As the first black dean at Purdue, Emily Mobley faced challenges with others assuming she was an affirmative action hire, something she addressed in a 2009 interview with the Purdue Exponent:

“Some people thought I was hired because I was black, but I was qualified,” Mobley said. “They didn’t expect that I had the skills, but I proved to people I knew what I was doing.”

Mobley, Dean of Libraries from 1989–2004, provided oversight in moving the system towards the electronic era and pushed for growth of library collections to 2.3 million volumes.

“Before I came to the libraries it was in a bad state, in terms of not being modern,” Mobley said. “I enjoyed being able to work with faculty, staff, and university administration to get the resources to change to a forward thinking.”

In 1997, she was awarded the Esther Ellis Norton Distinguished Professorship in Library Science. Among her accomplishments, Mobley played a crucial role in the acquisition of the addition to the Amelia Earhart Collection to Purdue’s Archives and Special Collections unit, led a two-year renovation of the Humanities, Social Science, & Education Library, and helped the English Department bring a literary leader to campus each semester.

Prior to coming to Purdue, Mobley was library director with General Motors Institute. She also served as a library administrator at Wayne State University, General Motors Research Laboratories, and Chrysler Corporation. Mobley was also a past president of the Special Libraries Association and served on the board of directors for the Association of Research Libraries.