A catalog of giving — honoring donors to the UVA Library renovation

By Jeff Hill |

In 1989, the University of Virginia Library debuted Virgo (“Virginia Online”), the electronic catalog system that has remained in use ever since. Prior to that the Library, like most at the time, used a card catalog system — cabinets with drawers full of index cards, which users perused to find the call numbers of materials to check out. In 1989, that system amounted to 65 cabinets with 4,000 drawers, holding about 4 million cards. Many of those card catalogs were housed in then-Alderman Library, and although their use dropped off precipitously with the advent of Virgo, they remained in the building until it closed for renovation in 2020.

ALT: Left: Interior of a spacious library lobby with classical architecture and checkered floors as well as card catalog drawers and a central circulation desk. Right: A person searching through card catalog drawers in a library.
Card catalogs in use in Alderman Library’s Memorial Hall in 1938 (left), and 1975 (right).

When the building reopened after the renovation, renamed as Shannon Library, some of those catalog cabinets were repurposed (after the contents were preserved) and used to create a beautiful “donor wall” recognizing those who gave $1,000 or more to the renovation project. The wall is prominently placed just inside the new second-floor entrance to the building, on either side of the central hallway leading into the building’s interior.

Interior of a library featuring a central service desk with a staff member, rows of card catalog cabinets on other side of a hallway, and multiple tables for study in the foreground.

 

Recently, the Library was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for the donor wall concept and execution with a 2025 Circle of Excellence Gold Award. The judges called the wall “a brilliantly creative concept — simple, powerful, and perfectly placed,” and added that “the use of repurposed materials adds charm and sustainability, while the execution makes us think, ‘Where can I sign up?’”

Two images of a large, traditional wooden card catalog in a library, featuring rows of labeled drawers. One shows a view looking at the catalog situated along a hallway illuminated by overhead lights, the other is a closeup shot of some of the drawer faces

 

Thanks to all who have supported the Library, and to all who are represented on the donor wall through gifts to the renovation. If you’re wondering where you can “sign up,” just get in touch with us! The wall has 576 drawer fronts, 486 of which are taken — space still remains.