MLA Oral Histories
The MLA Oral History Project conducts and preserves interviews that help illuminate the history of health sciences librarianship and of MLA.
MLA Oral History Project Manual, 8th Revised Edition
The MLA Oral History Project conducts and preserves interviews that help illuminate the history of health sciences librarianship and of MLA. The members of the MLA History Committee have worked to update the Oral History Project Manual, 8th Revised Edition, as well as create an Oral History Member Toolkit to aid members in future interviews and histories. Join us in preserving our history.
Original recorded interviews and transcripts are kept in the MLA archives. Edited transcripts are available on MLANET or through interlibrary loan from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM). These volumes also include biographies, and in many cases photographs and CVs, of the interviewees.
To access a complete oral history published since 2016, click on the Published Oral History link at the bottom of the interview summary (coming soon). Forty-three histories completed prior to 1998 can be found published in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, volume 86, numbers 2-4, 1998. To borrow print copies of earlier histories, contact your regional medical library through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM), or contact MLA HQ at info@mlahq.org.
Section and Chapter Oral Histories
- FAQs for MLA Chapters Starting Oral History Programs (coming soon)
- Chapter/Section Oral Histories
- Southern Chapter Oral History Project
- Cancer Librarians Section Oral History and 1997 Update (for Cancer Librarian Section Members Only)
- Veterinary Medical Libraries Section, Notable Veterinary Medical Librarians
List of Interviewees
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Adams, Scott (AHIP, FMLA)*
Posted on: January 1, 2024 Edited by: Interview by: Carol Fenichel on March 20, 1980 Number of pages: 115 Leaves Scott Adams worked at the Army Medical Library and the National Library of Medicine from 1945 to 1959 and from 1960 to 1970 and was intimately involved in the development of MEDLARS. He served as…
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Allen, Beverly Elizabeth
Posted on: August 17, 2023 Edited by: Sandra Franklin, AHIP, FMLA – Sonya Lemke, AHIP – Beverly Murphy, AHIP, FMLA Interview by: Sandra Franklin, AHIP, FMLA on January 21, 2019 Number of pages: 17 Throughout her long and distinguished career, Beverly Allen was a mentor, strong role model, and fierce advocate for the library. She…
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Anderson, David C.
Posted on: January 2, 2024 Edited by: Interview by: on Number of pages: David C. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 1952 from the University of California–Berkley, followed in 1953 by a bachelor’s of librarianship. His military service was spent with the Special Category Engineers Army With Airforce (SCARWAF), an army engineer…
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Anderson, Rachael K. (AHIP, FMLA)
Posted on: January 3, 2024 Edited by: Interview by: on Number of pages: After receiving a master’s in library service at Columbia University in 1960, Rachael Anderson took her first library position at the College of the City of New York as cataloger. In 1964, she moved to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and…
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Anderson, Rachael K. (AHIP, FMLA) and Bunting, Alison (AHIP, FMLA): Joint Interview
Posted on: January 4, 2024 Edited by: Interview by: on Number of pages: Rachael Anderson and Alison Bunting served on the Medical Library Association Board of Directors, with their terms overlapping for two years, 1983–85. They also worked together in the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) and other activities. This joint interview represents…