Martin was born in Annieville, Arkansas, on June 28, 1914, to Carleton Gayle Dent and Ethel (McCaleb) Dent.[2] After graduating from high school in 1932, she went on to earn several degrees. She earned a B.A. in foreign languages & English from Arkansas College in 1935 and a B.S.inLibrary Science in 1939 from Peabody College.[2] She later earned an M.S. in Library Science in 1949 from Columbia University.[4]
She married Ralph F. Martin, a journalist, on October 6, 1937.[2]
Martin began working in a junior college in Little Rock, Arkansas.[2] She joined the Arkansas Library Commission as an assistant to the executive secretary.
She started working at the Tulsa Library in 1949 and became the director of the Tulsa City-County Library in 1963.[4][5] Later she elected president of committee in 1945 and president of the ALA in 1975. She died in Tulsa on April 11, 1976.[6]
Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Council on Library Resources in 1972, Allie Beth Martin prepared a report on whether the library meets the needs of its patrons. The report,[7]outlined steps that libraries should take in order to transition into the 21st Century and keep up with library's changing roles in society.[7]
After doing the preliminary study, Martin wrote the book, A Strategy for Public Library Change, which sparked a movement of library improvement programs all across the country.[8]
