Longtime art library director dies; lecture canceled

William C. Bunce, former director of the Kohler Art Library who worked for UW–Madison for four decades, died of a heart attack Feb. 23. He was 65.

Bunce’s lecture “Sandboxes,” an Artists’ Books program scheduled Thursday, Feb. 28, for the Friends of the Libraries, has been canceled.

Bunce was a student of philosophy and art history at the UW–Madison in the late 1950s, 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 campus.