In 2013, the Nora Roberts Foundation made possible the acquisition of the Gothic Romance Lending Library for McDaniel College. The romance novels in the collection complement the existing Nora Roberts American Romance Collection already available through Hoover Library.
Originally begun in 1996 by Gothic Journal, the non-profit Gothic Romance Lending Library (GRLL) was a collection of over 3,400 donated volumes. The GRLL's definition of a gothic romance is "a novel that contains romance, life-threatening suspense, and a puzzle or mystery."
The GRLL was intended to preserve gothic romance novels for future generations to read, as books frequently went out of print or found their way off shelves. Library users were able to order up to eight books at once to be delivered by US Mail, and were permitted to keep the books for approximately three months. The library has twice previously changed residences before being donated to McDaniel College, housed by volunteer librarians Rod and Pat Christian from 1996-2012, and Lila Ekstrom from 2012-2013. Books were donated to the GRLL on the condition that they would never be resold and that they were to be made available in perpetuity so they could be read by future lovers of the gothic romance genre.
Books in the GRLL are added to the Hoover Library catalog as they are processed into the circulating collection. Currently, over 700 titles are available to readers and researchers for checkout or through interlibrary loan.
For more information about the GRLL and its move to Hoover Library, check out this press release by Gothic Journal.
The Archives, located on the second floor of Hoover Library at McDaniel College, is available by appointment only.
