After two years of renovations and moving we are happy to say that the Leon Levy Dental Medicine Library is finally settled into its “new” home! Our library spaces are now dispersed across three floors of Evans Building with study rooms on the lower and third levels and a reading room on the second floor.
Take a look at the black and white photo below – does the space look familiar? As you study in the Main Library Reading Room, consider that this space isn’t as new of a location for the Dental Library as one might think. This photograph from the 1935 shows the library in its original location, which we are again working in today. The library was located in this historic space for 50 years from 1915-1965.
Figure 1 The Leon Levy Dental Medicine Library, 1935. The Dental Record of 1935 (Penn Dental Yearbook). Archives of the Leon Levy Library and Penn Dental Medicine.
Moving isn’t new for the Leon Levy Library, which has a reputation of changing location every 50 years. A look at old blueprints will show that the Evans Building was originally shaped like the letter “H” with front and rear courtyards. In 1965, a new space for the library was constructed out of the back courtyard, which is now the Shils Clinic.
While the look and feel of the original reading room has stayed the same, one of the biggest changes to our library is our hidden book collection. In the photo from 1935 we can see the book collection lining two floors along the eastern wall of the reading room. Although the library space has changed over the years our books were always a staple, remaining on display for a century.
These days, the majority of our book and journal collection is requestable from offsite storage at the Penn Libraries Research Annex (LIBRA) in New Jersey[1], but we do house 10,000 of our newest volumes on the premises. Most of our onsite books and journals are located across the hall in closed stacks and a selection of reserve books is available behind the Circulation Desk.
While closed stacks and offsite material mark a monumental change for the library, a few original architectural features remain including the chandelier that illuminates our study tables today.
Figure 2 Chandelier, c.1915. Leon Levy Dental Medicine Library. Image by Kelsey LeClair.
The Dental Library was brought back to its historic location as part of the Evans Building Centennial Renaissance of 2015, celebrating 100 years of Penn Dental in the Evans Building. We are excited to continue the legacy of being a presence of scholarly aid for the Penn Dental Community in the library’s original home.
[1] Information regarding our closed stacks and request options will be the focal point of a future post.
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