Library Love Stories: J. Maurice Travillian

In Memory of J. Maurice Travillian, 1938-2021

Marice Travillian began his library career by driving the bookmobile for the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Missouri. He later served as the state librarian of Iowa and then Maryland.

As the Maryland State Librarian, Maurice was an imaginative and visionary leader. He was passionate about innovation and worked to bring interlibrary loans to all Maryland libraries, and under his leadership, all public library catalogs became digital.

Maurice was an early advocate for the internet and understood that it would provide access to opportunity and resources, especially for underserved people. He was instrumental in developing
“Sailor,” a statewide network that provided the internet to all public libraries in Maryland. This project won national recognition resulting in many awards.

In the words of his daughter, Dr. Britta Ricker, “through his job offering access to information at the state and national levels, (he was) hoping it would lead to upward mobility to the underserved and sharing knowledge more broadly.”

He was a mentor to many of the library leaders in our state today.

Marice Travillian reading to his great grandchildrenMaurice moved to Myersville in the ’90s, and he dreamed of a public library and a small French restaurant coming to town. A Myersville branch was put on the list of libraries to be built. However, it kept getting postponed due to the financial crisis. Maurice was so happy when the library was finally funded and built. He loved to take his grandchildren to the library and read them the books when they got home. He loved retirement because he had uninterrupted time to read during the day. He went to the Myersville Library the day before he died. Maurice was still waiting for the French restaurant.

A memorial gift in memory of Maurice Travillian will be included at the Myersville Community Library. If you would like to contribute to this gift to honor Maruice’s legacy, please visit fcpl.org/support

Each quarter, Frederick County Public Libraries features a story from a library lover. The stories, written by our donors, share their personal accounts of what the library means to them. Are you interested in sharing your love story? Contact our FCPL Development Officer at jel-zeftawy@frederickcountymd.gov.

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