Special Tribute to Dr. William Anlyan – Library Supporter and Friend

Dr. Anlyan was many things to Duke for many years, but few probably know his strong role in the creation of the current Medical Center Library facility.  In addition to many other buildings constructed during his time as Chancellor and Vice President of Health Affairs, the Mudd building was an outcome of his planning and leadership. 

Serving as a member and chairman of the National Library of Medicine’s Board of Regents, Dr. Anlyan understood the potential and importance of libraries in an academic health center and as part of the developments in biomedical communications.  In 1970, he commissioned the architects to create a building with the concept of the library as the core of the communications center.  Construction began in 1973 on the triangular shaped facility designed by Warner, Burns, Toan and Lunde and was positioned near the old Duke South hospital. Ultimately, the new Duke North hospital was built on the other side, leaving it halfway between the two major clinical enterprises.

Working with the current Library Director and staff, Dr. Anlyan sought the funding and other resources necessary to build the Seeley G. Mudd Communications Center and Library building.   The Seeley G. Mudd Fund, which supported a number of library and learning resource facilities across the country during the 1970s, provided a major grant.  With additional funding sought from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Frederick J. Kennedy Memorial Foundation, Nanaline H. Duke Fund, and the Duke Endowment, the new location for the Library became a reality.  When opened in 1975, the Library was the only unit in the building occupying the top four of the five levels, with the ground level shell space that would become the Searle Center.

Under Dr. Anlyan, the Library went from cramped quarters in the basement of the Davison building to a modern facility equipped with the technology of the day including slide equipment, audio tapes, closed-loop film projectors, and  microform machines. The plans also focused on closed-circuit television, video recordings, and the testing of computer-assisted instruction.  Even though this was very forward thinking for its era, Anlyan also thought of the past and supported the inclusion of a greatly expanded History of Medicine Collection and Reading Room, as well as the move of the Trent Room (now Richmond Room) from Davison basement to Mudd.

Under his leadership, the Library also received support to build a strong book and journal collection, becoming a major resource library for other health care institutions in North Carolina and the southeast region.  The Library continues to serve as a designated resource library in the National Library of Medicine’s National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

When I first arrived at Duke, Dr. Anlyan was no longer the Vice President, but he was still a major force and presence across the medical center and university, as well as within the Mudd building. I was told that when he retired as VP, he asked for his office to be located in “his building, his library,” and he was a neighbor in the Mudd building for many years. I had many delightful conversations with him as he asked about changes in the Library and where its future was going. 

Probably little did he know the importance of the location that was chosen under his leadership.  The Mudd building and Library are now surrounded by expanded educational, research, and patient care facilities.  The 1976 dedication materials stated that the “Communications Center and Library now has the potential to become a true intellectual hub from which can emanate a continuing flow of biomedical information.”  The students, researchers, faculty, and clinical staff who use our facility and digital resources today are a tribute to his vision when he pursued the construction of the Library facility and Mudd building.