Library System

Due to University closure during the 2011-2012 holiday season, select library services will be suspended:

Requesting through MeLCat will be suspended from December 14 – Jan 1, 2013. Full service will resume January 2.

Requesting through Interlibrary Loan will be suspended from December 14, 2012 – Jan 1, 2013. Requests may be placed beginning Jan. 1, 2013 and full service will resume January 2, 2013.

Delivery of Storage materials will be suspended from December 20, 2012 – Jan 2, 2013. Full service will resume January 2, 2013 .

The “Get It” service will be suspended beginning Dec. 20, 2012. Requests can be placed beginning January 1, 2013 with full service resuming on January 2, 2013

If you have received a notification of delivery, please pick up your materials by 6 pm, December 21, 2012.

Clinical care emergencies should contact Shiffman Library at askmed@wayne.edu

In 1953, Wayne State University General Library opened to students. The library had four floors with administration, reference and law collections on the first floor; literature, arts and a rare book collection on the second floor; social sciences on the third; and education, including children’s books was on the fourth floor. The Kresge Science Library connected to the General Library by a corridor on the first floor.

In 1972, The Wayne State Board of Governors approved the renaming of the General Library to the G. Flint Purdy Library in honor of Purdy’s dedication to libraries and Wayne State. Since 1974, 20 people have been presented with the G. Flint Purdy Memorial Award, an award given to a member of the University community in recognition of significant contributions that further the work of the Library System.

The General Library in the 1960s