Harry S. Martin (Terry)

Terry Martin (Harry S. Martin III) grew up in Minnesota, graduated from Harvard College in 1965 with an A.B. in History and received a J.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1968. After two years in West Africa with the Peace Corps, where he taught law at the University of Liberia, he returned for his M.L.S. degree at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the only Norwegian-American ever to be offered a minority scholarship.

Martin started his library career at the University of Texas Law School in 1972. He served as the director of the Georgetown University Law Center Library from 1976-1981 and was the director of the Harvard Law School Library from 1981-2008. At Harvard he was a member of the Harvard University Library Council, served on the Committee on African Studies, and chaired the law school’s Journals Committee for many years. From 1986-1991 he chaired the committee that implemented the university’s on-line catalog. From February of 1995 until October of 1997, he led a $36 million renovation of Langdell Hall.

He was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction from 1982-1985. Other professional activities have included serving on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Internet (1986-1990); chairing the Executive Group of the Shared Resources Program for the Research Libraries Group (1994-1995); serving as president of the New England Law Library Consortium (1994-1996); and serving as a member of several law school accreditation teams.

Martin has been active in the American Association of Law Libraries, serving as Chair of the Legislation Committee (1978-1980) and as Chair of the Special Committee on the Location of Headquarters (1986-1987). He was a member of the Nominating Committee (1980-1981); the Executive Board (1982-1985); the National Legal Resources Committee (1985-1988); and the Special Committee on the Renaissance of Law Librarianship (1994-1995). He also served on the Executive Committee of the Section of Law and Computers, Association of American Law Schools (1991-1993) and chaired the AALS Committee on Libraries and Technology in 2004.

After he retired from Harvard. he returned to Austin as the interim director of the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas from August 2008 until September 2010. Having decided that summers in Austin are better than winters in Boston, he now helps coordinate the joint degree program between the University of Texas Schools of Law and Information. He also chairs the advisory board of the China-United States Conference on Legal Information and Law Libraries first held in Beijing in May 2009.

In 2012 the American Association of Law Libraries presented him with its lifetime achievement award.

Martin’s research interests include the international trade in cultural property and digital forms of scholarly communication. He developed the first course in Advanced Legal Research at Harvard and co-taught a course on artificial intelligence and law. For his last ten years at Harvard, he taught a seminar on visual arts and the law, which he continues to teach at Texas. The Harvard Law School Library maintains the oldest and largest collection of art and realia related to the law.

In Massachusetts Martin played principal trumpet in the Charles River Wind Ensemble, solo cornet with the New England Brass Band, and in other community orchestras. He is an active brass player in several Austin ensembles and serves as the president of the Austin Brass Band.