The library held a memorial service for University Librarian Frank Turner, who died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism Nov. 11, yesterday in Battell Chapel at 11 a.m.

The service was open only to members of the Yale community, and Turner’s colleagues both in the library and the provost’s office shared memories of Turner with each other.

“Many people spoke generously and warmly about Frank, as one would have expected because he was both a warm and generous person,” Acting University Librarian Jon Butler said.

The service, which ended at 1 p.m., was followed by a reception in the Linonia and Brothers reading room of Sterling Memorial library.

The service closed with a reading from one of Turner’s favorite passages of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”

Correction: March 27, 2011

An earlier version of this post misstated the name of “On the Origin of Species.”