Lorraine Pratt joined SRI as an Assistant Librarian in July 1948 and was appointed Librarian in 1950. During her tenure, she met the challenge of providing support to a research institute staff whose disciplines ranged in diversity from economics and engineering to the life and physical sciences. Lorraine was not only instrumental in building a collection of books and journals to support the staff, she also provided services such as literature searching, purchase of publications, and borrowing of books and journals that were not in the library collection. There were few projects at SRI that did not include support from the library.
In 1953 she established branch libraries in Economics, Engineering, and Life Sciences to provide better local and professional support. In 1954 she established an Atomic Energy Commission depository at SRI. A Documents Center was established that included classified and unclassified documents. After this was disbanded, Lorraine assumed control of the Records Center, which included SRI reports and an archives program.
Lorraine's early recognition (1973) of the value of online database systems as a research tool resulted in a savings of both time and money to SRI researchers and consultants. She also recognized automation as a means of streamlining operations within the library. In 1980 she initiated a private file of 55,000 records of SRI reports on DIALOG.
Lorraine recognized the unique character of the library and aligned herself with librarians from Battelle, A.D. Little, SDC, and Rand Corporation. They met annually, sometimes at SRI, to discuss similar challenges within their libraries. She was recognized within the library community and was active nationally and internationally.