Roenna Fahrney, director of the Harford County Library for 21 years, died of heart failure Wednesday at a Frederick nursing home. She was 83.
Miss Fahrney led the library system from 1957 until her retirement in 1978. The current director, Irene M. Padilla, credited her with opening branches in Aberdeen, Havre de Grace, Edgewood and Bel Air.
Miss Fahrney also prepared the library system for the age of automation in the 1970s when it switched from card catalogs to a machine-readable database on microfilm, Ms. Padilla said. Miss Fahrney also created a training program for her staff, which evolved into the state-run Library Associate Training Program.
"She took a small rural library system, prepared it, and made it what it is today -- a nine-branch system," Ms. Padilla said.
Miss Fahrney's career as a librarian began after graduation from Hood College in Frederick in 1932. From 1933 to 1941, she worked as a librarian at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. She then worked briefly as a librarian for the Pan-American Union Library in Washington, before moving to the library at Fort Detrick in her native Frederick.
While at Fort Detrick, she studied Russian at Middlebury College in Vermont, subsequently working on a scientific dictionary in English and Russian.
During World War II, Miss Fahrney was a translator in the War Department's Office of Censorship in Miami, translating letters written in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
"She was good in languages," said David Fahrney, a nephew in McLean, Va. He said she learned to speak different languages mainly on her own. For example, she went to Italy in 1938 and learned Italian.
In 1951, Miss Fahrney earned her master's degree in library science from the Simmons College School of Library Science and Information. She was a member of the Maryland Library Association and the Historical Society of Harford County, and of local bird and garden clubs.
A memorial service was to be held at 2 p.m. today at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Abingdon, where she was a member.
In addition to David Fahrney, survivors include two other nephews, Dr. James Tenney of Asheville, N.C., and Dr. Peter Fahrney of Bethesda, and 13 great-nephews and great-nieces.
Contributions may be sent to the St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1 St. Mary's Church Road, Abingdon 21009, or to the Harford County Library, 100 Pennsylvania Ave., Bel Air 21014.