Dr. Małgorzata Fort has concluded a highly successful and notable career at the University of Pittsburgh. Małgorzata, known to many as Gosia, worked at HSLS for 26 consecutive years, most recently as Head of Digital Resource Development (2012-2025). Her service to the University also includes three years as an officer in the University Senate, where she served as Secretary from 2019 to 2022.
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Upon her retirement, Gosia reflected on her career milestones:
“I graduated with a degree of Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Lodz (Poland) and I stayed at the university for the next 9 years as a professor’s assistant, working on my PhD and teaching bibliography, information retrieval, and cataloging. Though I come from a family of teachers, it turned out that teaching was not my cup of tea, and I felt burnt out. After I obtained my doctorate degree and moved to the United States for good, I had a chance to reinvent myself for the next decade, and so I became a librarian. I began applying my theoretical knowledge in practice. I worked as cataloger of Polish materials, general languages team leader (I have a working knowledge of several European languages), cataloger of children literature, and finally cataloger for the HSLS.
“The first decade I spent at HSLS was exhilarating. I was the Cataloging and Database Management Librarian, Head of Bibliographic Services, and Head of Technical Services. As the first professional cataloger hired by HSLS, I uniformed cataloging practices across all the libraries within HSLS and brought them to the national standards. I initiated and shepherded the HSLS to join two national cooperative programs in cataloging: CONSER and NACO. Through the CONSER program, HSLS, independently from ULS, contributed authoritative cataloging records for serials to the national database to be offered to all US libraries and agencies, which did not have expertise or manpower on their own, to use CONSER records or model their metadata on them. NACO program had similar national range and impact, but in creation of authoritative records for name headings for the national Name Authority File (NAF database) used all over the world for higher efficiency retrieval and collocation of works of the same authors.
“I loved working in the library, because the gratification coming from the project well done was instantaneous unlike in teaching, when you do not see it immediately and sometimes you never see results of your effort. However, I am a firm believer that refreshing your career every ten years is advantageous: it keeps you away from getting stagnant and bored, it keeps you engaged and eager, and you learn new things. So with the approval of my bosses, I transitioned from technical services to a new role – Head of Digital Resources Development, which allowed me to work with rare books and special collections. And though I missed working with data, I love the smell of old books, so I was able to apply my organizational and cataloging skills to learn and reorganize the historical and special collections, to move them (twice!), protect and use them responsibly, and introduce them to the wider Pitt community. I also had a chance to work on my people skills and make some connections that serve the rare book collection very well.”
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As Gosia has enjoyed a fascinating career, she has her sights set on enjoyable retirement plans to play piano, read poetry, translate, work in the garden, play with her dog, and spend more time with her friends in Poland. One thing she will miss, believe it or not, is “Cardiac Hill”! She credits the strenuous commute to the parking lot each day as the way she kept in good shape all the way till retirement.
We thank Gosia for her many contributions and wish her all the best in her retirement!