University dedicates the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library

Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University, AB’71, AM’72, PhD’75, gave the keynote address at the Mansueto Library dedication Tuesday, Oct. 11. 

Joe Mansueto talks about the library that bears his and his wife Rika's names, a building that enhances study and scholarship at the University of Chicago. Mansueto notes his own love of libraries and his pride in being associated with the new Mansueto library designed by Helmut Jahn. 

Musicians Janet Sung and Yuan-Qing Yu perform "double helix" for two violins at the Mansueto Library dedication in Harper Memorial Commons. It was the world premiere of the piece, written by Augusta Read Thomas and commissioned in honor of the library opening. 

Prof. Andrew Abbott (center) chaired a faculty committee that investigated the future of the Library. Abbott, the Gustavus F. & Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology and the College and chair of the Board of the Library, said the group concluded that cutting-edge research depends heavily on having immediate access to the widest variety of materials. The Joseph Regenstein Library had met its capacity in 2007. In its report, the committee suggested that the ultimate solution would be to construct a facility on campus to house valuable print materials and not move anything off-site. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library now serves those research needs.