Three HSLS staff members celebrated significant employment anniversaries in the 2024 academic year. In honor of their milestones we asked each of them to tell us about themselves and their work with HSLS.
Mary Gail Merlina – 40 years
Tell us what you do in your current position at HSLS.
I am currently the Main Desk Manager at Falk Library. I am responsible for managing a team of four staff members. I have hired multiple staff members and train everyone who works at the Main Desk. Some of my duties at the Main Desk include helping patrons check out books, answering their questions, manage course reserves, and assist other staff members with any issues that arise.
Over the years I have planned projects for moving and storing books and journals in multiple facilities. This includes pulling them from the shelves and boxing them up. I also schedule the University movers for items that need moved around the library, taken to Pitt Surplus or the Marodi warehouse, or thrown away.
I am also responsible for creating and organizing student engagement activities, such as a “Welcome Back” celebration for students in August and January, therapy dog visits, and “Snack Breaks” for finals week. I also have assisted in the planning of HSLS Potluck Luncheons and parties for library staff.
Prior to your current position, what other positions did you hold at Pitt or within HSLS?
I started working at HSLS as a Library Specialist. I held that position for nine years, until I was hired as the Main Desk Manager.
What’s your favorite part of working at HSLS?
My favorite part about working at HSLS is the people I have met and worked with. I have met and worked with so many different people and have made many long-term friendships over the years.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family. I also enjoy gardening and watching Hallmark movies and sports, especially the NBA. I have been a member of my church choir for 49 years.
Sue Burke – 35 years
Tell us what you do in your current position at HSLS.
My main role involves searching for health sciences patron verification on Alma, PMIDS, Pitt owned e-resources, or for bound resources. Alma is Pitt’s web-based platform that comprises of resource management, circulation, e-resources, acquisitions, course reserves, cataloging, resource sharing, and circulation in one intricate system. This encompasses all aspects of our Document Delivery department: borrowing, lending, and document delivery.
I also process outside library borrowing requests as needed in ILLiad and through our Interlibrary Loan System. Additionally, I personally manage our HSLS email account and act as a liaison to our patrons for any questions they may have.
Prior to your current position, what other positions did you hold at Pitt or within HSLS?
My career with Pitt began after I graduated from the university in 1987. I started in 1989 working at HSLS (then called Falk) at the circulation desk. I handled overdue requests, processing invoices, and all other patron services. Mary Gail Merlina, HSLS’s go-to treasure, has been my coworker and friend since then.
In the mid 1990s I began working for Document Delivery with Barb May as my boss, and we have worked together ever since. At that time, we had a staff of five or six, our resources were bound/loose journals, book chapters, and even retrieved from a South Side storage warehouse. Patrons completed paper request forms, not online web forms. We filled carts of books or journals to copy, fax, or even Ariel, an old school giant monster machine of library software for transmitting articles to outside libraries. Then, the patrons had to come to HSLS to pick up their requests, and PDFs were unheard of. Daily, I lent books to libraries across the country from our amazing book collection, History of Medicine, and from Pitt’s merged Health Sciences libraries that would become the future HSLS.
What’s your favorite part of working at HSLS?
I really enjoy the challenge of being a part of the evolution of HSLS, continuing to build a department that is well respected in the Pitt community, and collaborating with libraries who appreciate the work I do. It is a challenge to search for and quickly find articles that can potentially help modern medicine. I feel valued by the kudos I have received by those in the health sciences community and other libraries. I also always try to express my gratitude to those libraries and staff that contribute to our success. Throughout these past 35 years, I have been blessed to help build Document Delivery with Barb May, who has continually acted as a mentor and been a great friend.
What’s a professional achievement you’re proud of?
I am very proud to say I have helped the medical community evolve by providing research that has contributed to the Pitt health sciences community finding innovative treatments in medicine and new disease discoveries. For example, Dr. Thomas Starzl, known as the “father of modern transplantation,” would frequent our old reading area to view the newest unbound journals and always appreciated our help.
In 2001-2002, Document Delivery provided a lot of research for Dr. Bennett Omalu, who was researching the cause of death for the Steelers player Mike Webster and discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The movie Concussion was produced about Dr. Omalu’s discovery in 2015, starring Will Smith.
Małgorzata Fort – 25 years
Tell us what you do in your current position at HSLS.
I manage all aspects of rare books and special collections and the associated space, work with donors, researchers, and users of historical collections, and promote the collection through exhibits, “Treasures from the Rare Book Room” column, and digitization efforts.
Prior to your current position, what other positions did you hold at Pitt or within HSLS?
Cataloger, Cataloging and Database Management Librarian, Head of Bibliographic Services, Head of Technical Services, Head of Digital Resource Development.
What’s a professional achievement you’re proud of?
I have several, but my favorite one is designing the public face for PittCat for the consumer and participating in creating PittCat for Health Sciences, which became the model for the main PittCat look.
What advice would you give yourself if you could travel back in time to the start of your career?
I would advise Gosia to be bolder and follow one of the choices she rejected out of fear at the beginning of this path.