University of Virginia Library

Section J. Medicine.

There are three medical collections of note in Virginia; the
libraries of the Medical College of Virginia and of the Richmond
Academy of Medicine, which occupy adjacent buildings and supplement
each other; and the library of the medical department of the
University of Virginia. Research workers in these libraries have
the advantage of proximity to the great Army Medical Library in
Washington, which uniformly maintains a high degree of courtesy,
generosity, and effectiveness in inter-library loans.

The research worker at the Medical College of Virginia can
also draw on the science sections of other libraries in Richmond,
this process having been expedited by a union list of
periodical holdings in nine collections in that city. (See Part
One, Section B., Bibliography.[19] ) In the total of 24,472 volumes
recorded for this particular library, however, there are included
2,384 volumes of periodicals in general science (694), physics
(89), chemistry (941), general biology (225), botany (192), and
zoology (243). This collection, therefore, affords a considerable
degree of independence of outside resources. The medical material
itself is well distributed over the various fields of medical
activity. But the subjects that are perhaps most adequately
equipped are general medicine, pathology, practice of medicine,
surgery, ophthalmology, gynecology, and therapeutics. There are
also strong sections in anatomy, physiology, and bacteriology.
Altogether there are files, a fair proportion being complete, of
330 periodicals or society publications, the total number of volumes
of serials being in excess of 14,000.

The Miller Library of the Richmond Academy of Medicine[20] contains
approximately 3,500 volumes of old medical works (including
some incunabula) in Greek, Italian, German, French, and English.
In time these works range from the tenth century to the early
nineteenth; and in subject they include general medicine, surgery,
dentistry, pharmacy, and such allied sciences as nursing. This

is a collection of medical books. By a cooperative arrangement
medical journals are transferred to the neighbouring library of
the Medical College of Virginia.

The research worker at the University of Virginia of course
has ready access to the various science collections on the same
campus. The medical collection itself numbers 17,747 volumes,
including files of somewhat over one hundred periodicals. There
is also an extensive and carefully filed accumulation of pamphlets
and reprints. The collection is general in character, but
there is some emphasis on cancer research, dermatology, neurology,
radiology, surgery, pediatrics, pathology, physiology, bacteriology,
and the history of medicine.

In addition to these Richmond and Charlottesville centers
for medical books there is at least an interesting suggestion in
a special collection in Norfolk. This is maintained by the Norfolk
County Medical Society for its members, and consists of
approximately 8,000 volumes in medicine, surgery, medical history,
and medical biography.