William Asp, who brought access to books to many Minnesotans, dies at 77 Asp summed up his cooperative vision in his 2010 interview: No library can have everything that its customers might need. No library can be self-sufficient. July 7, 2021 5:44pm Text size Copy shortlink:
As Minnesota s state librarian for 21 years, William Bill Asp made sure that Minnesotans would have broad access to books.
Under his leadership, Minnesota became one of the few states with comprehensive border-to-border public library service along with a guaranteed source of funding in all counties. He was quite a legend, said Maggie Snow, director of Minitex, a resource-sharing program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and University of Minnesota libraries. Bill mentored a lot of people.