Oral history interview with Helga Schmid
- 2000-Jun-14
Helga Schmid begins the interview by discussing the growth of her interest in the world of information. While attending the Vienna University, she studied mathematics and physics and also worked on gaining her teaching certification. However, after meeting her husband, she relocated to Belgium and worked for Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community), where she began training to be a computer programmer. In 1969 she and her family moved back to Vienna and she joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). While there, under the direction of Giampaolo Del Bigio, Schmid helped publish the first INIS (International Nuclear Information System) Atomindex. In 1975, she moved on to AGRIS (International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology) where she worked with varying software and helped the fledgling organization to organize and evolve its technological programs. In 2000, she retired, after rising through the organization to become the head of AGRIS Processing. Schmid concludes the interview by discussing briefly her knowledge of AGRIS in its present state and sharing some of the positive experiences she had throughout her career as a computer analyst.
Access this interview
By request 1 PDF Transcript File and 5 Audio Recording Files
Fill out a brief form to receive immediate access to these files.
If you have any questions about transcripts, recordings, or usage permissions, contact the Center for Oral History at oralhistory@sciencehistory.org.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Interviewee | |
| Interviewer | |
| Sponsor | |
| Place of interview | |
| Format | |
| Genre | |
| Extent |
|
| Language | |
| Subject | |
| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License |
| Rights holder |
|
| Credit line |
|
About the Interviewer
W. Boyd Rayward is a research professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign. He turned to librarianship after graduating in English literature from the University of Sydney. He received his PhD from the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago in 1973. He has held positions in the University of Chicago (where he became Dean of the Graduate Library School). He served as professor and head of the School of Information Library and Archive Studies and Dean of the University's Faculty of Professional Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where he is now professor emeritus. He has published two books related to Paul Otlet, Belgian documentalist and internationalist, and a great many articles on history of national and international schemes for the organization and dissemination of information.
Institutional location
| Department | |
|---|---|
| Collection | |
| Oral history number | 0207 |
| Physical container |
|
Related Items
Interviewee biographical information
| Born |
|
|---|
Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Universität Wien | PhD | Mathematics |
Professional Experience
Euratom
- 1966 to 1968 Postdoctorate Fellowship
- 1966 to 1969 Scientific Programmer
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- 1969 to 1975 Programmer/Analyst for INIS
Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission
- 1975 to 1981 Programmer/Analyst for AGRIS
- 1981 to 2000 Head of AGRIS Processing
Cite as
See our FAQ page to learn how to cite an oral history.