Henriette D. Avram; Transformed Libraries

The current generation of the system, MARC 21, is the basis for library catalogues around the world, in more than a dozen languages. It remains essentially the same program that Mrs. Avram designed four decades ago.

"Henriette Avram transformed libraries in the age of automation," said Deanna Marcum, associate librarian of Congress, in an e-mail. "Joining the Library of Congress at a time when information technology and librarianship had hardly begun to intersect, she immediately saw the potential of computers to create a networked global library catalog. Rather than warehousing books as in the past, libraries today are centers of information technology and communications hubs for entire communities, thanks to Henriette Avram's vision and energy."

Henriette Davidson Avram was born in New York City on Oct. 7, 1919. She had early ambitions of being a doctor and was a pre-med student at Hunter College in New York for two years in the 1930s.

She and her family moved to Arlington in 1951 and later settled in Silver Spring. Her husband, who worked for the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, helped her land a job at the NSA in 1952, even though she lacked a college degree and had spent the previous 11 years as a homemaker. From then on, Mrs. Avram proved herself more than adept in what was an almost exclusively male preserve.

She took advanced mathematics courses at George Washington University in the 1950s and spent seven years at the NSA as a systems analyst and programmer in one of the country's early computer research efforts. She later joined a software firm, Datatrol.

"Learning programming in those days was not like it is today," she said in 1989. "You were on your own with far less than perfect tools to learn from. The men -- women -- were quickly separated from the boys, and the numbers of people that made it through to become programmers were few indeed."

After completing the initial MARC program at the Library of Congress in 1968, Mrs. Avram led seminars at libraries across the country, as her system was adopted nationwide. It became the international standard in 1973.

Later in her career at the Library of Congress, Mrs. Avram continued to make refinements in the MARC system and in computerized library networks. When she retired in 1992 as associate librarian for collections services, she supervised a staff of 1,700 and was responsible for many of the library's networking and automation functions.

"She could best be described as a dynamo," said Wiggins from the Library of Congress. "She was a very small lady, but she wielded such power. There was something about Henriette Avram that instilled loyalty and respect."

After moving to southern Maryland in 1992, she and her husband became fixtures at St. Mary's College, where she often arranged speaking engagements by Library of Congress officials. Mrs. Avram received many honors from national and international library associations and was awarded three honorary doctorates.

Her husband of 64 years, Herbert Avram, died Jan. 15.

Survivors include three children, Marcie Avram of New York City, Lloyd Avram of Key West, Fla., and Jay Avram of Arlington.