About Gretchen

Gretchen serves as an archive for New York University School of Law’s scholarship. This repository is run and maintained by the NYU School of Law Library. The full-text items contained within the repository are the version of record. When full-text items are not available, a link will be provided to help the researcher locate the item. Any questions or concerns about the repository should be sent to lawrepos@mercury.law.nyu.edu.

Gretchen is named for Gretchen Feltes, a pillar in the history of the Law Library. Gretchen joined the Law Library as a preservation specialist in 1984 before pivoting to Reference work. During her time working in Reference, Gretchen was instrumental in expanding the Faculty Services and Liaison program within the Law Library. Story after story from her faculty and librarian colleagues remember Gretchen as nothing short of a force of nature. She knew what the faculty were writing on, recommended the latest materials in their subject area, and provided unwavering support as a librarian extraordinaire. Gretchen’s work set the gold standard for future law librarians to follow in their liaison work. By the time of her retirement in 2021, Gretchen was known as “Queen of the Footnotes” for the many times scholars thanked her for assistance with their research. Though Gretchen passed away in 2022, her influence is still felt in the Law Library where she is remembered with great affection, as both a colleague and a friend.

Gretchen joins a tradition in the Law Library of honoring the librarians whose work has been foundational to the Law Library’s mission. The online catalog, for instance, is named for Julius Marke, venerated law librarian, whose accomplishments over his decades of service include devising a local cataloging system that was implemented in 1950 because the Library of Congress’ cataloging system did not adequately cover law. Today Law Library patrons rely on the online catalog Julius (dedicated to Julius Marke in 1989) to help them find the resources they need for their research. It seems only fitting to name this institutional repository for Gretchen. Just as Julius’ organizational schema guided patrons to the Law Library’s holdings, this repository acts as a public archive, providing access to and preservation of NYU Law’s scholarship. As the Law Library moves forward, we want to honor our past. With the launch of Gretchen in 2025, the “Queen of Footnotes” is still with us, supporting researchers and scholarship.