I'm pleased to share the following press release with you:


FLEET GIFT TO ESTABLISH NEW RISD LIBRARY LOCATION
RISD dramatically enlarges its library with move to
Fleet's Historic Banking Building at 15 Westminster Street

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, February 1, 2002 - Roger Mandle, president of
Rhode Island School of
Design and Anne Szostak, Chairman and CEO of Fleet-Rhode Island have
announced that FleetBoston
Financial will be donating to RISD a portion of its 15 Westminster Street
facility which will include the
historic banking hall, second floor and a portion of the basement. The
space, with an estimated value
of over $1 million, will become the new home of the RISD Library.

Integral to the ongoing transformation of the RISD campus, this new
location for the RISD Library will
dramatically enlarge the capacity of the library as it moves from a 12,000
square foot library on
historic Benefit Street to a nearly 60,000 square foot library space within
the new location.
Continuing RISD's commitment to the revitalization of downtown Providence,
the RISD Library will join
other college properties currently across the river from the campus,
including the Center for
Integrative Technologies, RISD's Graduate Center and risd|works.

Fleet's gift of this space to RISD for its library will have an enormous
impact on the RISD community
and the RI community and greatly benefit our academic program," states
Roger Mandle.  "This is an
exceptionally generous and unselfish gesture by Fleet but typical of their
giving back to the
communities they serve."

"The opportunity to contribute to the increasing cultural and scholarly
vitality of the Rhode Island
community is integral to our ongoing mission," said Anne Szostak.  "Fleet
strongly supports the arts
and education and sees this as an opportunity to not only support RISD but
also provide greater
access to arts and education to all Rhode Islanders," said Szostak.
...

Originally built in 1917, the main site of the library will be the large
former banking hall of the
facility.  This monumental, finely ornamented salon in the style of the
Italian High Renaissance is
approximately 180 feet long, 114 feet deep and 50 feet high. While
officially located at 15
Westminster Street, RISD's preliminary renovation plans include reopening
the front doors that face
the river located on Memorial Boulevard.

The RISD Library is open to members of the RISD community as well as
faculty, students from the
Consortium of Rhode Island Academic and Research Libraries  (CRIARL)
institutions and the staff and
membership of the Providence Athenaeum and visitors engaged in pertinent
research.  The RISD
Library also welcomes the public to access the library for onsite reading
and browsing.  As well, the
library will continue its ongoing public programming including exhibitions
and "Readings in the Reading
Room."

The RISD Library opened with the college in 1878 with all its holdings in a
single bookcase.  One of the
oldest ndependent art college libraries in the country, it has more than
100,000 volumes and 400
periodical subscriptions offering an unusual depth and richness in the
areas of architecture, art,
design, furniture and photography. Created as a specialized library of art
and design publications and
visual resources, the collection provides strong historical and
contemporary perspectives, and
materials in landscape architecture, ceramics, textiles, sculpture,
drawing, painting, Colonial
furniture and jewelry supporting advanced research.  The portion of the
building included in the gift
will be occupied by the existing tenants until March 2005 at which time
RISD will then renovate and
occupy the intended space soon thereafter.


About RISD
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has earned a worldwide reputation as
the preeminent art and
design college in the country.  Today, with over 16,000 alumni, the college
enrolls approximately
1,800 undergraduates and 275  graduate students from the United States and
more than 47
countries, offering degree programs in the fine arts, architecture and
design disciplines and art
education.  Included within the college is The RISD Museum, housing 80,000
works of art in its
permanent collection.

About Fleet
FleetBoston Financial is the seventh-largest financial holding company in
the United States.  A
diversified financial services company with assets exceeding $200 billion,
Fleet offers a
comprehensive array of innovative financial solutions to 20 million
customers in more than 20
countries and territories.  Among the company's key lines of business are:
retail banking, with more
than 1,500 branches and more than 3,800 ATMs in the Northeast; corporate
banking, including
capital markets/investment banking and commercial finance; investment
services, including
nationwide brokerage; and full-service banking through more than 250
offices in Latin America.
FleetBoston Financial is headquartered in Boston and listed on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE:
FBF) and the Boston Stoc Exchange (BSE: FBF).

###

Carol Terry
Director of Library Services
Rhode Island School of Design

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