MARC Creator Henriette Avram Dies at 86

Lynn Blumenstein -- School Library Journal, 5/3/2006

Henriette Avram, who developed the MARC (machine readable cataloging) standard in 1968, died on April 22 in Miami at the age of 86. Avram, who was not a librarian by training, created the first automated cataloging format at the Library of Congress (LC) almost 40 years ago. Her efforts forever changed how bibliographic information is accessed, leading the way to remote sharing and anytime access.

Avram landed a job at the National Security Agency in Washington, DC, in 1952, spending seven years there, where she learned to be a systems analyst and programmer. She then worked 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.