HWS News
26 August 2024 HWS Library joins Oberlin Group By Andrew Wickenden '09
The Warren Hunting Smith Library is now part of a national cooperative of leading liberal arts libraries.
This summer, Hobart and William Smith’s Warren Hunting Smith Library became an official member of the Oberlin Group of Libraries.
Comprised of 84 leading U.S. liberal arts colleges, the Oberlin Group is a highly selective, invitation-only, nonprofit consortium focused on library and scholarly publishing issues and related services.
“Being among a group of top-tier liberal arts institutional peers, we are now better poised to promote innovation on our campus and help us engage in informed risk taking from a library standpoint,” says HWS Library Director and Librarian Chuck Vesei. “In the same vein, membership in the Oberlin Group offers opportunities for our staff to collaborate on projects, share knowledge on topics of mutual interest of particular importance to undergraduate liberal arts institutions, and help us learn ways in which we can broaden universal access to scholarship on our campus and beyond.”
Membership in the Oberlin Group provides HWS with important new “opportunities for unified library advocacy, communities of interest, information sharing, cooperative partnerships and ‘deep collaboration’ on tangible projects,” Vesei says.
Through the rigorous application process, which was supported by the Office of the Provost, the Oberlin Group assessed the distinctive collections and innovative services the library offers to Hobart and William Smith’s scholarly community.
“Our collection in East Asian history and culture is particularly large for an institution the size of HWS and some of our choice pieces in special collections include a first edition of Hobbes’ Leviathan and a 1495 edition of Higden’s Polycronicon,” Vesei explains.
As HWS joins only 10 other New York liberal arts institutions in the Oberlin Group, the membership “serves as yet another indicator of the high-quality programs and resources we have here at HWS,” he adds. “I am excited by future opportunities for us to benefit from a network that offers new perspectives, ideas and other collaboration opportunities with some of the best libraries out there.”
Among its other benefits for members, the Oberlin Group focuses on enhancing cooperative interlibrary loan agreements, forming consortia contracts with vendors, and advancing support for open access initiatives. Through HWS’ membership, the Warren Hunting Smith Library and its staff join a national network that gathers each fall for training and an exchange of ideas and opportunities.
