Photo not dated
The Chemistry Library developed from separate office and laboratory collections. It is probable that by the 1880s the collections of chemistry, pharmacy and botany had been started. The first mention of a chemistry library comes from a January 1892 edition of the Vidette-Reporter, where it states that “the library and reading room in the new chemistry laboratory are very well patronized.” The botany collection in 1916 was reported to be located in some faculty offices and some laboratories. The pharmacy, or pharmaceutical, library was located in a faculty office, and in May 1895, the university’s librarian expressed surprise that money had been appropriated and spent for 85 pharmacy volumes that he knew nothing about.
In August 1926, the botany collection was merged with the chemistry collection in room 400 of the new Chemistry Building, and soon after the pharmacy collection was added. For many years the library was known as the Botany-Chemistry-Pharmacy Library. Though these collections were originally kept separate, they were eventually integrated in 1944. The pharmacy collection was made into a separate library in 1963 when the College of Pharmacy left the building, and then was integrated into the Health Sciences Library in 1974. The Chemistry-Botany Library then became simply the Chemistry Library in January 1999 when the botany collection was moved to the Biological Sciences Library. The last major renovations made to the Chemistry Library facility were in 1979.
In 2005, the chemistry collection was moved over to Main Library as the chemistry building began remodeling. It was eventually decided to not move the collection back to it’s original location, so the library was permanently closed on July 27, 2007. All Reserve materials were transferred to the Geoscience Library and the circulating collection has been moved to the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.