ObituaryDavid Webb
Submitted on Monday, August 23, 2010
David Webb, Denton, Librarian Emeritus who served as director of libraries from 1953
to 1978 and as director of the library school, died May 4 in Denton. Webb received
bachelor’s degrees from the University of South Carolina and Emory University, a master’s
from the University of Michigan and a doctorate from the University of Chicago. He
was a U.S. Army veteran, serving as a surgical technician in the Aleutian Islands
during World War II. At North Texas, he was influential in developing the libraries
and what became the School of Library and Information Sciences, now the College of
Information. While head of the department of library services, he was instrumental
in achieving accreditation for the academic program in 1965, and he developed the
master’s degree program in 1963. In the libraries, he was responsible for innovations
such as opening the stacks to students and building Willis Library. Memorials may
be made to the Ruth Hammerle Memorial Fund at the UNT Music Library, which he established
in memory of his wife.