History

Circulation Desk: 740-245-7005 | Reference Desk: 740-245-7344 or 740-245-7382 | refdesk@rio.edu

The Library's namesake, Jeanette Albiez Davis, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, received her Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Denison University and attended the Chautauqua New York Institute Library School. Before her marriage to Samuel S. Davis in 1927, she worked in the Cincinnati Public Library and taught in the Newport Kentucky school system. Her husband Samuel, served on the University's Board of Trustees for ten years. As former secretary of the Jasam Foundation, she was consistent in her annual support to the University, especially that which made the University's privately-funded and first dedicated library facility a reality in 1965. The Davis family's continued generous support through the Jasam Foundation helps to maintain and to upgrade this first-rate facility. Mrs. Davis died September 29, 1997. She is missed by the Rio Grande family that she supported with dedication for over 30 years.

Since 1965, the Library has grown in nearly every sense. In 1990, a major addition and renovation of Davis Library took place, financed by State funding through Rio Grande Community College, the project doubled the Library's size and provided additional capacity for growth in terms of books, services, and information technology.