Mr. John Maupin Jr. D.D.S, the president of Meharry Medical School knew that the three-leveled library needed to be updated. “It lacked updated materials, services, resources, technology, aesthetic properties and ….was 22 years old." He also knew that the students were going to nearby Vanderbilt’s Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL) for resources.” Collectively, the students, faculty, alumni, consultants and the president, developed a shared vision of what they wanted and needed in a library. Next, Mr. Maupin went to Vanderbilt’s Medical Center for help. The result was another opportunity for collaboration between both schools. They had come together before in 1999 to improve “the educational, scientific and clinical programs at both institutions.”

A five year plan was developed by Vanderbilt’s (EBL) and Meharry Medical School .The end result would be a “state of the art information center. It would include: “modernizing the operation of the [current] library, train staff, execute physical renovations, upgrades, and recruiting a library director by 2010…. A $20 million dollar capital campaign would fund the project.”

“In April [2005], the team launched a digital library, making more than 2,000 electronic journals, books, databases and Web sites available to the Meharry community. Also, at the beginning of the 2005 academic year, the library extended its operating hours”

Three years has passed since the beginning of the collaborative project between Meharry Medical School and Vanderbilt’s Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL). What are the recent developments and how has the search for a new library director been going in 2008? Answers to these questions will be in the next posting.

Pasley, J. (2005, Nov. ,11). Meharry library renovations aims to create modern information center. The Reporter. Retrieved on July 28, 2008 from http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html .