Along with some 200 attendees, Hackney Library celebrated “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Day during its Open House on Tuesday, August 21, from 4-7 pm. The event was sponsored by the Friends of Hackney Library.

The Open House continued the celebration of this special day following a book signing earlier in the day that featured David “Sonny” Lacks and his wife, Shirley Lacks. Sonny Lacks is the son of Henrietta Lacks, the subject of Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book was chosen as Barton’s 2012 Freshmen Summer Reader.

This year's Open House highlighted themes from Immortal Life as well as showcased some of the recent changes made to the interior of the library building, such as tours of the newly constructed Office of Student Success (Tutoring and Career Services) housed in the library as well as tours of the library’s newly-reconfigured Research and Information Commons. The event also showcased art from Barton student Greg Oakley (recipient of the Milton Rogerson Photography Award) in the library’s new gallery area, as well as our New Books display of items added to the collection since Spring.

The event also featured some of the familiar components of previous open houses, including dessert served inside the library building, free Open House t-shirts (designed by Barton’s own art professor Susan Fecho and featuring the Henrietta Lacks HeLa Cell theme) given to all who filled out a survey plus other giveaways, five hardcover copies of Skloot's book given away as door prizes, and more.

The Open House was free and open to the Barton community as well as the general public. See our photo album on Facebook for images from the event.