Azariah Smith Root

Every book in the Library is a monument to him. In every book in the Library there is indeed, an invisible inscription, written, as it were, by his spirit, which reads thus: - “When you take this book into your hands, you become a friend of mine. More labor than you will ever know has gone into the task of bringing this book to you—labor not mine only, but of my companions. And that labor has been gladly given, for your sake. May the book yield to you all that is best therein! May your vision of life be clearer, for the reading; and may your sense of the human fellowship be deeper and more joyous!”

--Ernest Hatch Wilkins

(Pictured above: article from the Oberlin Review October 4, 1927.)