Announcing UW Health Sciences Library Commons
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You’re Invited! HSL Commons Open House October 16, 2025 11am-1pm Stop by the new space for tours and light refreshments anytime between 1-3pm Guided tours start at 11:30 and 12:30pm Husky Card Required To Enter Building |
UW’s Health Sciences Library (HSL) was established in 1949 to support the newly formed School of Medicine (founded in 1946). The library expanded into its current location in 1973, and over the years, the space has seen many transitions–from a collection of 52,000 physical volumes, to housing hundreds of baud terminals (the ancestor of modern computer terminals) and eventually, a small number of Macs and PCs, mostly used by Libraries’ staff. HSL’s first computer lab opened in 1987, significantly expanding access to desktop computers and electronic information for all users. Since then, the HSL has continued to evolve, upgrade and add capacity with increased computers and seating, and spaces dedicated to collaborative work, teaching, presentations, and exams. For more than 75 years, the HSL has been a critical service to UW health sciences, especially when it comes to helping our communities – both on campus, and throughout the region, adapt to and access new pathways to electronic health information.
In 2025 HSL is evolving again with the opening of the newly remodeled Health Science Library Commons! Students, faculty and staff will enjoy a brand new lounge area for collaboration and study as well as a variety of new computer labs and classrooms designed for testing and teaching.
In the HSL Commons Lounge, users will be able to study, eat, or just hang out and relax. There is comfortable seating for groups, round tables and a study “bar” window, all with plenty of outlets.
The lounge also has access to a keycard-accessible wellness room designed for individual use (prayer, rest, pumping, etc.) and an all-gender restroom.
The Commons is the first phase of a multi-year project that includes improvements to approximately 60,000 GSF distributed across classrooms, laboratories, offices, study, special use, general use, and building support for Health Sciences.
There are six different testing and classroom areas. The largest classroom has 115 seats, each equipped with desktop computers. The space can also be divided into two separate classrooms, each equipped with 85-inch monitors, cameras/soundbars and wireless content sharing and collaboration tools. The smaller rooms have seating ranging from 3-8 seats, all with desktop access.
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The changes to the HSL spaces over time have been quite significant, adapting to the needs of the research community, and creating a more welcoming, comfortable and tech-friendly experience for all users. The remodel effort, which began in Spring 2024 and was completed in September 2025, is the first phase of a multi-year project to advance inter-professional instruction and education technologies essential for supporting in-person experiential learning, distance and distributed learning, and meet current and future accreditation requirements for each of the Health Sciences schools. The project scope includes improvements to approximately 60,000 GSF distributed across classrooms, laboratories, offices, study, special use, general use, and building support covering Levels 2 through Level 7 of the Health Sciences Building .
The Library is hosting an open house event on October 16, and all are welcome (with UW ID) to come and explore, mingle with colleagues and tour this amazing new space. We hope to see you there!
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