Historical Timeline of the University Libraries
1860 - University Library designated depository for Minnesota government publications1869 - U President William Watts Folwell establishes the University Library and appoints himself as librarian
1869 - William Watts Folwell serves as the first University Librarian
1870 - Colonel D. A. Robertson's library of 1200 volumes purchased which formed the nucleus of the collection. He was paid approximately $1.00 per volume.
1870 - the U Libraries designated as a depository for U.S. government documents
1878 - Libraries' collection grows to 13,000 volumes
1888 - U's Law School opens. Personal library of Dean William S. Pattee becomes the School's first library
1889 - U's Department of Agriculture established. The need for a separate library made essential because of the geographical distance between the two campuses.
1895 - Collection grows to 40,000 volumes. Burton Hall built to house the growing collections.
1895 - Dewey Decimal System adopted
1905 - Libraries' collections grow to 73,000 volumes; and there are 20 departmental libraries on campus
1906 -James Thayer Gerould appointed University Librarian
1912 - U Librarian James Thayer Gerould and Ina Ten Eyck Firkins launch a lecture series on the use of the library which was the first bibliographical instruction offered at the University.
1914 - Gerould goes on a collection trip to Europe and spends $25,000. Loses most of the books when he was imprisoned briefly in Germany on suspicion of being a British spy
1915 - First library handbook issued.
1920 - Collections grow to 300,000 volumes
1920 - Ina Ten Eyck appointed Acting University Librarian
1921 - Frank Kellogg Walter appointed University Librarian
1924 - Walter Library dedicated. Stack core thought to be the single largest unit erected to date. The capacity of the stack core was 1.5 million volumes. 500,000 more volumes could be stored throughout the rest of the building and 1200 readers could be accommodated.
1930 - University Libraries purchased Father Francis Jager's collection of entomological works.
1940 - One millionth book added to the collections
1942 - Medical librarianship course launched under the direction of U Librarian Frank K. Walter and Perrie Jones of the St. Paul Public Library. First of its kind in the nation.
1943 - Weir McDiarmid appointed University Librarian
1947 - University Archives established.
1949 - Children's Literature Research Center founded by Irvin Kerlan's donation of his collections of children's books, original illustrations and related materials.
1951 - Edward Barrett Stanford appointed University Librarian
1952 - C. L. Ames donates his personal collection to the library forming the basis of the Ames Library of South Asia.
1953 - James Ford Bell Library dedicated to house J. F. Bell's gift of rare books relating to exploration and settlement
1953 - St. Paul Campus Library dedicated
1961 - Bio-medical Library opens
1961 - Two millionth volume, a gift of James Ford Bell, presented to the Libraries.
1964 - Social Welfare History Archives established
1965 - Immigration History Archives established
1965 - East Asian Library opens
1966 - Visiting librarian A. K'aiming Chiu discovers oldest book in the library in the East Asian Library. Printed in 1415, Hsing li ta ch'uan is a compendium of neo-Confuscian philosophy
1967 - Manuscripts collection established
1968 - Wilson Library opens
1969 - MINITEX established to connect eleven Minnesota Libraries by teletype. Within a year 65 libraries were connected.
1970 - Three millionth volume added to the catalog of the University Libraries
1971 - Ralph Harvey Hopp appointed University Librarians
1972 - Owen H. Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine dedicated
1974 - Andersen Horticulture Library dedicated at the Arboretum
1976 - Raymond Bohling appointed Acting University Librarian
1976 - Eldred R. Smith appointed University Librarian
1980 - The Charles Babbage Institute became a research unit of the University of Minnesota, supported by the University Libraries and the Institute of Technology
1982- Four millionth volume added to the collections of the University Libraries
1984 - Library of Congress Classification system adopted, replacing the Dewey Decimal System for cataloging materials.
1984 - Libraries' card catalogs closed
1984-1987 - Microfiche catalog used until the online version was ready
July 1986 - Business Reference Service subscribes to the Libraries' first CD-ROM database, CompactD (corporate financial disclosure information)
1987 - John R. Howe, Jr. appointed Interim Librarian
Summer 1987 - MinnesotaMEDLINE, our own implementation of the key MEDLINE database, was mounted as a joint effort of HSCS (OIT) and the Bio-Medical Library
September 1987 - First online catalog was launched. Called LUMINA - for the Libraries of the University of Minnesota Integrated Network Access - selected in a contest by Libraries' staff. First library system to accomplish a complete conversion of its card catalog.
1989 - Thomas W. Shaughnessy appointed University Librarian
1991 - The World Wide Web is born!
1991 - Automated circulation system established using bar coded identification cards to check out books.
1991 - Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the University of Minnesota, Libraries and OIT work together to create first Gopher-based database implementation, Current Contents.
1993 - Fifth million volume added to the collections of the University Libraries.
1994 - Electronic Text Research Center opens in Wilson Library, which facilitates research and analysis in the humanities & social sciences by facilitating in-depth work with primary texts in electronic format
1994 - Charles Babbage Institute Archives mounts finding aids for its collections on the Internet via a Gopher listing, followed by mounting the first CBI web site.
1995 - AgEcon Search: Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics, a free, full-text, Web-based index of the scholarly research in the field of agricultural and applied economics is launched by staff from Magrath and Forestry libraries and the U's Department of Applied Economics.
1995 - The Libraries now have 200 cataloged CD-ROM-based indexes and databases in our collections.
September 1995 - BioMedical Library mounted COMPENDEX, MEDLINE, Current Contents and other databases on a UNIX server housed in Diehl Hall using BioMedSearch for campus-wide searching and allowing users to develop their own profiles for automatic searching of the database at regular intervals, sending results to their email accounts
1996 - 50 online databases now available through the Libraries' LUMINA interface
1996 - First electronic journals from the American Mathematical Society and Institute of Physics are made available over the Web from the Science & Engineering Library Web page.
1996 - National Academy Press leads in the creation of 'electronic books' by loading over 900 of its book publications from the 1980s and 1990s for free viewing at their Web site.
1997 - University Libraries provides web access to the mainframe catalog through a joint effort of the Libraries and OIT
1997 - Catalog renamed MNCAT to avoid confusion with other online products available through LUMINA
1997 - The MN Legislature approves $12 million appropriation for the establishment of a statewide virtual library. As part of the project, the Twin Cities' library catalog, MNCAT, moved to a unix-based system in 2002.
1997- Links to other Web sites first added to MNCAT
1997- First electronic journals added to MNCAT
1998 - Libraries now have over 100 online databases, accessible through the Libraries Web page
May 1998 - Plant Information Online is launched by joint efforts of Andersen Horticultural Library and Magrath Library staff.
1999 - Over 200 online databases available to UMN users through LUMINA interface
Fall 1999 - University Libraries began using WebZ for our web-based catalog.
January 7, 1999 - Table of contents and Summary fields from vendor Blackwell first added to MNCAT to enhance records for better retrieval of information
2000 - Libraries begin their first major electronic book contract with netLibrary, putting thousands of links to electronic books into MNCAT and making them available on 'loan' to UMN clients
2000 - Elmer L. Andersen Library opens
May 2000 - WebZ version of MNCAT inaugurated
June 2000 - Libraries' new Web page design, based on extensive focus group testing with UMN patrons, is launched
2001 - Over 3400 CD-ROM-based indexes, databases and files are in indexed in MNCAT
2001 - The Libraries have over 14,000 cataloged ebooks or other full-text linked in our MNCAT
2001 - Over 300,000 accesses each day are made to the Libraries Web site
Jan. 2002 - Peggy Johnson appointed Interim University Librarian
June 2002 - Wendy Pradt Lougee appointed University Librarian
July 2002 - Libraries' new Aleph-based MNCAT catalog is launched offering state-of-the-art Web features and services