Notable Veterinary Medical Librarians
Atha Louise HENLEY (1927-2005)
- 13 years in veterinary librarianship
- Veterinary Medical Librarian and Assistant Professor, Auburn University, 1970-1983
- One of the six veterinary librarians who met at MLA, San Diego, CA, 1972
- Charter member, Veterinary Medical Libraries Section/MLA, 1973
- First chair of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Group/MLA, 1973-1974
- VMLS Archivist, 1989-1996
- Co-author, “Basic List of Veterinary Serials”, 1st Ed., 1978
- Co-author with K. MacNeil and G. Stephens, “[History of] “The Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association: 1972-1998,” MLA, 1999
Major Contributions to Veterinary Librarianship:
Those who were fortunate to know Atha Louise Henley considered her an enthusiastic and loyal supporter of veterinary libraries and one of the early proponents for bringing librarians together for mutual benefit and cooperation.
After earning a B.A. from Missouri Valley College in 1949 and receiving her Masters in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1956, she held positions as Pharmacy-Bacteriology Librarian at The Ohio State University [1955-1960], Science Librarian at the University of Florida at Gainesville [1960-1966], and Librarian at the Division of Plant Industry for the Florida Department of Agriculture also in Gainesville [1966-1970]. While at the University of Florida, she also served as an instructor in the library science program [1963-1965].
On August 1, 1970, Miss Henley assumed the duties of Veterinary Medical Librarian and Assistant Professor at Auburn University, a position she held until 1983. She then became a librarian in the Science and Technology Department of the Ralph Brown Draughton Library at Auburn until her retirement in 1995, but continued to be an active participant within the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of MLA.
Atha Louise supported early efforts to convene veterinary librarians at MLA. She was one of six veterinary librarians who met informally at the MLA meeting at San Diego, California in 1972. The following year at Kansas City, Missouri, she participated with 12 other librarians in an “unofficial” organizational breakfast meeting. Later in the convention, Atha was made chair of the Ad Hoc Steering Committee charged with gaining official recognition from the MLA Board of Directors to establish a special Veterinary Medical Libraries Group (VMLG) within the association. “At the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association in San Antonio in June of 1974, the Veterinary Medical Libraries Group, chaired by Atha Louise Henley, held its first official series of events.”
At the 1976 meeting in Minneapolis, Atha Louise was appointed chair of an Ad Hoc Committee to form a Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials. The result was the approval of the first “Basic List of Veterinary Serials” at the meeting the following year on June 13, 1977 and its publication in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education in 1978. Because of the success of the ad hoc Committee and potential value of the Basic List, a standing committee was established under Trenton Boyd to continue compiling and publishing these lists on a regular basis.
As the result of a 1988 report presented by the Committee to Investigate the Possibility of Writing a History of the Section chaired by Trenton Boyd, Atha Louise Henley was appointed as the first archivist. Her duties would include housing the section’s historical records and drafting a history. Several years later in 1995, “she submitted her manuscript entitled, ‘Establishment and Expansion of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Group/Section of the Medical Library Association 1970 through 1990’ “to the Section Chair. Upon her retirement, Gretchen Stephens assumed the responsibilities as Section Archivist, and worked with Kathrine MacNeil to complete the section history for the upcoming MLA Centennial.
On May 1, 1995, Atha Louise retired from her 45 year career in veterinary and life sciences librarianship and became Librarian III Emerita at Auburn University. Gretchen Stephens noted that VMLS members wanted to “thank Atha Louise Henley for her role in the founding and growth of our organization…”
In additional to her long-time membership in the Medical Library Association, Miss Henley was a member of the Biological Sciences Division of the Special Libraries Association [1958-1995], the American Library Association, and the American Association of University Women.
Selected Publications:
Henley AL. Organization and compilation of a basic list of veterinary medical serials. J Vet Med Educ. 1978;5(3):136-8.
Henley AL. A basic list of veterinary medical serials. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1979 Oct;67(4):405-6.
Henley AL, MacNeil K, Stephens G. The Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association. [Internet]. Veterinary Medical Libraries Section, Medical Library Association; 1999. [cited 6 March 2010]. <http://www.mlanet.org/archive/history/unit-history/veterinary.html>.
Publications about Atha Louise Henley:
Henley, Atha Louise. In: A Biographical directory of librarians in the United States and Canada. 5th ed. Chicago: American Library Association; 1970 p. 472.
Stephens G. Atha Louise Henley. Highlights & News Notes. 1996 spring;37:6-7