Library Technology and Electronic Resources Time Line

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.