Designed by noted architect Robert A. M. Stern, the Business Information Center provides about three times the space of the previous library in Herring Hall. The library occupies portions of the second and third floors on the southeast side of McNair Hall. It includes a room for reference materials and journals, a separate room for the circulating collection, and a large reading room overlooking Jamail Plaza and the James A. Baker, III Institute for Public Policy. Also provided are several group study rooms and carrels and two online resource rooms, including one with restricted card access for the Rice community only. Available seating has doubled, and the number of computers has nearly tripled.

Although features from several architectural styles are used, the design of the library is heavily influenced by the late nineteenth-century arts and crafts movement. Elements of this movement are evident in many of the furnishings—particularly the enormous glass and metal light fixtures illuminating the reading room. During the lengthy planning stages of the Jones School building project there evolved not only a comfortable and spacious study environment, but also ample growth space to meet the demands of the school.

The Business Information Center contains a wide variety of resources relevant to the business community, including materials in accounting, finance, management, marketing, and strategic planning. One collection of note is the Jennet Collection, a non-circulating collection on project management donated by Eric Jennet. This collection is further supplemented by funds from the Houston Chapter of the Project Management Institute.

While the Business Information Center functions as a separate unit from Fondren Library, new materials are processed in Fondren and BIC's holdings are included in Fondren's online catalog. Fondren also houses older issues of business journals.

The Business Information Center is staffed by Business Librarian Peggy Shaw, Senior Library Associate Bill Coxsey, and Library Associate Denell Wiseman, as well as several student assistants. The BIC's summer hours are: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; closed on weekends.

Circulation privileges for staff, undergraduates, and faculty are the same as for Fondren Library. However, graduate students, who make up the bulk of the users, have a loan period of twenty-eight days for most materials, due to the high use of many items.