Students studying in a small library, The University of Iowa, 1920s. (Iowa Digital Library: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ictcs/id/9319)
The Geoscience Library was organized as a library about 1874. Prior to that, and as early as 1863, the collection was known as the Cabinet of Natural History, made up mainly of Geological Survey materials. By 1924 the collection had been located in the Old Science Building for several years. This building was renamed the Geology Building and then eventually became Calvin Hall. In the summer of 1933, the Iowa State Geological Survey library was moved from Des Moines to Iowa City and placed in the Geology Library as the property of the University Libraries. The Geology Department moved into Trowbridge Hall in 1975, and the library currently occupies three rooms in this building. The library was renamed in 2001 to reflect the name change of the Department of Geoscience.
In May of 2010, due to budget constraints, the Geosciences Library was closed, and the majority of the collection was moved over to the Sciences Library building (formerly the Biological Sciences Library).