Henriette Avram
| Henriette Avram | |
|---|---|
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| Born | October 7, 1919 New York City |
| Died | April 22, 2006 (aged 86) Miami, Florida |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Known for | Developing the MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging) |
Henriette Davidson Avram (October 7, 1919 – April 22, 2006) was a computer programmer and systems analyst who developed the MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging), the international data standard for bibliographic and holdings information in libraries. Avram's development of the MARC format in the late 1960s and early 1970s at the Library of Congress had a revolutionizing effect on the practice of librarianship, making possible the automation of many library functions and the sharing of bibliographic information electronically between libraries using pre-existing cataloging standards.
Henriette Regina Davidson was born in Manhattan on October 7, 1919, to a father who was a watch material distributor and a mother who was a Philadelphia Ledger reporter. Although she never intended to become a librarian, Henriette did spend many Saturdays of her childhood reading in neighborhood stores, which, at that time, housed mini-public libraries.
Henriette Davidson dreamed of finding a cure for cancer, which was prevalent in her family. She therefore majored in pre-medicine at Hunter College. In 1941, Henriette Davidson married Herbert Mois Avram, who was enlisted in the Navy. By the end of World War II, Herbert Avram was a decorated Lieutenant Commander who had been assigned to both the Atlantic and Pacific Theatres.
The Avrams had three children: Marcie, Lloyd, and Jay, and maintained residence in New York until 1951, when Herbert Avram took a job with the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C. Herbert Avram would also work for the CIA, eventually becoming a pioneer in the digital court reporting industry, which developed Closed Captions for television.
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