The Mary and John Gray Library is an eight-story

University Library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...

for

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...

and the

Lamar Institute of Technology Lamar Institute of Technology is a public technical school in Beaumont, Texas. It was formerly a part of Lamar University, but became a separate institution when the university joined the Texas State University System in 1995. History Lamar I ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

. The

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

is part of the

Federal Depository Library Program The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a government program created to make Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. there are 1,114 depository libraries in the U ...

that aims to provide government documents free to the public. The library serves as the university's primary research and study center. Construction began on September 17, 1973 at the ground breaking ceremony. Present at the Ceremony were current

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Governor

Dolph Briscoe Dolph Briscoe Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010) was an American rancher and businessman from Uvalde, Texas, who was the 41st governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Because of his re-election fo ...

and

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

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who was a Lamar Alumnus. The Ground Breaking took place on the same day as the 50th anniversary of the school. The building was named in honor of Mary and John Gray who served the university their entire lives. The library was officially opened on April 26, 1976. Four floors provide stacks for books and periodicals shelved in Library of Congress classification sequence.

Renovations

On November 22, 2021, the university announced Texas Legislature approval of $44.9 million in capital construction assistance toward expansion and improvements to the library. The planning phase for the three year project began in 2022.

Services

The 8th floor of the

can serve as a reception center for events. The 7th floor holds an open access computer lab hosting 120 computers and a few classrooms as well. The center has three rooms. The Lamar Room is named in honor of former Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar. The Spindletop Room is named in memory of the

Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindlet ...

oil discovery in Beaumont. The Plummer room is named for previous head librarian ''Miss Julia Plummer''. As the primary research reference for the university the library provides *Indexes and Databases *Interlibrary Loan *Study Rooms *Reference Services The Library can accommodate 850 students between seating areas, the

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, and the 17 study rooms in the building.

Photo gallery

Image:LUMJGrayLibraryNightLight.jpg, Mary and John Gray Library at Night Image:MJGrayLibraryTrees.JPG, Front Facade

External links

*https://www.lamar.edu/library/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray Library Library buildings completed in 1976 Lamar University Education in Beaumont, Texas Buildings and structures in Beaumont, Texas Federal depository libraries Libraries in Jefferson County, Texas