A Brief Excursion in the Wayback Machine

Here in the Duke University Libraries, we’re excited about unveiling our redesigned website next Monday, October 14. If you haven’t already tried out the prototype, you can give it test-drive on our development server.

But before we launch the new site, we thought it would be fun to take a little trip in the Wayback Machine and reminisce about just how far we’ve come. This isn’t our first redesign rodeo, after all.

So join us as we surf back in Internet Time and explore…

Our Library Website Through the Years
(with real archived links!)

1997
J. K. Rowling publishes first Harry Potter book, Titanic hits theaters, Hong Kong becomes part of China again, Princess Diana dies—and our website wins a “Best of the Web” award!

Click on the image to go straight back to 1997!

2001
Gladiator wins Best Picture, Ravens win Super Bowl, Duke Men’s Basketball wins NCAA Championship, 9/11 attacks, Enron files for bankruptcy—and we get Wifi in the library!

Click on the image to go straight back to 2001!

2004
Facebook launches, Ronald Reagan dies, Lance Armstrong wins sixth Tour de France, Red Sox win World Series, Richard Brodhead becomes president of Duke—and we launch a redesigned library website!

Click on the image to go straight back to 2004!

2008
Large Hadron Collider begins operations, U.S. Stock Market plunges, Coach K leads U.S. men’s basketball to gold in Beijing Olympics, Barack Obama elected President—and we released the first mobile version of our website!

Click on the image to go straight back to 2008!

Stay tuned for the next chapter in our online history, going live October 14!