Editor’s note: The Fondren Library celebration mentioned below will be Wednesday, Nov. 4. The date was incorrect in the Rice News blurb.

Fondren’s diamond days
Library celebrates 60 years

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Fondren Library is no diamond in the rough on Rice’s beautiful campus, but it certainly is shining like the stone as it celebrates its diamond anniversary. The university community will gather in Fondren’s Kyle Morrow Room to honor the 60th birthday of the campus institution from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 4. The celebration will kick off with a panel of speakers who will talk about what Fondren has meant to their education, research, career or social life at Rice.

	The 60th birthday of Fondren Library will be celebrated from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov.  4 in the Kyle Morrow Room.

“The panelists will offer a wide range of perspectives and represent a long period of time at Rice,” said David Bynog, assistant head of acquisitions for Fondren. “Everyone who comes out to celebrate will probably hear a voice that they connect with — whether a student, alumni or community member — and will learn more about the broad scope of the library’s importance to the university.”

Speakers include Peggy Barnett ’55, the immediate past president of Friends of Fondren Library; Cindy Dinh, a Baker College junior; Ira Gruber, the Harris Masterson Jr. Professor Emeritus of History; Melissa Kean, centennial historian for Rice; and Dean James, associate director of collections management for the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library and author, whose book “Death by Dissertation” is set in Fondren.

Fondren Library
Discover what Fondren Library has been providing Rice University for the past 60 years
“To me, a library is the heart and soul of a university community,” Bynog said. “It’s amazing to think about the range of resources that a library offers, from its collection of books and other materials essential for learning, to its physical space for quiet study or social interaction, to the service-oriented staff who work diligently with students and faculty to meet their needs.”