Associate Professor Emeritus Terry Laverne Weech passed away on June 5, 2025, in Staunton, Virginia. He was the widower of Eunice Hovis Weech, who passed away on October 16, 2022. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Brenda Bruce, and her husband, Timothy, and cousins, Wilber Rehmann and Susan Henry Anderson.
Weech was born on July 8, 1937, in Knox County, Illinois. He graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he majored in philosophy. He earned an MS and PhD in library science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He served as head of the Library Science Department at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus and as an assistant professor in the School of Library Science at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
For over forty years, Weech served as an associate professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (now the School of Information Sciences) at the University of Illinois. He taught a variety of courses in topics such as reference services, government publications, history of LIS, and libraries, information, and society. His research interests included reference services and sources, government information, library administration, library cooperation and networks, library use instruction, and economics of information.
"Terry's work regularly teaching introductory courses for LIS students influenced generations of librarians," said Associate Professor Kate McDowell. "His extensive travels went hand-in-hand with his commitment to introducing students to the experience of professional conferences."
He was honored with a Scroll of Appreciation from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) for his distinguished contribution to the association and the library profession, especially in the internationalization of LIS education. An active member of IFLA, he authored or coauthored numerous research reports and lectured on librarianship and LIS education in more than thirty countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Weech received more than five Fulbright Senior Specialist and similar funded awards for international travel to share his expertise with students, faculty, and practicing librarians.
"I knew of Terry before coming to Illinois because I would assign his work as readings when I taught international librarianship at UCLA, and then I was able to serve with him on the IFLA Section on Education and Training," said Clara Chu, iSchool affiliate professor and director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs. "At Illinois, he contributed to many of the activities of the Mortenson Center, including hosting the associates at his home and meeting with them, and participating in our initiatives. We last collaborated to co-organize the IFLA 2016 Satellite Meeting on 'International Quality Assessment of LIS Education Programs,' which led to the creation of Building Strong LIS Education, a working group of IFLA."
"I first met Terry in 2001, at a conference in Sweden," recalled Professor Emeritus Alistair Black. "The topic was libraries at times of utopian thought and social protest in the 1960s and 1970s. The theme of that event captures the essence of Terry's professional motivation. He was a champion of free speech and emancipation, having worked conscientiously in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was also a committed internationalist, engaging over the decades with IFLA and other international agencies and fostering relations with scholars, students and professionals abroad, thereby enhancing the reputation of the School and indeed his country."
Black added, "Terry had a generous spirit. I will never forget the time he turned up at my apartment in Orchard Downs, the morning after I had arrived on campus to take up my post. I had little idea of the town's geography, bus routes or the location of supermarkets. Without a car, and with a foot of January snow lying on the ground, I jumped at his offer to drive me to buy much needed provisions. I was deeply grateful for his empathy and help, on this and other occasions."
"I’m proud to have been a member of two of the many cohorts of GSLIS [iSchool] students who were able to participate in the annual BOBCATSSS symposium thanks to Terry’s dedication to international library work," said Angela Maycock (MSLIS '06), who serves as a continuing education manager at the Public Library Association. "Terry and I travelled to Prague and Tallinn together and presented our research to an international audience, something I would not have imagined possible without his guidance and support. In later years, we frequently reconnected at receptions for the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award at ALA Conferences and for lunch when he was visiting ALA headquarters for Committee on Accreditation meetings. Terry was wise and warm and generous in sharing his connections across the library world. His kindness extended to when he and Eunice hosted me at their home early in my professional career when I visited campus to speak to the ALA student chapter – one of the many opportunities that Terry helped make possible in my life."
"Terry Weech was a wonderful colleague here at the iSchool and in the national and international library community. He taught a broad range of core LIS courses and was instrumental in securing relationships with library education programs around the world. I will especially miss him in faculty meetings where he always emphasized faculty governance (and more management courses). I hope that we will continue to live out his call for openness and transparency," said Interim Dean Emily Knox.
He and his wife established the Terry and Eunice Weech Intellectual Freedom Endowment Fund at the University of Illinois Foundation to advocate and educate for intellectual freedom. The family requests that memorial donations be made to this fund or to The American Cancer Society. Burial will be private in the family burial plot in the Oneida Cemetery in Oneida, Illinois.