Timeline
UC Davis Library Centennial Timeline
Over the course of a century the UC Davis Library has grown from a ready reference collection for farmers and scientists to a world-class research library, with more than 3 million volumes covering a wider range of disciplines and programs than any other campus in the UC system.
1908
Library was established in one room of the Creamery Building.
Image: Birdseye view of the Creamery and the Judging Pavilion ca 1909.
1910
Gertrude Frances Weber, stenographer and bookkeeper for the University Farm Creamery, became first Librarian.
Image: Rules for circulating books and serials to the various branches and departments.
1913
Margaret Mayberry became Librarian (also in charge of student records).
Image: Margaret Mayberry [Librarian], Kate Fizell [Matron], and Miss Starn [Nurse] from the 1915 yearbook, Agricola.
1915
Classroom Building completed. Library occupies two rooms.
Image: Construction of the Classroom Building ca 1915.
1916
Agnes Elizabeth Brown became Librarian.
Image: Agnes Elizabeth Brown from 1919 yearbook, El Rodeo.
1922
Dorothy Deming became Librarian.
1924
Library holds 1,840 volumes.
Nelle U. Branch became Librarian.
Image: Nelle U. Branch (August 27, 1885 – February 10, 1972). Nelle Branch came to Davis in 1924 to become its first professional librarian. The Library occupied two rooms on the first floor, west end of the Classroom Building and housed 1,840 titles, mostly bulletins, circulars and reports from the U.S.D.A. Over the course of her 27-year career she built the collection to more than 80,000 volumes, implemented the Library of Congress cataloging system, established extensive serials holdings in agriculture, animal science and veterinary medicine, apiculture, and viticulture and enology. She also set up the Periodicals Reading Room and the reserve book system. After she retired in 1951, she lived in Davis and was active in the Davis Library Club and Library Associates.
1925
Formal arrangement for the ordering of books on approval was established.
Periodicals room was opened.
Reserve book system was set up.
1926
Library cataloging changed from Dewey to Library of Congress call numbers.
Image: Display of the title “College and Research Libraries” from card catalog, used from the beginning of the 20th century until automation in the early 1990s.
1932
Art reproductions lent by the California State Library to decorate the Library walls.
1938
Classroom Building condemned. Library occupied five rooms. Students formed human chain to move the collection to temporary quarters in the Recreation Building behind West Hall.
Image: Aerial view of the Davis campus looking east-southeast. The Classroom Building was gone ca 1938.
1940
New Library/Administration building was completed (current north wing). The new Library had twenty-five employees: three librarians, eight library assistants, and fourteen FTE students.
Image: Early evening ca 1940.
1943
U.S. Army Signal Corps took over the campus.
Image: Army personnel training in the main reading room on the second floor.
1948
First graduation of four-year students on the Davis campus held in the Library courtyard (Sunken Garden).
Image: First graduation of four-year students in the Sunken Garden. Students are facing west.
1950
Veterinary holdings transferred from UC Berkeley to Davis.
Aerial view of the Library ca 1950.
Image: Aerial view of the Library ca 1950.
1951
J. Richard Blanchard became University Librarian.
Image: J. Richard Blanchard
Microforms were made available.
Agricultural Economics Library was established.
Library held 72,105 volumes in June 1951 according to the 1950-1951 Annual Report.
1955
New stack addition built.
1956
The Veterinary Medicine Library was made a branch of the library system and established in a room next to the Dean’s office in Haring Hall.
1957
Library course in bibliographic research offered.
Food Technology holdings were transferred from UC Berkeley to Davis.
1958
C.K. Ogden Library was purchased: Davis’ share included a second folio of Shakespeare’s works.
Image: University Librarian J. Richard Blanchard examines the second folio of Shakespeare’s works
Air conditioning was installed in the main library.
Agricultural and Resource Economics Library moves to Voorhies Hall.
1959
F. Hal Higgins Library of Agricultural Technology was acquired.
Image: University Librarian J. Richard Blanchard, F. Hal Higgins, and Dean Roy Bainer examine a photograph of the Standish steam plow from Higgins’ collection.
1961
200,000th book — Lowie’s Selected Papers in Anthropology by DuBois — was acquired.
Image: Lowie’s Selected Papers in Anthropology by DuBois.
1964
Library’s east wing was added.
Image: East wing of the Library ca 1964. This became the new main entrance to the Library.
Air conditioning was installed in the main library.
Government Documents Department was established.
1965
Rare books were transferred from Loan Desk to Reference Department.
Library Associates formed.
1966
400,000th book — Principia Philosophiae by Descartes — was acquired.
Image: Principia Philosophiae by Descartes became the Library’s 400,000th book.
University Archives was established.
Veterinary Medicine Library became Health Sciences Library with founding of School of Medicine.
Image: Surge II ca 1966
Serials Department was formed.
Collection Development Department was established.
Special Collections Department (rare books, archives, and the Higgins collection) was created.
1967
Library’s south wing was added.
Image: Southeast corner of the Library ca 1968.
500,000th book — Illustrations to the Bible by William Blake — was acquired.
Image: Title page of Illustrations to the Bible
Telefacsimile between UC Davis and UC Berkeley tested.
Image: University Librarian J. Richard Blanchard and Chancellor Emil M. Mrak examine the microwave dish that will make material in a major library available everywhere.
1968
Library began inspection of briefcases and bags at the main exit.
Image: Library staff check briefcases and bags at the main exit to make sure books have been checked out ca 1968.
1969
Library became a member of the Association of Research Libraries.
1970
750,000th book — Compendius Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster — was acquired.
Image: Title page of Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
Medical Center Library was established at UC Davis Medical Center.
1971
Physical Sciences and Engineering Library built.
Image: Physical Sciences Library shortly after completion in 1971.
1972
Remote Searching of Medline database was operational in Health Sciences Library.
1973
University Library named for Judge Peter J. Shields.
Library began formal participation in the Mountain Valley Library System.
Library’s first oral history was completed by Ben Madson.
1974
1,000,000th book — Emil Mrak’s oral history — was acquired.
Image: Oral historian Avrom I. Dickman, Chancellor Emeritus Emil M. Mrak, and University Librarian J. Richard Blanchard examine Mrak’s oral history, Emil Mrak: A journey through three decades, which became the Library’s one millionth book.
Bernard Kreissman became University Librarian.
Image: Bernard Kreissman
Medical Center Library was established at UC Davis Medical Center.
Image: Professional Building ca 1974
1975
Library held 1.2 million volumes.
1976
Automated circulation system was installed.
Library held 1.4 million volumes.
Typewriters commonly used in Shields Library.
Image: Typewriter commonly used in Shields Library before the proliferation of personal computer workstations.
1977
University of California Library Plan was presented.
New Health Sciences Library was opened.
Image: The Health Sciences Library occupied the first floor and lower level.
Automated cataloging of new materials began.
1978
Library held 1.5 million volumes.
1979
Biological/Agricultural Sciences Reference Department was established.
Acquisition of Gary Snyder’s papers began.
1980
UC Davis became a member of the Research Libraries Group.
1981
Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Western Research Center became part of the University Library.
Conservation and Preservation Department created.
1982
Library received Higher Education Act (Title II-C) grant to catalog the F. Hal Higgins Collection
1983
MELVYL, the on-line catalog, was made available for public use.
Image: Screenshot of the title “College and Research Libraries” from telnet library catalog, still in limited use but mainly used from the 1980s-1990s.
1984
Northern Regional Library Facility opened.
William F. McCoy became acting University Librarian.
Health Sciences Library was named for Loren D. Carlson.
1985
Marilyn J. Sharrow became University Librarian.
Image: Marilyn J. Sharrow
1986
2,000,000th book — L’agriculture et maison rustique by Charles Estienne — was acquired.
Image: Title page of L’agriculture et maison rustique
Nikolai P. Prokopovich Collection was acquired.
Image: Title page from the Prokopovich collection. Geologist for the US Bureau of Reclamation. Reports, memoranda, photographs and books relating to the California Central Canal, subsidence, and hydrocompaction. First major California water collection.
1987
Endowment created the Margaret B. Harrison Preservation Department.
Image: Hickok Board shear from Margaret Harrison. Used to cut heavy boards. From Shields Library Preservation Department.
1988
Ground-breaking ceremonies are held for west wing of Peter J. Shields Library.
Automated acquisitions system (Innopac) was installed.
Kenneth Kew Collection acquired. Wine merchant for Draper Esquine in San Francisco. Kew had been a student at UCD. The papers followed his career from his student days until his retirement.
1989
J. G. P. (Jacques Goharry Parisien). Devis sur las vigne 1576 was acquired.
Image: Title page from Devis sur la vigne, First French vernacular book relating to wine.
1990
Library’s west wing opened.
Image: Shields Library west entrance
Paul H. DeBach Papers collection was acquired. DeBach’s pioneering work in the field of integrated pest management and in the biological control of insect pests and weeds supports our collecting in entomology and organic farming. This was an instance of cooperation with UC Riverside (custodian of the collection) and the Entomological Society of America, Pacific Branch (scholarly group) in moving the collection to UC Davis where it could be more readily used.
F.H. King manuscript was acquired.
Image: This two volume typescript contains notes and original photographs taken in the field for the author’s book. Observations on crop and soil management methods and practices in China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan. Typed notes and original photographs taken in the field for the author’s book, Farmers of forty centuries.
1991
Automated public catalog system (DRA) was installed.
“American Farm” exhibit was acquired. The photographic panels that decorate the walls of Shields Library were an exhibit originally mounted by the California Historical Society.
Chinese Cookbooks collection was acquired.
Image: Title page from Martin Yan’s cookbook with author’s signature. Gardner Pond and Peter Hertzman donated their collections of Chinese cookbooks in English. This became the first collection searchable by provenance on MELVYL.
1994
Eastman’s Originals collection was acquired. This was the first image database created by the Library.
Japanese American Citizens League-Florin oral histories were acquired. The UC Davis Library Cooperated with CSU Sacramento to provide MARC cataloging.
Agricultural and Resource Economics Library moved to Social Sciences and Humanities building.
1996
A.W. Noling Hurty-Peck Library of Beverage Literature acquired.
Image: Bookplate from the Hurty-Peck Library
K.W. Lee Papers collection was acquired. First collection submitted to the California Digital Library’s California Cultures site.
1998
The British Women Romantic Poets Project began to identify and make accessible on the Internet the works of women poets. The Kohler Collection served as the main source for texts by women poets writing between 1789 and 1832.
1999
Library Instruction Lab built for hands-on teaching of electronic catalog and databases.
Image: The Library Instruction Laboratory in Shields Library is a hands-on instruction lab with workspace for 25 students, and two instructor stations. The lab includes a color printer networked to all the workstations, a visual presenter and digital recording equipment for podcasting.
Sacramento Union Archives acquired – a substantial collection of late 20th century local history images.
2000
Medical Center Library moved to Redwood Building.
Image: Redwood Building, 2000-2006
2001
Wireless access to library collection available in Shields Library.
Image: Wireless access is available in Shields Library, as well as the Physical Sciences and Engineering, Carlson Health Sciences and Blaisdell Medical Libraries.
2002
UC Davis Libraries implement Ex Libris’ Aleph, the library’s first truly fully integrated library system.
Image: Screenshot of the title “College and Research Libraries” from Harvest library catalog, the UC Davis automated library catalog used since 2002.
Library received an LSTA grant to catalog and prepare a finding aid for the Gary Snyder Papers.
2003
UC Davis ranked in the top third of the more than 120 academic and research libraries in North America.
Library held 3 million volumes.
2005
Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Western History Center, an internationally known Western Americana library was added.
2006
UC Davis School of Medicine opens the new Education Building, housing the Blaisdell Medical Library.
Image: Blaisdell Medical Library in Sacramento has state-of-the-art facilities including video screens for announcements.
Saratoga Horticultural Research Foundation archive collection acquired.
2007
UC Libraries begin work on WorldCat Local pilot project, a next generation catalog interface that searches the holdings of UC Davis, the systemwide UC libraries, as well as libraries all over the world.
Image: An example of a search on the Next-Generation Melvyl Pilot, with options to limit by format, author, year or topic.
2008
UC Davis Centennial book–Nuevo Y Sencillo Arte De Cocina, Reposteria Y Refrescos by Antonia Carrillo–was acquired.
Image: NUEVO Y SENCILLO ARTE DE COCINA, REPOSTERIA Y REFRESCOS, DISPUESTO POR UNA MEXICANA Y ESPERIMENTADO POR PERSONAS INTELEGENTES ANTES DE DARSE A LA PRENSA. TOMOS I-II. México, Imprenta de Santiago Pérez, 1836. 2 vols., 252; 166, (25)p., A very important cookbook cited in “Que Vivan Los Tamales.” A few years after El Cocinero Mexicano, 1831, appeared, the Nuevo y sencillo arte de cocina (New and Simple Art of Cooking) advertised recipes specifically “accommodated to the Mexican palate.” These recipes are definitely Mexican and to some extent Spanish. The influence of French and Continental cuisine so common in late 19th Century cook books is not yet apparent. It was not noted, however that the author was a female and this only becomes evident when we see that the 3rd edition published in 1865 gives Antonia Carillo as the author. This book is a rare example illustrating early “new world” food and wine types written by a female author during an era when female authors are not common.n example of a search on the Next-Generation Melvyl Pilot, with options to limit by format, author, year or topic.
Images (unless otherwise credited) are the property of the Regents of the University of California; no part may be reproduced or used without permission of the Department of Special Collections.