Claude Moore Health Sciences Library records

Between 1826 and 1929, the University of Virginia's collection of medical books and journals were kept with the general library collections in the Rotunda. In 1929, the University moved the collections to the new Medical Library inside the recently-constructed Medical School Building.

Between 1929 and 1962, a medical librarian with a small staff of student and clerical workers stewarded the library's collections. The Medical Library at this time, although physically separate from the rest of the University's libraries, was administered as part of the central University library system with oversight from School of Medicine faculty serving on the Medical Library Committee. In addition to the management of collections, the medical librarians in this era began to curate exhibits and provide instruction. Only a few of the medical librarians who served in this period had professional library training.

In 1962, Wilhelm Moll was appointed the first Director of the Medical Library. During his tenure, Moll oversaw the radical trasnformation of a small branch library into an independent research library. The full-time library staff expanded from 4 to 30, the University built a new library building over Jefferson Park Avenue, the nursing and medical libraries merged to form the Health Sciences Library, a history of medicine program was founded, and the library began to adopt digital technologies.

After Moll's death in 1979, the University apppointed Terry Thorkildsen as the Director of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. Thorkildsen and his successors Linda Watson (1990-2005) and Gretchen Arnold (2005-present) led the library during an era when revolutionary advances in digital technologies (e.g. the Internet, personal computers, databases) presented new challenges and opportunities for the Library.

• September 1826: The University of Virginia Library opens in the Rotunda and it includes a collection of medical books.
• 1911: The University Library's entire collection of medical books and journals are gathered together and moved to the basement of the Rotunda.
• September 13, 1915: Richard Henry Whitehead, Dean of the School of Medicine, creates the Medical Library Committee.
• 1919-June 1929: Ella Watson Johnson serves as the Medical Librarian.
• June 1929: The Medical Library moves from the basement of the Rotunda to its own space in the new Medical School Building, the Medical Library remains a department of the central University Library System.
• June 1929-September 1929: Margaret Otto serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1929-1931: Anne Ashhurst Gwathmey serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1931-1934: Caroline Hill Davis serves as the Medical Librarian.
• March 1934-June 1934: Dora Mitchell Brown serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1934-1936: Miriam Thomas Buchanan serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1935: The Medical Library institutes its first orientation for first year medical students.
• 1936-1943: Anne Lewis Morris serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1943-1944: Mary Elizabeth Mayo serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1944-1947: Mabel Cook Wyllie serves as the Medical Librarian.
• 1945-1949: The Nursing Library is placed under the Supervision of the Medical Librarian until the appointment of a clerk to manage the Nursing collection.
• 1947-1962: Elizabeth Frances Adkins serves as the Medical Librarian.
• September 1962: Wilhelm Moll is appointed the Director of the Medical Library.
• 1962-1963: As the result of administrative reorganizations during this period, the Medical Library is separated from the central University Library system and placed under the control of the School of Medicine.
• November 1970: Librarians conduct the first online searches of a database at the University of Virginia Medical Library using the experimental AIM-TWX service developed by the National Library of Medicine's Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications.
• November 1971: Librarians begin using the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE system to conduct online searches for patrons.
• August 1975: The Medical Library and Nursing Library are merged into the Health Sciences Library and Information Center and moved into a new building that spans over Jefferson Park Avenue. Wilhelm Moll is made the Director of the Health Sciences Library.
• April 1976: The Health Sciences Library is formally dedicated and named after Claude Moore, an alumnus of and donor to the University of Virginia.
• 1979: Terry Thorkildsen is appointed the Director of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library.
• 1989: The library card catalog is digitized and made available through computer terminals.
• 1990: Linda Watson is appointed the Director fo the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library.
• 2005: Gretchen Arnold is appointed the interim Director of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and is then made Director in 2007.