A Newsletter of the Oberlin College
Number 12, May 1995
The Oberlin community was greatly saddened by the untimely death of William A. Moffett, who served as Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries from 1979 to 1990. Moffett died at his home in Pasadena, California on February 20, following a two-year struggle with cancer.
President Nancy S. Dye, in announcing his death to the campus, noted that "Bill Moffett greatly improved the quality of Oberlin's library." Director of Libraries Ray English commented that "his death has taken a gifted librarian who would have continued to have a significant impact on the library profession for years to come."
The list of accomplishments during Moffett's tenure as library director is impressive. In the eleven years he was at Oberlin the quality and service orientation of the library staff was markedly improved, library functions were automated and the first online catalog was installed, support for library acquisitions and collection development was substantially increased, an addition to the Conservatory Library was built and the former library was renovated, and a variety of services in support of the academic program were greatly improved and expanded.
Moffett had an immediate impact on Oberlin from the time he arrived in the Winter of 1979. Alumni who were students at that time remember him as a very visible figure who changed the tone of the Library and the campus dramatically. As but one example, he established a suggestion board, which became colloquially known as the "WAM Board." A forum for lively&emdash;and at times heated&emdash;discussions and debate, the board served as a focal point for Moffett's efforts to make the Library more responsive to student and faculty needs.
Moffett also increased Oberlin's visibility within the national library community. In 1986 he invited over seventy library directors from the nationŐs most selective liberal arts colleges to Oberlin for a conference to discuss common concerns. The event was so successful that it led to the founding of the Oberlin Group, a consortium of leading liberal arts college libraries. Moffett also became an articulate and very effective advocate within the profession for the value of liberal arts colleges and their libraries.
Moffett achieved national notoriety in 1981 when he captured a professional book thief at the Library. The incident was at the time one of the most serious and celebrated cases of library theft. Moffett used the occasion to draw attention to the serious problem of book theft and the need for law enforcement and the library profession to improve their response to the problem.
In 1990 Moffett became director of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. In that capacity he gained international recognition when he opened access to qualified scholars to the Huntington's microform copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls, breaking a long-standing monopoly on scrolls study. One of the nation's most prominent library figures, Moffett was named Academic-Research Librarian of the Year by the Association of College and Research Libraries in 1993. He was the recipient of numerous other awards and honors.
Reaffirming his long-standing affinity with Oberlin, William A. Moffett chose to be buried in Westwood Cemetery. His ashes were interred there on May 5 in a private service. On May 6, following a memorial service at First Church, the William A. Moffett Auditorium on the lower level of Mudd Center was dedicated in his memory.
Contributions in memory of William A. Moffett may be made to either of the following:
William A. Moffett Endowed Library Acquisitions Fund
Oberlin College Library
Mudd Center
Oberlin College
Oberlin OH 44074-1532
William A. Moffett Endowed
Library Acquisitions Fund
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino CA 91108
Table of Contents Library Perspectives, no. 12
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