Canadian Elizabeth Klaiber was assistant librarian while studying a Master's degree at the University of London, but on her departure from her post to begin her Phd studies the Klaiber family made a series of donations totalling £42,300.

The funds will allow the library to house its 50,000 books, 3,500 perdiodicals, catalogues, directories and artefacts, along with 1.5m pieces of historic type, within 238 mobile bays, greatly improving access.

Glyn Farrow, clerk to the governors and director of St Bride Foundation said: "These plans for the library are part of the foundation's ongoing redevelopment project, which aims to create a modern learning resource where people can retrieve historic archived material more easily and make a greater volume of the library's collection more accessible."

Klaiber, whose work at the library included archiving the 1.5m historic type dating back to 1680, said: "This second donation to St Bride Library gives me and my family great pleasure in knowing that, while the first donation paid for shelving to house nearly all the existing books and journals in the library's back-up collection, the second donation will provide the shelving capable of handling the library's growth well into the future. This will greatly assist in its long-term mission of creating a world-renowned collection of books and artefacts on the history of printing and the allied trades."