Margard Ody studied economics at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim and graduated as Diplom-Volkswirtin from Mannheim University in October 1991. From 1996 until 2001 she worked at the University of Bonn Library as an assistant to the subject librarian for economics.

Since joining IZA in September 2001, she has been responsible for documentation and information retrieval at the IZA library.