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Longtime art library director dies; Feb. 28 Friends lecture canceled

Posted 2/25/2002

William C. BunceMADISON, Wis. --“Sandboxes,” an “Artists’ Books” program by William C. Bunce on Thursday, Feb. 28, for the Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, has been canceled. Bunce died Saturday, Feb. 23, at his home in Brodhead, Wis. He was the former director of the Kohler Art Library and worked for the university for four decades. He was 65.

Bunce was a student of philosophy and art history at the UW-Madison in the late ‘50s, and earned a library science degree in 1961. As a student, he worked shelving books in the Memorial Library Circulation Department.

He headed the Kohler Art Library from 1966 until his retirement in 1999. Bunce designed the complete layout of the library including the introduction of the first compact shelving to be used in a UW-Madison library.

Bunce also expanded the book collection, adding out-of-print books and rare scholarly texts. The Kohler Art Library opened with 11,000 volumes and within 15 years under Bunce’s direction it grew to a nationally recognized resource of 100,000 volumes.

In a recent magazine article, Bunce said his favorite part of the job was working with students. “I believe students have a richer learning experience if they have hands-on involvement,” he said. “It's one thing to read about a gorgeously bound, hand-printed book on handmade paper and quite another to handle it.” After his retirement, Bunce was named assistant professor emeritus.

A memorial service will be held later this spring on the UW-Madison campus.The Kohler also will be having a program this fall to celebrate Bunce’s work in building an outstanding art
research collection for the citizens of Wisconsin.

For more information, contact the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries, (608) 265-2505, email: friends@library.wisc.edu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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