DBIO History

1934-1984: The first 50 years

Paskoff, Beth. 1985. History of BSD. Biofeedback, 11(1): 5-7. (Reproduced with permission) Full text of article available here.

[Exerpt] When Special Library Association was founded in 1909, there were no subject divisions; it was not until 1923 that "groups” were established. In that year, a Technology Group was organized which represented all aspects of the pure and applied sciences. During the 1934 Annual Conference, 19 medical librarians met to discuss the advisability of requesting that the SLA Executive Board establish a Group “representing their special needs.” Their petition, dated June 30, 1934, referred to a Medical Health Section, but the name was changed latter to the Biological Sciences Group. A broad interpretation of biological sciences was used, and the Group included all of the fields that are covered in Biological Abstracts. Frank Place, Reference Librarian at the New York Academy of Medicine was selected as the first chair; Josephine Nichols of Cornell University Medical School and Mildred Naylor, Librarian of the Academy of Medicine of Northern New Jersey, were chosen as Vice-Chair and Secretary, respectively..............

Rev. January 2009