The above quote is from John Leistritz (Class of 1965). Read the full memory below:

I worked in the bindery at the John Hay Library, summers as well as during the school year, while I attended Brown. I watched as the wood frame building that housed the English department was razed and a huge hole was dug in its place. While I departed from Brown before the Rock was finished, I remember realizing what stupendous undertaking it was, dwarfing the John Hay, the only Brown library I had known.

The above quote is from George Hutchinson (Class of 1975). Read the full memory below:

My sharpest memory of the Rock is from my Freshman year. I was stroke of the men’s freshman crew in the spring of ’72. It was a Saturday morning, and we were to race Harvard, then the most fearsome power in collegiate rowing, in the second crew race of my life. I was trying to take my mind off anxieties about the race and get some homework done, so I went to the Rock to read. I slumped into a comfortable chair in one of public areas, got lost in a book, and got confused about when I was supposed to be at the boathouse, as opposed to when the race was scheduled to start. I had finally gotten my mind off anxieties about the race when, looking at my watch, I realized we were supposed to be launching our shell at that moment. I sprinted back to my dorm room, changed into my rowing clothes, and started running to the boathouse a mile away. The freshman coach, Albin Moser (Brown ’67) intercepted me close to my dorm in his VW Beetle and sped to Fox Point, where I was greeted by a bunch of extremely upset team-mates. We did make it to the starting line in time. And then we lost to Harvard by five lengths. Blame it on the Rock.

The above quote is from Dellann Gellis Boland (Master of Arts in Teaching Class of 1965). Read the full memory below:

I spent most of late June, 1964 through June, 1965 in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program. I remember when the Rock opened in the Fall of 1964. I had a carrel on the top floor where I was working on my thesis about poverty in Providence, RI in the 1890s. During the Fall term, I was also in three other graduate history courses, and it was great to have a place where I could concentrate and look down at the city. Beginning in February, 1965, I spent much less time in the library when I began student teaching at Pilgrim High School in Warwick. I was continuing to work on my thesis, and on Saturday mornings I was meeting with a professor to do independent reading about British history.

The above quote is from Jay Z. James (Class of 1969). Read the full memory below:

From Spring Semester 1966 until graduation I worked at the Rock. I started in the sweat shop behind the circulation desk, but I gradually moved to the cushier jobs at the Humanities and Social Studies reading rooms. My senior year, 1968-69, I had the amazing luck to run the record library down in the stacks. I got to check out and restack the library’s classical-music record collection. I would have hung out there even if they hadn’t been paying me $1.25 an hour!

The above quote is from Samantha Olds (Class of 1994). Read the full memory below:

I worked as a shelver my sophomore and junior years. I used to rush over there as soon as my classes ended to beat the other shelvers. The best books to shelve were the art books. They were big, fat volumes that made the carts heavy and unwieldy, but they were the easiest books to shelve because less of them would fit on a cart. If we finished shelving before the three-hour shift was up, our supervisor didn’t mind if we squeezed in 30 minutes of reading. It would have made sense to use the time for assigned history reading, but I usually spent my time looking through pages of art that other students had selected.

The above quote is from Naomi (Class of 2011). Read the full memory below:

I completed my thesis abroad on an under researched topic. Library staff kindly sent me all of the many references I asked for electronically thereby helping me to finish and graduate. They are wonderful and I am deeply grateful to them!

The above quote is from Kate Munroe Daly (Class of 1978). Read the full memory below:

Aside from going there to enjoy the rooftop view, the best reason to study in the Rock in the late ’70s was taking a break at 10pm to eat a giant chocolate chip cookie.

The above quote is from Michael Feld who received his Ph.D. in 1973. Read the full memory below:

I was doing PhD research at the Rock when the fire alarm went off. I, and all the other grad student researchers in nearby carrels, stood up. We all looked down at the masses of notes, texts and journals we’d accumulated. There was no way we could save both ourselves and our research tools. As if controlled by a single mind, each of us decided that it would be better to die surrounded by our materials than to abandon them. So we all sat down. False alarm.

The above quote is from Kristin Siegesmund—Class of 1977. Read the full memory below:

I loved the fact that The Rock closed at 10 pm on weekends so that all of us would give it a rest and go have a little fun. This is where I learned to drink coffee.

The above quote is from Marlena Schoenberg Fejzo—Class of 1985. Read the full memory below:

My favorite memory is of the little old man who worked at the entrance to the Rock and would shout “I.D.” at the top of his lungs. He really had passion for his job. I love that guy!