Azariah Root

Alumnus of Graduated in:=1884, he was Oberlin's first professional librarian from the late 1880s to the late 1920s. After graduating, he converted the library to use the Dewey Decimal System and a card catalog, and vastly expanded its collection:

"Root's return to Oberlin marked the beginning of a new era of professionalism for the library. When he arrived, he was immediately faced with a lack of funds, a library endowment of approximately $19,000, an overworked staff, and an inadequate collection of about 14,000 books and pamphlets. When he died in 1927, his legacy was a library with over half of a million items and an endowment of well over a quarter of a million dollars. ... By 1910, Root had built up the largest academic library in Ohio and the nineteenth largest academic library in the United States. By 1923, Oberlin's was the largest college library in the country and ranked sixteenth among university libraries." [1]

To accommodate the library, he oversaw the construction of Carnegie. He also got rid of the rule prohibiting men and women from using the library at the same time.

In his personal life, he lived at 150 North Professor Street, and was a member of the Anti-Saloon League.

The Root Room, Azariah's café, and the position of Director of Libraries are all named after him.