Bench dedication for Lorraine Ettl at SMHS Oct. 19

For a quarter century Lorraine Ettl was a medical librarian at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Harley E. French Medical Library. Beginning at UND in 1970, Ettl retired in 1995. She passed away in 2017.

To celebrate Ettl’s life and legacy as a resource for students and faculty at the SMHS, a bench and plaque in her name will be dedicated at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 19. The dedication will occur outside on the east patio of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences and will include comments from SMHS librarian Michael Safratowich, who will speak to Lorraine’s dedication to UND and to the students, faculty, and staff that she worked with. Everyone is welcome.

Following the dedication, desserts and refreshments will be served in the SMHS East Atrium.

As her obituary noted, “Lorraine was born on February 24, 1925, in Lakota, North Dakota. Lorraine married Frederick Joseph Ettl and they had four children. She lived in Grand Forks starting in 1949 and resided in the same home on Belmont Road for over 50 years.

“Lorraine graduated in June 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She received her Master’s degree in Library Science from UND shortly thereafter. She worked as a librarian at the UND School of Medicine’s Harley E. French Medical Library from 1970 to 1995.

“As part of her work, Lorraine traveled thousands of miles to small rural communities and 36 Indian Health Service facilities throughout the Dakotas and Nebraska, where she trained 500 health care professionals and students to search medical databases using computers. Because of this important work, she was the 2nd recipient of the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award in 1995. This award was established to recognize outstanding service and contributions to rural and underserved communities by a practicing health sciences librarian. The award is presented annually by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine.

“Lorraine retired from UND in 1995 as the library’s head of public services. After retiring from that position, Lorraine worked at the Altru Cancer Center Library for many years. She also worked at the Chester Fritz Library. She fully retired in 2012.”