Briscoe Library Founding Director and Health Science Center Professor Emeritus David A. Kronick, Ph.D., died Sunday, Feb. 12, at the age of 88 in San Antonio.
In 1965, Dr. Kronick was named the first library director at the new University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio. The library was later named in honor of Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. A distinguished medical librarian, Dr. Kronick was chief of the reference division of the National Library of Medicine before joining the Health Science Center. He served as the director until 1984 and in 1989 was appointed professor emeritus of Medical Bibliography at the Health Science Center.
“I met Dr. Kronick when I was very young at a library conference,” said Mary Moore, Ph.D., director of libraries at the Health Science Center. “I happened to be seated right next to Dr. Kronick and what could have been somewhat nerve-wracking turned into a delightful evening. He was a man who loved literature, music, theatre and traveling. I was completely blown away at how courtly and cultured he was. I thought to myself ‘if this is what a library director is like, I want to be like this.’ Although I’ll never be able to fill his shoes, he was an inspiration to me and will be missed by all who knew him.”
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| Former Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. and Dr. David Kronick pose for a picture in November 1985 when the library was dedicated to Gov. Briscoe. | |
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Dr. Kronick’s expertise and knowledge of the history and development of scientific journals are reflected in numerous books and articles, including
Scientific and Technical Periodicals of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, The Literature of the Life Sciences: Reading, Writing, Research, and his most recent work,
“Devant le Deluge” and Other Essays on Early Modern Scientific Communication. In 1973, famous Yale scholar Derek De Solla Price wrote to Dr. Kronick: “I feel you are the only one in the world who knows enough about the development of periodicals to understand why they developed and how they developed like they did.” Dr. Kronick’s massive scholarly output and leadership have made an indelible imprint upon medical libraries in Texas and across the nation.
Evelyn Olivier, projects planning librarian, worked with Dr. Kronick when she joined the Health Science Center 30 years ago.
“He was instrumental in creating the Brady Green Library and making it our first branch library,” Olivier said. “He was a great director with a lot of ambitions, but was careful to let the staff find their areas of interest where they felt the most comfortable.”
A memorial service for Dr. Kronick will be held Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m. at Temple Beth-El.
Special thanks to the Briscoe Library for contributions to this article.
