Foster Edward Mohrhardt (1907-1992) was named director of the library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1954 and during his 14 years as Director, the library was transformed into the National Agricultural Library (NAL). He played an active part in improving the system through the use of information technology, structural reorganization, and expansion of goals. Accomplisments includes construction of the library's building in Beltsville, Maryland ; the initiation of computerized cataloging and indexing (1965), the antecendent to the library's AGRICOLA database; the publication of the library's card catalog in book form; and the development of the library's first agricultural thesaurus. President of the American Library Association from 1967-1968, Mohrhardt also presided over several organizations in the field of research as well as founded the International Association of Agricultural Librarians and Documentalists.
From the description of Foster Edward Mohrhardt papers : [manuscript], 1934-1968. 1934-1968. (National Agricultural Library). WorldCat record id: 688493201
