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'''Martha E. Williams''' (September 21, 1934 - July 5, 2007) was an American information scientist best known for her work in online databases and information retrieval systems.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_E._Williams] Williams edited the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) for 25 years and served as President of ASIS (1987-1988).

Photo Available @ https://www.donnellanfuneral.com/obituaries/Martha-E-Williams?obId=7468795

== Life ==

Martha Ethelyn Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1934 to Harold and Alice Williams. She had four siblings and attended a Catholic high school. Williams received her A.B. in chemistry in 1955 from Barat College, then an all-women's institution, in Lake Forest, Illinois. She received her M.A. in philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago in 1957.

== Contributions ==
Williams began her career as a chemist at the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI) in Chicago in 1957 and worked there for 15 years, including ten as manager of information sciences. Additionally, Williams became director of the Computer Search Center as she secured funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and began research into database searching applications.[https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flac.0.0121] Beginning in the 1960s, Williams worked largely in database development, becoming a computer database specialist. Williams helped create computer-readable databases and developed a search algorithm to assist in online searching. Using ongoing NSF grants, Williams worked on projects that included database mapping models, search schemes for resource sharing, a database selector for network use, an integrated man/machine interface to facilitate network resource utilization, automatic duplicate detection of journal articles appearing in multiple databases, and comparative analyses of online retrieval interfaces. Williams pioneered online database research and the development of better search applications, especially in scientific databases.

In 1972, Williams was asked to join the teaching staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a research professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory of the College of Engineering. There, Williams founded and ran the Information Retrieval Research Laboratory (IRRL). In 1974 Williams was selected as the successor to Carlos Cuadra, the editor of the first ten volumes of ''ARIST''. She served as Editor of ''ARIST'' for 25 years (1975-2000).

Williams retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001. In retirement she designed and was general contractor for her home on the lakefront of Lake Michigan near Port Washington, Wisconsin, where she died after a short illness in 2007.

== Publications ==

* Williams, Martha E. (1977). “'''Education and Training for Online Use of Data Bases'''.” Journal of Library Automation 10(4): 320-334.
* Bjørner, Susanne & Stephanie C. Ardito. (2003). "Online Before the Internet: Early Pioneers Tell Their Stories Part 3: Carlos Cuadra". ''infotoday.com''.[https://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct03/CuadraWeb.shtml]
* Committee for a Study on Promoting Access to Scientific and Technical Data for the Public Interest (Martha E. Williams, Member). (1999). ''Proceedings of the Workshop on Promoting Access to Scientific and Technical Data for the Public Interest: An Assessment of Policy Options''. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/9693.
* "Williams on the online industry". (1991). ''Library Systems Newsletter''. '''11''' (09).[https://web.archive.org/web/20241217203737/https://librarytechnology.org/document/4966/]
* Williams, Martha E. (1985-04-26). "Electronic Databases". ''Science'' 228 (4698): 445–450. doi:10.1126/science.3885395
* Williams, M. (25 June 1975). "Educational and commercial utilization of a chemical information center". ''National Science Foundation Office of Science Information Service''.[https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED068132.pdf]
* Williams, M. (April 1975). "The impact of machine-readable data bases on library and information services". ''National Commission on Libraries and Information Science''.[https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED114103.pdf]
* Williams, Martha E. (1975). "Overview of the NAS/NRC Conference on Large Data Bases". Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences 15(1): 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1021/ci60001a002

== Awards ==

* President, American Society for Information Science (ASIS), 1987-1988
* ASIST Award of Merit, 1984
* Chairman of the board of directors, Engineering Information Inc., 1981-1989
* Chairman of the board of regents, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1981-1982
* Editor, Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), 1975-2000
* President, Association for Information and Dissemination Centers (1975-1976; 1976-1977)
* Chairman, Large Database Subcommittee of the Committee on Chemical Information, National Academy of Sciences (1971-1973)[https://doi.org/10.1353/lac.0.0121]

== Papers ==

* The "Martha E. Williams Papers, 1934-1994" are housed at the University of Illinois Archives: https://archon.library.illinois.edu/archives/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=5709
* See also an item in the Henriette D. Avram MARC Development Collection at the Library of Congress: https://findingaids.loc.gov/repositories/29/archival_objects/4988797

== Further Reading ==

* Smith, Linda C. & Tenopir, Carol (2010). "Martha E. Williams: Pioneer Information Scientist and Online Industry Guru". ''Libraries & the Cultural Record'' 45(2): 185–209. doi:10.1353/lac.0.0121.[https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flac.0.0121]
* "Martha E. Williams". Wikipedia. 2026.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_E._Williams]
* "Martha Williams Obituary - IL". ''Chicago Tribune''. 2007.[https://www.chicagotribune.com/obituaries/martha-e-williams-il/]