UCSF Library


The UCSF Library is the library of the University of California, San Francisco. It is one of the world's foremost libraries in the health sciences.

Archives and Special Collections

The UCSF Archives and Special Collections is part of the UCSF Library located on the Parnassus campus in San Francisco, California. The UCSF archives serve as the official repository for the preservation of selected records, printed and born-digital materials, and realia generated by or about UCSF, including the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, School of Dentistry, the Graduate Division, and the UCSF Medical Center. The archives also include rare and unique materials that support research and teaching in the history of the health sciences.
The institutional archives were officially established in 1963 by UC President Clark Kerr. He mandated the creation of both a records management system and an archives program at UCSF. The medical history rare book collection began in the 1930s, before the establishment of the institutional archives.

Facilities

The main branch is located at the Parnassus campus, with secondary locations at the Mission Bay campus in the Rutter Center and Mission Hall. Additionally, the library is affiliated with the ZSFG Library at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the Fishbon Memorial Library at UCSF Medical Center, the UCSF Fresno Medical Library at UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program, the UCSF Patient Health Library at Mount Zion Medical Center, the Medical Library at Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Library at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

Art

The main branch hosts artwork by Hiroshige, Georges Mathieu, Helaman Ferguson, Fred Reichman, R.C. Gorman, Bill Woodrow, Robert Cremean, and Sarah Sze.

Holdings

Significant rare book collections and archival holdings include:
The UCSF Industry Documents Library is a digital archive of internal tobacco, drug, food, chemical, and fossil fuel corporate documents, acquired largely through litigation, which illustrate industry efforts to influence policies and regulations meant to protect public health. The mission of the UCSF Industry Documents Library is to "identify, collect, curate, preserve, and make freely accessible internal documents created by industries and their partners which have an impact on public health, for the benefit and use of researchers, clinicians, educators, students, policymakers, media, and the general public at UCSF and internationally". The collection includes the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents and the Drug Industry Document Archive.