The above quote is from Felipe Valencia. Read the full memory below:

“I spent the six years of my time at Brown, while completing a Ph.D., going to the Rock almost daily. For the first four years I worked on a carrel on the second floor, facing University Hall. For the last two I worked at the graduate student cluster, on the second floor. I would arrive at 8:30 or so and leave at 5 or so. I had many interactions with staff, particularly Sue, Peggy, Andy and Millie. They were always helpful and cheerful. Two or three times a week I would go hunting for books, most often to level B, where the literature books are kept. At lunchtime, I would go down and heat my tupperware in the microwave oven, or walk over to Thayer or a food truck. Yet despite all this time, I have to admit, I hated the building and don’t miss it in the least. It’s a horrible building. Outside it is passable brutalism, but inside it is ugly, poorly lit and sometimes labyrinthine. It’s a really unfortunate building.”

The above quote is from an anonymous graduate of the Class of 2010. Read the full memory below:

“Napping on the A/C covers against the windows in the stacks in between cramming sessions at a carrell”

The above quote is from Lisa Fagin Davis (Class of 1988). Read the full memory below:

“Singing Christmas carols with the Chorus in the stairwell”

The above quote is from Ryan Barton (Class of 1999). Read the full memory below:

“I
oh! you rock. are you library or prison?
by your architecture we cannot know.
I found myself inside you, at the lowest possible
level, where silence reigned thick as a monk`s
cubicle, a post-platonic cave, a bachelor king
in guarded concrete buried with all the mortal
treasures of the semiotic universe. you were
no alexandria, rock. but you were my only home.

II
oh you humble rock.
you rockefeller.
next to the stately john carter brown,
you are junior`s homely thing
and wholly without science.

yet this is why we remember
you. you, refuge of humanity.
the ratty of libraries. after
you enter you can only go down.

here anything was possible.
and like many, i too got lost
in lust inside. sometimes cramming.
always wandering without a concentration.

down, down, down….
into the basement`s basement`s basement,
i have known myself to fantasize.
and never write things down.

III
There were rumors of being locked in you.
I was lost in your hollowed walls
for ten long years myself.
A life sentence, it seemed,
would I ever leave matriculated?
With Josiah as my witness,
you are MY Rock
and I am Always Yours.

IV
Rock. Philosopher`s Stone.
My Post-Structural Mecca.
I met you in the days of floppy
disks and microfiche.
Your stacks, your reserves.
You gave me my references.
Not even Orwig entertained
me as much as you.
Even when I could not meet
my fines, I found a deeper
circulation. If I could write
in blood, I would:
My thanks are long past overdue. “

The above quote is from David Menino (Class of 2012). Read the full memory below:

One time I was studying on the fourth floor—in one of those secluded, gloomy corner cubbies. My headphones were on so loud, I didn’t even hear the closing sirens that practically scare everyone out of the library by 2am. I was also so focused (I was probably procrastinating on a 12 page essay due the next day, hah) on my work that I didn’t even notice the clock had gone past 2am.

Eventually all the lights went out, and I was absolutely shocked. I couldn’t see anything. I frantically packed my things in my bag, and felt my way through the rows of books. My only guiding light was the evil crimson red coming from an EXIT sign leading to a stairwell that took me to down to the first floor. It was only until I reached the lobby (which was still dark, by the way), that my heart slowly began to calm down. I made my way to the SciLi to finish up my work for the night.

The above quote is from Sarah Woods Klingelheber (Class of 2002). Read the full memory below:

Oh, yes, who can forget your cubicles with your window view out into the Rhode Island greenery. I sat there reading and writing, hunting for books, watching the outside light fade to gold and then to black among the leaves. I have a distinct memory during finals my sophomore year. I was working on yet another twenty-page paper and I got up to stretch my legs. Near the elevator I ran into my old RC and we were wiping the sweat off our brows sharing our finals woes when she said to me, “All it is, is a test of endurance.” It gave me a much needed new perspective on my paper—it didn’t matter what I knew, what mattered was the amount I was willing to endure and how long I would make it last. And that truly was the essence of the Rock for me, getting lost among its troves of knowledge and challenging, finding, and regaining my stamina and endurance.

The above quote is from William A. Levine (Class of 1964). Read the full memory below:

I enjoyed watching the Library being built from the vantage point of a class I had on the second floor of a building across College Hill—it distracted me when the class was not holding my attention.

The above quote is from Jim Phillips (Class of 1974). Read the full memory below:

I worked for three years at the Rock, first behind the main checkout counter and then as a night staffer at the Social Sciences reading room. Felt like a happy worker bee in a busy research hive. But my favorite memories were pouring over newly arrived editions of the New Republic, National Review, Washington Post and N.Y. Times in the periodicals reading room. People today have the internet, but back then the Rock was my window on the world for learning about Vietnam, Watergate, the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the oil embargo. Also have great memories of nighttime pilgrimages to the roof of the Physical Sciences Library while it was under construction. There was a great view of Providence (always prettier at night) and you could hear yourself think.

The above quote is from Bruce McIntosh (Class of 1967). Read the full memory below:

A place of infinite discovery and richness on many levels: intellectual, social, emotional,
gastronomical, nocturnal, olfactory . . .

The above quote is from Sidney E Okashige (Class of 1967). Read the full memory below:

 I remember attending the dedication and the outfit I wore (perhaps because I have a photo of myself with one of the Rockefellers).