The doors of McGill University's Osler Library of the History of Medicine are open again. The library, inaugurated in May 1929, contains one of the world's finest history-of-medicine collections. It had closed only once before, in 1965.
The latest closure, which lasted 5 months, ended Nov. 27. It was required because of a much needed renovation demanded by Montreal's weather patterns. In particular, the city's fluctuating humidity and temperature levels were threatening the entire collection, which includes incunabula — books printed prior to 1500. Most of the 8000 works in Sir William Osler's original donation to McGill, which are catalogued in the Bibliotheca Osleriana, were at risk. The goal was to install 2 systems of climate control, 1 to preserve the more stable (less acidic) books published before 1840 and another to protect those published after 1840. (Wood pulp and chemicals were used to make paper after 1840, producing high acidity levels. Over time, this results in brittle, crumbling pages.)
In the original Osler Room, a new system was devised to provide for a narrowly regulated temperature range around 18° C and a relative humidity of 40%. Part of the ingenuity is that the system uses the books and their shelves as part of the climate-control barrier. Books produced after 1840, whose pages are more acidic and benefit from the cool, dry winter weather, are in storage rooms with exterior walls surrounding the central area. Less acidic works are protected by their central location, away from all exterior walls.
An attractive new feature is the Scholars' Room, where rare books and manuscripts can be studied and kept on reserve, and benefit from the same precise climate control. In addition, the library now enjoys state-of-the-art protection against fire, theft and vandalism.
The renovations were funded largely by Dr. John McGovern, the allergist who founded the American Osler Society. During the reopening, Dr. William Feindel, the Honorary Osler Librarian, donated to the library 2 books by Thomas Willis: Cerebri Anatome (1666) and De Anima Brutorum (1672). — Ken Flegel, Montreal
Figure. The Osler Library's new Scholars' Room Photo by: Osler Library