Friends of Fondren Library at Rice University

03/04/2026

🎥 We’re on a roll with the Digital Media Commons camera project!

Today is Rice’s 24-Hour Challenge, and supporters of Fondren Library are already helping move this project forward.

We’re raising funds to standardize the camera fleet in the Digital Media Commons so students spend less time navigating different equipment and more time creating meaningful work.

📸 Eight cameras. Hundreds of students. Immediate impact.

The Friends of Fondren Library Board has pledged a $5,000 match once we reach $10,000 in gifts, so every contribution made today helps move us closer.

If you’ve already given, thank you! And if you’re still considering where to participate in today’s challenge, we’d love to have you join us.

🔗 https://www.givecampus.com/s/fgczww

03/02/2026

Please join us in supporting Fondren Library during Rice University's 24-Hour Challenge.

We’re raising $16,000 to standardize the camera fleet in the Digital Media Commons with new professional-grade cameras for students and faculty. A unified set of equipment means fewer learning curves, stronger technical support, and more equitable access.

When we reach $10,000 in donations, the Friends of Fondren Library Board will donate an additional $5,000 for the project.

Help us give students consistent tools so they can focus on their ideas.

Give today and help us unlock the match. https://www.givecampus.com/s/fgczww

01/02/2026

Go Owls!

Everything’s better in blue when it’s Gameday. 💙

Rice vs. Texas State. Armed Forces Bowl.
Noon on ESPN 🦉🏈

👐

10/31/2025

Rice students, remember to stop by the FoFL office to have your bingo card stamped and pick up a Halloween prize. https://library.rice.edu/events/halloween-fondren-1

10/08/2025

It is so nice to see the Rice Thresher highlight the beautiful renovations at Fondren Library, including the refreshed Sixth Floor Reading Room and the revitalized Brown Fine Arts Library.

These projects reflect Rice’s ongoing investment in student learning and research, and I’m deeply grateful to the members and donors of the Friends of Fondren Library, whose generosity helped make these improvements possible.

It’s a joy to see these welcoming, flexible spaces already filled with hard-working Owls.

Fondren Library recently renovated the Brown Fine Arts Library on the third floor and the Rice-only reading room on the sixth floor.

08/25/2025

Welcome back to Fondren Library! We look forward to supporting your research.
https://library.rice.edu/features/fondren-101-library-orientation

07/21/2025

Summer reading? YES! Come visit Fondren Library for plenty of options!

📚 One of my favorite ways to recharge over the summer is by diving into a good stack of books. My current reading list covers a range of timely and thought-provoking topics from innovation and entrepreneurship to artificial intelligence, institutional transformation and reflections on history and identity:

➡️ “The Venture Mindset” by Llya Strebulaev and Alex Dang
➡️ “Superagency” by Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato
➡️ “Secondhand Time” by Svetlana Alexievich
➡️ “The Uses of the University” by Clark Kerr
➡️ “South to America” by Imani Perry

Whether you’re on a beach, plane or just taking a quiet moment at home, make time to read something that stretches your thinking. It’s always worth it.

07/15/2025

The Library Service Center is one of my favorite Fondren Library spaces. The excellent team that manages this off-campus facility, led by James Springer, provides same-day access to our vast collection for our students and faculty researchers. It's just one way Fondren Library uses technology to preserve and protect the rare materials in our collection.

06/24/2025

06/24/2025

Happy 4th of July! We'll close Friday, July 4 and re-open on Monday, July 7.

06/18/2025

Celebrate Juneteenth with the Friends of Fondren Library and the Association of Rice Alumni by attending our virtual Meet the Author event with Kiese Laymon and Laura Beth Vietor.
Thursday, June 19, 7 p.m.
Sign up today!
http://bit.ly/4001RKf