Estelle Brodman

Estelle Brodman (1914–2007) was an American medical librarian and medical historian. She held positions at Columbia University, the National Library of Medicine and the Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine). Brodman served terms as director of the Special Libraries Association, president of the Medical Library Association, and editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. Under Brodman's leadership, the library at WashU Medicine became known as a leader in the use of computing machines to perform library functions.

Early life Brodman was born in New York City on June 1, 1914. Her father, Henry Brodman, was a physician. Her mother was Nettie Sameth Brodman. She had one brother, Keeve, who became a psychiatrist. She described them as growing up in a "culture of Talmudic scholars" and said that there was an emphasis on intellectual pursuits in her family that influenced her for the rest of her career. Brodman said that she could not relate to those who did not enjoy learning new things.

Earning an undergraduate degree in histology and embryology from Cornell University, Brodman was hoping to go to medical school, but she was not accepted. She recalled with embarrassment that she had entered a library career almost inadvertently while having a quarrel with her mother. When her mother suggested becoming a social worker instead of a physician, Brodman snapped back sarcastically that she would rather become a librarian than a social worker. "Since she was paying for it, that's what I became," Brodman explained. Near the end of her time at the NLM, she worked to formulate the Medical Library Assistance Act, though it did not become legislation until several years after Brodman left the NLM.

After twelve years at the NLM, Brodman left to become Associate Professor of Medical History at the Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) in 1961. She had completed her Ph.D. in 1954. Brodman was promoted to full professor by 1964. Brodman traveled abroad as a consultant and lecturer; she taught librarianship at Japan's Keio University and took a trip sponsored by the World Health Organization to evaluate family planning practices in India. She retired from WashU Medicine in 1981. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Libraries (NACL) to assess the role of libraries in the United States; he appointed Brodman to the group. The NACL recommended the establishment of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. She served on the executive council of the American Association for the History of Medicine and chaired the Biomedical Communication Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Brodman received the MLA's Gottlieb Award (now known as the Erich Meyerhoff Prize) in 1977 in recognition of the best unpublished paper related to the history of medicine. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Illinois. In 1986, the MLA created the Estelle Brodman Award to honor outstanding mid-career academic medical librarians. Brodman died of natural causes in New Jersey in 2007.