A Brief History: The 1970's

The 1970s was the decade of the hospital library, and many professional hospital librarians joined the Chapter. Developments of the Regional Medical Library Program, especially interlibrary loan programs and consortia formation, greatly influenced our activities and concerns. MEDLINE was born; audio-visuals became commonplace.

Always strong on leadership training, the Chapter nourished many state, regional and national leaders, including four MLA presidents, one of whom, Barbara Coe Johnson, was the first hospital librarian to serve.

Affiliations with Tri-State and later, the Great Lakes Health Congress, came to an end by the middle 1970s. Consortia and other local groups became strong enough to serve as co-sponsors of our annual meetings. MIDLINE replaced the Chapter's old newsletter with the January 1977 issue.

Due to requirements of "MLA's Group Structure" program, we began to use the word Chapter rather than Group in 1977, and started the long process of Bylaws revision. The original document called "Organizational Guide for the Midwest Regional Group of the Medical Library Association, Inc.," accepted in 1957, revised in 1965 and amended several times, was the basis for a thorough revision in 1974, renamed "MRG/MLA Bylaws." In turn, this became the basis for the revision and expansion of our Bylaws, adopted by mail ballot in December, 1980.

These Bylaws called for only one meeting per year, in the fall, with Board meetings each spring and fall. The Board and various committees assumed greater responsibility for carrying on Chapter activities. The annual meeting expanded to three-day events, often preceded by a day set aside for CE courses, a social affair and the Board meeting. Sometimes more CE courses and related activities were added at the end.