The Medical Library at Yale

Early 1960s

First photocopy machines available in the Library

1961

The Medical Library, under the direction of Frederick Kilgour, begins participation in a pioneering joint automation project with Columbia and Harvard. The project was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation in 1963. Its goal was quick retrieval of cataloging information, and a byproduct was automation of production of catalog cards.

1971

MEDLINE is introduced in the fall. Librarians perform MEDLINE searches for patrons.

1985-86

Approximately 4,049 database searches conducted by librarians.

1986

- MiniMEDLINE arrives, providing patrons with the capacity to conduct computerized searches themselves.

- CD-Rom technology comes to the Library with Science Citation Index.

1989

ORBIS is introduced. In July 1989 the card catalog is closed.

1991

Gopher is introduced.

1992

- First biomedical workstation available in the Library.

- Netmenu developed for library workstations.

- MacBaby is one of several computer-assisted instruction (CAI) made available for students.

1993

- Yale biomedical gopher developed

- CDPlus (now OVID Technologies) MEDLINE provides a better interface for searching full MEDLINE (1966 to present)

- First scholarly and clinical workstations

1994

- Library's World Wide Web home page debuts.

- Netscape software available for Web access.

1995

- Web version of Netmenu and Medmenu developed.

- First electronic journals (141 titles) offered.

- 142,494 MEDLINE searches conducted.

- IAIMS (Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems) implementation grant awarded by the National Library of Medicine.

1996

Initial Web access to databases

1998

- Library receives a grant from the National Library of Medicine to create a database of New Haven public health information.

- Catalog cards sent to OCLC for retrospective conversion.

2000

- Retrospective conversion completed. All holdings, current and historical, are represented on ORBIS.

- Successful completion of the (click to go there now)

2001

- Wireless network hubs installed in Medical Library locations for unfettered laptop computing.

- Portable digital assistant (PDA) synchronizing device available at the Information Desk for patrons to access their information on the Medical School network.

- By December, Yale readers have access to 16,751 electronic versions of scholarly journals; 2,581 are unique biomedical journal titles.