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PROFILES

Paul H. Buck, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and former Harvard University provost, dean, library director, and university professor, died in Cambridge on December 23, 1978.

During more than fifty years at Harvard, Buck was Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (1942- 53), provost of the university (1945-53), and, following three years as head of the University Library, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor, director of the Harvard University Library, and librarian of Harvard College (1958-64).

Nationally, he had been a member of the Commission on Financing Higher Education, a founder and director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and chairman of its board of directors, chairman of the Ford Foundation’s Committee on the Role of Education in American History, and a member of the United States Commission on the Humanities and chairman of its Committee on Library Needs.

He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1938 for his Road to Reunion, 1865-1900, a study of Reconstruction after the Civil War.

As Librarian, Buck stressed the central role of the university library in education and research. During his nine years in librarianship, the Harvard Library increased by 1,400,000 volumes; its financial position was strengthened; new or greatly enlarged quarters were provided for ten units of the library system; construction began on the Countway Library of Medicine; and preliminary plans were made for the establishment of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library near Harvard.

Buck strengthened the library staff and sought new recognition for its role within the university, and he introduced a plan for internship to attract well-qualified men and women to librarianship.

The six-point credo that he stated at the beginning of his administration has been widely quoted:

“First, the library is the heart of education. Every educational advance depends upon its resources, and, in large measure, the degree of the advance is proportionate to the potential of the library to respond. Second, methods and fashions in education change from generation to generation, but each generation uses the library as a means of realizing its aims; hence, the library remains the great conservator of learning. Third, a quality education is impossible without a quality library. Fourth, you cannot have a quality faculty without a quality library. Fifth, a library is vital to proper exploitation of our intellectual resources. Sixth, the library is essential to mainte- nance of free access to ideas and to the function- ing of the untrammeled mind.’’

A collection of Buck’s writings on library mat- ters, Libraries and Universities, was published in 1964.

William A. Moffett

William A. Moffett, director of libraries at the State University of New York College at Potsdam, has been named the Azariah Smith

Root Director of Librar- ies at Oberlin College, effective February 1. At Oberlin he will direct one of the nation’s largest college librar- ies, located in the $10,000,000 Seeley G.

Mudd Learning Center, completed in 1974.

Moffett goes to the Oberlin position with a background that in- cludes extensive experi- ence as a writer and re- searcher in a broad variety of academic and research libraries in this country and abroad and as an educator and an administrator. He has served as director of librar- ies at Potsdam since 1974 and has been chairman of the Council of Head Librarians of the State University of New York.

A specialist in British political history, Moffett is a 1954 graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University. He has taken further advanced study in history at the University of London and in economics at the University of Nebraska. He holds the master’s degree in library science from the Simmons College School of Library Science.

His teaching experience also includes service at the University of Massachusetts in 1968-74 and at Alma College from 1964 to 1968.

Moffett has contributed reviews and review essays to numerous journals in his field, among them the American Historical Review, History, The Historian, Library Journal, College & Research Libraries, and Microform Review. His current interests include a study of Henry Dundas and the Tory Party and the decline of the bookman in academic library management.

Moffett has held fellowships or grants from Duke University, the Martin Cannon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Defense Education Act.

He is a member of the American Historical Association, American Library Association, and the Association of College and Research Libraries.

John C. Broderick, chief of the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, has been appointed assistant librarian of Congress for research services, effective January 1. Broderick has been on the staff of the Library since 1965.

As assistant librarian for research services, Broderick will head one of the major operational programs of the Library, providing leadership and policy and administrative direction and coordinating the activities of the seventeen divisions that make up the Offices of Area Studies, Special Collections, and General Reference, as well as the Preservation Office. In this capacity, he is also responsible for the broad oversight of the reader, reference, and specialized research services, control and maintenance of the collections, and organization of public programs related to the Library’s collections.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Broderick earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Southwestern at Memphis in 1948 and both a Master of Arts degree and a doctorate at the University of North Carolina in 1949 and 1953, respectively.

During World War II, he studied Japanese language and culture in the U.S. Army Language Program at Yale University. He has taught English and American literature at the Universities of

North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia and Wake Forest University.

He served as assistant chief of the Library’s Manuscript Division from 1965 to 1975, when he was promoted to chief of the division. Since 1964 he has also served as adjunct professor of English and consultant in bibliography at George Washington University.

A specialist in nineteenth-century American literature, Broderick has published articles and studies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry D. Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, among others. He is a member of the editorial board of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau (Princeton University Press) and general editor for Thoreau’s Journal.

Broderick has received various awards and grants, including a Council on Library Resources fellowship in 1971, which took him to twenty-two U.S. libraries and historical societies to study the history, development, and service of selected major collections of Americana. His findings were the basis of an article, “Locating Major Resource Collections for Research in American Civilization” (American Studies, Spring 1972), and a paper on “Archives of Literature and Art” delivered at the International Congress on Archives in Moscow, USSR, in August 1972. He contributed the biography of John Russell Young to the publication, Librarians of Congress 1802-1974, and the article on Young in the recently published Dictionary of American Library Biography.

Editor s Note: This profile of Mrs. Aroeste first appeared in longer form in the November 1978 issue of theUCLA Librarian under the headline “Jean Aroeste Departs for Princeton.”

Whatever the effect of Proposition 13 on the services of the UCLA Library, the Princeton University Library has succeeded in diminishing our luster in a more emphatic way. At the end of December, Mrs. Jean Aroeste left the Reference Department, which she joined in 1962, to head the General Reference Division of the Princeton University Library.

Mrs. Aroeste has been assistant head of the department since 1973. She is not only superbly knowledgeable but is imaginative, resourceful, and relentless in her pursuit of elusive facts and citations for our library users. At the request of faculty members, she has presented to graduate students bibliographic lectures on a variety of subjects, and the results always have been that the students addressed were transformed into enthusiastic bibliographic sleuths. This particular talent received further recognition when Mrs. Aroeste was appointed lecturer in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Other endeavors of note include the editing of the Annual Register of Grant Support for three years, serving as an editorial consultant to Academic Media for their reference publications, editing New Reference Books at UCLA from 1968 to 1975, and, more recently, being elected president of the Librarians Association of the University of California (Los Angeles division).

Although it would seem impossible for even a most distinguished librarian to do any more, it must be mentioned that Mrs. Aroeste wrote two of the most memorable “Star Trek” screenplays ever produced: All Our Yesterdays, which is an astounding forecast of the role of librarians in the future, and Is There in Truth No Beauty?, a spellbinding drama of what it takes to be an ambassador to a Medusan.

As might be imagined, Mrs. Aroeste’s colleagues have come to rely upon her for relevant, witty captions to the Star Wars calendar (which comes very close to depicting life in the library) and for the style and humor with which she graces all of her efforts. Even her letter of resignation was a work of art, and the tribute that she paid to her colleagues in the department deserves quotation:

If I were asked to describe this outfit, I could perhaps come close by saying that it combines the skill and reliability of a crack mountaineering team with the individuality and wit of the MASH 4077.—Ann Hinckley.

APPOINTMENTS

Christiana T. Austin—catalog librarian—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Vicki Sue Betts—reference librarian—Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

Dora Biblarz—acting assistant dean for library collections—University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Martha Boaz—research associate, Center for Study of the American Experience, Annenberg School of Communications—University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Edwin Brownrigg—director, library automation—University of California, Berkeley.

Elaine Caruso—research associate professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences—University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Kenneth R. Casstevens—coordinator of media center—Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

Virgil Crisafulli—cataloger—Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Washington, D.C.

Westwell Daniels—senior reference librarian, Law Library—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Susan DeGrange—assistant reference librarian—Georgia Southern College, Statesboro.

Ellen Detlefsen—associate professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences—University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Cynthia B. Emens—assistant head of technical services—Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Peter J. Fay—head librarian, Performing Arts Library—John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

Beverly Feldman—reference librarian, College Library—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Janice C. Fennell—director of libraries and associate professor of library science—Georgia College, Milledgeville.

Jeanne P. Ferris—reference librarian, Sterling Memorial Library—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Sara Fine—associate professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences— University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Janet Freedman—university librarian— Southeastern Massachusetts University, North Dartmouth.

R. Kenny Fryer—reference librarian, Medical Library—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Roger Greer—dean, Library School— University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Laurel A. Grotzinger—dean of the graduate college—Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.

Cherie Haitz—coordinator, NERMLS, Countway Library of Medicine—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Lee T. Handley—technical director— Southeastern Library Network, Atlanta, Georgia.

James L. Hansen—reader services librarian— State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison.

C. Olene Harned—university librarian— Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

Carolyn R. (Beth) Holley—catalog librarian—Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Charles W. Husbands—acting head, Office of Systems Planning and Research, University Library—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Tevis L. Kimball—rare books cataloger— Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Virginia M. Kosanovic—librarian, Physics Library—Stanford University, California.

Jeffry K. Larson—humanities bibliographer—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Ross Ljungquist—cataloger, Countway Library of Medicine—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dale Manning—assistant to the director, Mercy College Libraries—Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Steve R. Marquardt—head, resources and technical services division—Ohio University, Athens.

Guy Thomas Mendina—assistant to head of circulation, Sterling Memorial Library—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Joyce F. Morrison—catalog librarian—Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

J. Gail Nicula—associate head, reference department—Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Evelyn Riché Olivier—learning resources center librarian, Health Science Center— University of Texas, San Antonio.

Baira K. Ozols—publications librarian, Law School Library—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ruth J. Patrick—assistant director of university libraries—Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

Phyllis Platnick—head, Leslie Frost Library, Glendon Campus—York University, Downs view, Ontario, Canada.

Anne Dale Rees—science/technology reference specialist—Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Susanne F. Roberts—romance languages bibliographer—Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Richard Rosinski—research associate professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences—University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Ann C. Schaffner—assistant acquisitions/ serials librarian, Countway Library of Medicine—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Margaret S. Smith—library instruction librarian—Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Patricia Little Taylor—reference librarian—Virginia State Library, Richmond.

Nancy G. Vaupel—head, User Services Department—Biosciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Celine F. Walker—chief, Science Department—Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California.

Mary Lois Whiteman—acquisitions librarian—Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

Edith B. Willett—reference librarian, Cabot Science Library—Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ann Williams—reference librarian—Texas Eastern University, Tyler.

John A. Wolter—chief, Geography and Map Division—Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

RETIREMENTS

Arthur L. De Volder, professor of librarianship and director of special projects, General Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, retired December 15, 1978.

Louise Keller, coordinator of technical services, Detroit Public Library, retired January 2 after twenty-five years of service.

John E. Smith, university librarian, University of California, Irvine, retired January 5 after more than twenty-two years of service.

John Trevennen, assistant librarian, information desk, California State University, Long Beach, retired January 2 after seventeen years of service.

DEATHS

Harry P. Harrison, head of the circulation department, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, died on June 16, 1978. A memorial book fund was established in his name. Contributions may be sent to: Mr. Rutherford D. Rogers, Yale University Library, Box 1603A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520. Checks should be made out to: Yale University Library—Harrison Memorial Fund.

Martin Schmitt, curator of special collections, University of Oregon, died on November 22, 1978. Mr. Schmitt was an author and an expert on western history. ■■