John Patrick McGowan was was Northwestern University Library's (NUL) first Associate Librarian, and held the position of head librarian for 20 years. Under McGowan's leadership, NUL developed NOTIS, an online library system which revolutionized the creation and presentation of catalog records for library materials. McGowan retired from NUL in 1992. His papers span the years 1956 to 2006. The collection is divided into biographical information, general correspondence, papers, and speeches.