Barbara Epstein is named HSLS Director
In June 2004, Epstein, Barbara was appointed director of the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS). Epstein had served as interim director of HSLS since September 2003, and from 1995 to 2003 she was associate director of the HSLS.
In announcing her appointment, Arthur S. Levine, MD, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean, School of Medicine, stated "I am confident that Barbara will continue her very innovative and often novel approach to health science librarianship, and that our library system will continue to be one of the nation’s top-tier resources."
Epstein received her BA from the University of Pittsburgh and her master’s degree in library science from Case Western Reserve University. Barbara was with the WPIC library from 1974 until 1995, rising to the position of director of that library prior to moving to the HSLS. As associate director of the HSLS, Epstein served as a member of the senior management team in the overall planning and management of all library operations and programs. Barbara also worked with UPMC to initiate access to HSL Online at all UPMC hospitals. She managed the integration of professional and patient/family libraries at UPMC Shadyside and Children’s Hospital into HSLS. Currently, she is a core faculty member of the Center for Biomedical Informatics in the School of Medicine.
Epstein has served as principal investigator or project manager on a number of grants and contracts, including outreach contracts from the National Library of Medicine to provide training for public health professionals and public librarians in Western Pennsylvania. Barbara has a long-standing interest in the education and training of health science librarians, and she was instrumental in the development of the Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library and Bioinformatics Traineeship program funded by the National Library of Medicine.
Epstein is a "distinguished member" of the Academy of Health Information Professionals of the Medical Library Association. In addition to many national presentations, Barbara has authored more than 20 publications, focusing on the role of the academic medical center library in training public librarians, designing curricula, Internet health resources, management challenges in health science librarianship, and mental health information resources.
"I am excited by this opportunity to lead one of the nation’s foremost academic health sciences library systems", says Epstein. "We have been fortunate to have strong support from the administration of the health center. Our staff is surely one of the most talented in the country, and we are in the forefront in developing new information services and cutting-edge technological applications. As HSLS integrated hospital/clinical and patient library services into our structure, we have experimented with new management structures to offer the same high level of service at all of our library locations. I look forward to continued growth in resources and programs to support the faculty, researchers, clinicians, and students at the University and hospitals of the UPMC."
