William “Bill” Studer, director emeritus of The Ohio State University Libraries, died on October 14, 2021, at age 85.
Studer earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Indiana University (IU) and began his career with a special appointment at the Library of Congress. He then returned to IU as associate dean of libraries, focusing on improving service to students and scholars through computer technology. His success at IU led Ohio State to appoint him as director of libraries in 1977, a position he held until he retired in 1999. At Ohio State, Studer championed active and public use of special collections for knowledge creation. Studer was also a founder of the network of academic libraries that became OhioLINK, through which he continued to promote opening access to knowledge.
In the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Studer served on the Board of Directors (1982–1984) and numerous committees and task forces, including the ILL/DD Performance Measures Advisory Committee (1996–1998), Statistics and Measurement Committee (1993–1998, chair 1997–1998), Commission on Preservation and Access Advisory Committee (1989–1991), Committee on Preservation of Research Library Materials (1985–1992, vice-chair 1989–1990, chair 1991–1992), Task Force on Scholarly Communication (1983–1988), Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee (1981–1987), Task Force on National Library Network Development (1979–1983, chair 1983), Task Force on ARL Membership Criteria (1979–1980), and Office of University Library Management Studies Advisory Committee (1977–1980).
Studer’s family will invite friends and relatives to a memorial to celebrate his life and legacy at a later date. The family suggests honoring Studer’s memory with a donation to Cat Welfare Association.
To learn more about Studer’s life and career, see his obituary published in the Columbus Dispatch and The Ohio State University Libraries news release, “Remembering William J. Studer, University Libraries Director from 1977–1999.”
