Diane Carothers was born in 1927 in Philadelphia, PA. She received an AA in General Studies from Parkland College in 1970 and a BA in History (1973) and MS in Library Science (1975) from the University of Illinois. Carothers began her career as a cataloger at Parkland College (1975-1977) and the University of Illinois (1977-1979). At the University of Illinois, she was Head of Bibliographical Searching & Catalog Maintenance Unit before becoming Head of Monograph Ordering, Claiming, & Receipt in 1980. She eventually became Communications Librarian at the same institution.

Carothers served as the issue editor for the Summer 1983 issue of Library Trends titled “Genealogy and Libraries.” She was appointed as the Organizing Chair for ALA’s newly formed Genealogy Discussion Group in 1983 and was elected chair of the group the following year. She served as History Section Committee Chair from 1987-88. Her publications include Complete Surname Index to the Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania (1979); “A Brief History of English Parish Registers” in the Genealogical Journal (1979), and Self-Instruction Manual for the Filing of Catalog Cards (1981).