Susan Katherine Martin (born 1942) is an American librarian. She has worked as a university librarian and was executive director of the

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) was an agency in the United States government between 1970 and 2008. The activities of the Commission were consolidated into the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Record ...

Early life

Martin was born in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of ...

in 1942. Her parents were pianist Jolan (née Schonfeld) and

Egon Orowan Egon Orowan FRS () (2 August 1902 – 3 August 1989) was a Hungarian-British physicist and metallurgist.Nabarro, F.R.N. and Argon, A. S.Egon Orowan. 1901—1989: A Biographical Memoir" Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1996. p. 2 ...

, a native of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

.Nabarro, F.R.N. and Argon, A. S.
Egon Orowan. 1901—1989: A Biographical Memoir
. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1996. p. 261-262. Both of her parents fled

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

because of their Jewish ancestry, reuniting and marrying in England. Her family moved to

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

in the United States in 1950, and she became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in 1961.Nabarro, F.R.N. and Argon, A. S.
Egon Orowan. 1901—1989: A Biographical Memoir
. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1996. p. 298. Her father was a noted professor of mechanical engineering at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. She graduated from Belmont High School in 1959. Martin attended

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, graduating with a B.A. in romance languages in 1963. She received a Master of Library Science from

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University Simmons University (previously Simmons College) is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1899 by ...

in 1965. She interned at the

Harvard College Library Harvard Library is the network of libraries and services at Harvard University, a private Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Library is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic librar ...

from 1963 to 1965. She attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, receiving a Ph.D. in library and information science in 1983.

Career

Martin worked as a systems librarian at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1963 to 1973. She was the head of library systems office at Berkeley at the

University of California, Berkeley Libraries Twenty-seven constituent and affiliated libraries combine to make the library system of the University of California, Berkeley the sixth largest research library by number of volumes in the United States. As of 2024, Berkeley's library system h ...

from 1973 to 1979. Next, she was the director of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

from 1979 to 1988. In 1984, Martin became the Samuel Lazerow distinguished lecturer at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

. She was the executive director

from 1988 to 1990. For this position, she was responsible for developing legislation and advising the executive and legislative branches about the needs of the libraries. She also directed and planned national library and information science programs with state, local, and private organization. Martin was the university librarian of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

from 1990 to 2001. In 2001, she became the president of SKM Associates, a library management consulting firm. In September 2002, she became a part-time visiting program officer for scholarly communications with the

Association of College and Research Libraries The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes library, libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th ...

. Martin became a fellow in the

Council on Library Resources The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

in 1973. In 1994, she was elected president of the

. She was also president of

Library and Information Technology Association The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) was a division of the American Library Association (ALA), focusing on the intersections of Library, libraries and information technology. Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Chicago, LITA ...

and the Universal Serials and Book Exchange. She was an

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

delegate to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in November 1976. She has written numerous articles and monographs on library automation. She was the editor of the ''Journal of Library Automation'' from 1973 to 1977 and an was on the board of consultants for ''Library Issues: Briefings for Faculty and Administrators''.

Awards and honors

Martin received the Simmons College Distinguished Alumni Award in 1977. When she retired from Georgetown in 2001, members of the Library Advisory Council established The Susan K. Martin Fund for Innovative Information Technologies in her honor. In addition, Thomas J. Healey family established The Susan K. Martin, Ph.D., Fund for Science Fiction Award Collections at Georgetown in her honor in 2001.

Personal life

She married David S. Martin of

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

in June 1962. He was the dean of School of Education at Galludaet University. She became one of the first female members of the

Cosmos Club The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C., that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, ...

in 1988. She donated her father's papers to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries The library system of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Libraries) covers all five academic schools comprising the university. The print and multimedia collections of the MIT Libraries include more than 5 million items, with over ...

Selected publications

* ''Library Networks, 1986-87: Libraries in Partnership'' (''Professional Librarian Series''). Boston: G. K. Hall, 1986. * "Academic Library Fund-Raising: Organization, Process, and Politics". ''

Library Trends ''Library Trends'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal founded in 1952 and published quarterly by the Johns Hopkins University Press. It covers international developments and future directions in the fields of library A library is a ...

'' vol. 48, no. 3 (2000). * "The Use of Hypertext for Orientation: the NCLIS Approach". ''Essen Symposium''. pp. 57–69, 1989 * Keeping the Pace with the Users". The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 20, no. 4 (September 1994): 225-225. * "The Profession and Its Leaders: Mutual Responsibilities". ''

The Journal of Academic Librarianship ''The Journal of Academic Librarianship'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers all topics dealing with academic libraries. The journal publishes book reviews, analytical articles, and bibliographic essays. It was established in 1975 and ...

,'' vol. 22, no. 5 (September 1996) * "Clinging to ''Status: The Attitude of Librarians to the Non-MLS Staff". ''

'', vol. 23, no. 3 (May 1997) * "The Changing Role of the Library Director: Fund-raising and the Academic Library". ''

'', vol. 24, no. 1(January 1998): 3-10 * "A New Kind of Audience". ''

'', vol. 24, no. 6 (November 1998): 469-469 * "Visions - When Vision Encounters Reality: A Professional Dilemma". ''

,'' vol. 25, no. 3 (May 1999).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Susan K. 1942 births People from Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont High School (Massachusetts) alumni Tufts University alumni Simmons University alumni University of California, Berkeley School of Information alumni Harvard Library University of California, Berkeley people Johns Hopkins University people Drexel University faculty Georgetown University people American women editors American women librarians 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women writers American women academics Naturalized citizens of the United States Living people