Daniel E. Ruiz Branch

Location

Hours of Operation

• Sunday: Closed
• Monday-Thursday:10:00a.m.-9:00p.m
• Friday: Closed
• Saturday:10:00a.m.-5:00p.m.

About the Branch Library

The Daniel E. Ruiz Branch held its grand opening on Saturday, January 31, at 10:00 a.m. This new 16,000 square foot library replaced the existing 5,079 square foot leased space of the Riverside Drive Branch at 2410 Riverside Drive. The new $6 million library at 1600 Grove Boulevard will be the largest library branch in the system and will serve the growing populations of the Riverside and Montopolis neighborhoods.

The library is named in honor of one of Austin’s great community leaders who died an untimely death in March of 2000. Daniel E. Ruiz was a good friend of the Austin community. A native Austinite, he was a dedicated public servant, community advocate and organizer who fought to address inequities and civil right issues.

Background on Gifts to the Library:

In January of 2001, Tokyo Electron (TEL) became the first corporate donor for this new library. The company donated $15,000 to the Library Foundation which sponsored the outside plaza area and purchased books for the youth collection. The plaza will be named in honor of Dick Rogers who was the past President of Tokyo Electron (TEL).

"Dick Rogers was very involved in reaching out to the community surrounding Tokyo Electron (TEL) in the Montopolis neighborhood. By sponsoring the library, TEL is continuing the community outreach that he began when TEL opened their headquarters in Austin," Barry Mayer, chief financial officer and senior vice president of Tokyo Electron said. The site of the new library and the U.S. headquarters for Tokyo Electron are located in close proximity to each other within the Montopolis neighborhood.

AMD made a $50,000 donation to the Austin Public Library Foundation in July 2002. Half of the gift funded the AMD-powered computer lab at the new Daniel E. Ruiz Branch Library. The other half funded the AMD Early Reader Collection at the Austin Public Library. The computer training center will provide valuable computer classes to those individuals who do not have computers at home and to targeted students of the nearby Austin Community College campus. “We are very appreciative of Advanced Micro Devices’ continued generosity to the library and its strong commitment to the Montopolis community,” said Brenda Branch, Director of Libraries.