Ralph Papakhian

Arsen Ralph Papakhian (, December 28, 1948 – January 14, 2010) His father, Reverend Souren Papakhian, was a Mushetsi Armenian born in 1897 in the Armenian village of , Bitlis Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day ). His mother, Yeretzghin Shoushanig Papakhian, was a Musalertsi Armenian born in the Armenian village of , Aleppo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire. (present-day ) Souren was Arch Priest at Saint Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church, where Shoushanig was a teacher. Ralph Papakhian earned a Bachelor of Arts in music history, a Master of Music in musicology and music theory (1973), and a Master of Science in librarianship (1973) from Western Michigan University. After completing his education, Ralph began his career in August 1973 as humanities cataloger at the University of Florida in Gainesville before joining Indiana University in Bloomington as music librarian in September 1975 at age 26, where he worked for the rest of his life.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Papakhian was a leader during the transition from card catalogs to online systems. Papakhian was a founding member of the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) in 1978, an organization that develops guidelines for cataloging music using MARC (machine-readable cataloging) standards. MOUG became the first organization to implement a new MARC format prior to its introduction by the Library of Congress, which was hampered by delays in adopting MARC standards for music. Ralph later served as chair of MOUG in 1993–97, The NMP continues to be the leading organization on authority control for music within the Program for Cooperative Cataloging.

Ralph was an early adopter of electronic communication technologies. In 1989, Ralph founded the Music Library Association's MLA-L email list shortly after Indiana University's adoption of the newly created LISTSERV software, and served as MLA-L's listowner. In 1985, Papakhian was promoted to the rank of Full Librarian, Papakhian died in Bloomington, Indiana on January 14, 2010. Papakhian is remembered for emphasizing accuracy, curiosity, and intellectual rigor in cataloging and metadata.

Papakhian was recipient of the Music Library Association (MLA) Award in 1983 and 2002; the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) Distinguished Service Award in 2005; the MLA Citation Award, the MLA's highest honor, in 2008; and the MLA Special Achievement Award in 1992, which was renamed the A. Ralph Papakhian Special Achievement Award in 2011. Indiana University's A. Ralph Papakhian Graduate Scholarship in Music Librarianship, and the Bloomington Community Band's Ralph Papakhian Library Internship.