Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Custodial History

MAC officers and committee chairs retained the records of the organization until they were gathered together through the efforts of Diane McKenzie and the MAC Records Task Force.

Separated Materials

Additional records of MAC and its predecessors can be found in the records of the Medical Library Association at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland.

Preferred Citation

Records of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association, Accession #2005/Mar/05, Special Collections and Archives, Health Sciences Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

VCU Health Sciences Library was designated as the depository for MAC/MLA records in 1998.

Collection also contains the following accession numbers: 2001/Nov/15, 2000/Jul/05.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC) of the Medical Library Association (MLA) began on Saturday, March 29, 1952, when eighty-six medical librarians from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia agreed to form the Washington DC, Area Medical Library Group. The three librarians behind this meeting are considered MAC's founders: Estelle Brodman, Scott Adams, and Ida Marian Robinson.

At the second meeting, in 1953, a study committee recommended that the group affiliate with the Medical Library Association, but retain semi-independent status. Passage of the 1964 Library Assistance Act led to grouping Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina together as Region IV. Similarly the Washington area group expanded its boarders to take in North Carolina, formerly associated with a southern group, and West Virginia. In the early years the group had no formal officers although a chair was designated to handle the details of the annual meetings. The meetings rotated between the various states of the group.

At the 1971 annual meeting, the group's name was changed to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Group (MARG). Three years later the group began discussions to establish a more formal organizational framework to coincide with discussions held at the national level. MLA adopted a new group structure in 1979 that brought additional changes for MARG.

In 1981 MARG was reorganized into a chapter, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC). It completed its mandatory three-year test for compliance with MLA chapter guidelines in 1985. The semiannual newsletter, MAC Messages , began in 1984. The newsletter would become quarterly in 1986, then bimonthly in 1990. MAC Messages was published online beginning in 1995.

Additional information on the history of MAC is available on the organization's web site.

Scope and Content

The Collection includes the group's many committee reports (financial, membership, executive, etc.) as well as Board of Directors minutes and publications. The bulk of the collection documents the organization's annual meetings. Included are the packets, schedules, and agendas as well as planning documents for most of the annual meetings. In addition the records include membership roles, course descriptions for professional development and distance education courses, financial records, unit histories as well as copies of the MAC Messages newsletter. The materials date from the mid-1950s to the present. Most of the items dating from before 1974 are photocopies.

Arrangement

The Collection is arranged in three subgroups. Original file designations and collection organization was retained where possible. Collection was compiled from the records of MAC officers and members.

List of Series Subgroup 1: Board of Directors Series 1: Minutes, Working Papers, and Reports Series 2: Minutes of MAC Business Meetings Series 3: Financial and Treasurers Reports Series 4: MAC topic/subject Files Subgroup 2: Standing Committees Series 1: Annual Meeting Subseries 1: Annual Meeting Records Annual Meeting Evaluation Subseries 2: Photographs Subseries 3: Memorabilia Series 2: Membership and Recruitment Committee Subseries 1: Administrative Records Subseries 2: MAC Membership Directory Series 3: Professional Development Committee Series 4: Communication Committee Subseries 1: Administrative Records Subseries 2: MAC Messages Series 5: Honors and Awards Committee Series 6: Strategic Planning Committee Subgroup 3 Other Committees and Task Forces Series 1: Nominating Committee Series 2: Government Relations Subgroup 4 Historical Materials Series 1: Historical Information related to MAC Series 2: MAC/MLA Anniversaries

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Librarians.
• Libraries, Medical -- history.
• Medical Library Association. Mid-Atlantic Chapter
• Medical librarians -- Archives.
• Medical librarianship -- United States.