MARC Creator Henriette Avram Dies at 86

-- Library Journal, 5/5/2006

Henriette Avram, credited with the development of the MARC (machine readable cataloging) standard in 1968, which fostered electronic catalog access and interlibrary loan, died April 22 at the age of 86. Though Avram was a systems analyst by training, not a librarian, her work at the Library of Congress (LC) revolutionized access to library materials. After working at the National Security Agency in Washington, DC, sheworked at a software firm before joining LC in 1965. MARC was adopted at LC by 1970; bibliographic records were sent to libraries on magnetic tape. It became the international standard by 1973 and, within a decade, was adopted by most large libraries. Avram continued to make refinements in MARC until she retired in 1992. At that time she was associate librarian for collections services, supervising a staff of 1700, with responsibility for much of LC’s networking and automation functions. In 1997, she was awarded Honorary Life Membership in the American Library Association.