was really into the TV show. We happened to have one of the best collections on the history of advertising in the world, here at Duke. So we had a lot of really cool material to draw on for decorations and inspiration.”

The Rubenstein Library’s extensive comic book collection inspired the Heroes and Villains theme in 2012. This year's theme was Life is a Cabaret, which featured an exhibit on 19th- and early-20th-century Parisian cabarets.

“It is a high-dollar event, but it’s one of the only events at Duke that is free and open to anyone,” Welborn said. “Just like the library is open to everyone, that is kind of the spirit of the thing.”

For past three years, the average budget has fallen between $50,000 and $60,000, Welborn said.

Six students from the Duke Marketing Club as well as representatives from Duke University Libraries plan the majority of the party.

Pulling off the party itself, however, requires more than just a few people. Decorators, caterers, lighting personnel, multiple bands, library staff and Duke police also partake in bringing the party to life.

“You spend months and months planning this event, and thinking about all of the details, and then its only a three-hour event,” Welborn said. “For those of us who are involved in it, it goes by so fast, and then once its over there's all the clean up that has to happen.”

Having the process down to a science, Welborn said his team can have the library back to normal by 8 a.m. the following morning.

Welborn noted that no other institutions have anything close to Perkins’ library party.

“We’ve been contacted by our peers at other institutions to ask, ‘how do you do this, how do you pull it off?’” Welborn said. “We like the fact that its something unique to Duke, and for the students who come, it’ll be a fun memory that they have of being at Duke…. It’s just something that’s part of the experience of being here.”