Dear Members of the Health Sciences Community:
After 17 years as director of the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) and more than four decades with the University of Pittsburgh, Barbara Epstein, MSLS, has informed me of her decision to retire, effective July 1. She is known throughout the health sciences as a trusted colleague and leader of an academic health sciences library that is recognized as one of the best in the country.
During her years as a librarian, Barbara has helped usher in transformative change in the way people access and store information and data. As libraries transitioned from their reliance on traditional paper materials, Barbara welcomed digital developments. She says that “leading organizational change can be challenging, exciting and sometimes even exhilarating. However difficult and risky change may seem, it is an even greater risk to stay in place.”
Under Barbara’s guidance, HSLS developed multiple specialized programs, including its molecular biology information service, which is nationally recognized. She is also well known for influencing the entire field of medical librarianship as director of the Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM), having been awarded an initial five-year contract to lead the initiative in 2011, which was extended for another five years in 2016.
A Pitt alumna, Barbara began her library career at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh before moving to UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and then to HSLS in 2005. She is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals of the Medical Library Association (MLA) and served as MLA president in 2017. In 1981, she and coauthors received the Ida and George Eliot Prize for the seminal work, “JCAH Accreditation and the Hospital Library: A Guide for Librarians.”
Upon her retirement, Barbara will be both librarian emeritus and director emeritus for HSLS. We will miss Barbara but can be comforted in knowing that her successor is someone she has worked with and mentored for years.
I’m pleased to announce that Renae Barger, MLIS, will become associate vice chancellor for the Health Sciences Library System after Barbara’s departure. Renae came to HSLS in 2002 as a reference librarian and trainee in its competitive Health Sciences Library and Biomedical Informatics Program. In partnership with Barbara, she secured two consecutive contracts to make HSLS leader of NNLM MAR. She served as executive director and then program lead, building a highly regarded program, recognized regionally and nationally.
At HSLS, Renae advanced to associate director for research, instruction, and clinical information services where she collaborates with colleagues and stakeholders across campus to align library services and develop programs to respond to the demands of an active research, teaching and clinical community.
Since 2018, she has served on the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and is excited to pilot innovative ways to diversify and bring more equity into medical librarianship.
As associate vice chancellor, Renae looks forward to positioning the library as a partner in expanded areas such as data education, open science and publishing, research impact, interprofessional education and community engagement.
“It has been my privilege to work under Barbara’s visionary leadership since beginning my career at HSLS,” says Renae. “I’m honored to expand my role within HSLS and to continue working with our collaborative and innovative library team to support and advance Dr. Shekhar’s vision for the health sciences.”
I would like to extend to Barbara my gratitude and appreciation for her many years of unparalleled leadership and wish her the best in the years to come. I also congratulate Renae and express my delight that she will advance the excellence of HSLS and continue to guide us in navigating the ever-changing landscape of information and data in the future.
