‘I’m very humbled’: Librarian of the Year hopes to continue helping people

Natalie Barr, Staff Writer

The Estelle Brodman award for Academic Health Science Librarian of the Year, given from the Medical Library Association, or MLA, was awarded to VCU’s own — Emily Hurst.

The award recognizes the accomplishments of mid-level career librarians with less than 16 years in the field, according to Hurst. Hurst’s career spans 15 years, with eight years at VCU. Hurst is the deputy director and head of the research and education department for the university’s health science library.

 “I’m really overwhelmed and very humbled by the award, because there are so many other people in our organization that inspire me,” Hurst said. “It’s a really humbling experience to see that my peers and people who have been my mentors, have nominated me for this award.”

 A small majority of librarians who identify as women end up in the administrative or management positions; Hurst hopes to be a mentor to inspire others to become leaders, she said.

“Helping people get the skills that they need to be successful in their careers is really important to me,” Hurst said.

 Hurst has type 1 diabetes and her diagnosis led to spending a lot of time in clinics and medical facilities, she said. Hurst was always interested in the history of public health but did not know this was a specific path she could pursue until graduate school, she said.

 She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in library science, landed an internship in a health sciences library and remained in this field ever since, Hurst said.

 “I’ve always found my place in health sciences libraries,” Hurst said.

 Hurst manages an 11-person team to facilitate training and collaboration with all five schools on the medical college campus to make sure library services are at the level needed to keep up with research, she said.

 Hurst hopes the library team will continue to grow and become more involved in research and grant writing as the university becomes more recognized for their research involvement, she said.

 “People think of libraries as all these books, and that’s true, but we have a lot of resources, we also have all this expertise and skill that we can bring to the research team,” Hurst said.

 The award process begins with nomination forms and three letters of support. An awards jury scores each nominee based on required criteria and the individual with the highest score is selected as the winner, according to Teresa Knott, associate dean of VCU libraries.

 Hurst is a known leader within the department and has contributed in many ways to the university’s health science library; Knott knew Hurst would be a worthy nomination, and hopefully winner, Knott said.

 “She is just so accomplished in so many ways. I just look at her, and I’m like, ‘how do you have time to do all the things that you do?’” Knott said.

 Hurst has been the head of research and education since she started in 2014, landed her current title four years later and provided strong leadership for the health sciences library’s largest research unit, Knott said.

 The university’s health and wellness library has a strong partnership with VCU hospital to help patients find and understand medical information; Hurst plays a big role within outreach, Knott said.

 “The highest percentage of questions that public libraries get are actually on health information topics,” Knott said. “Through the health and wellness library and Emily’s effort, we’ve done training with Richmond Public Library, Chesterfield and Henrico on how to find high-quality health information from reliable sources.”

 Hurst constantly thinks of ways to elevate a student’s experience with the library, according to Knott.

 “She’s just very active, smart and good at identifying opportunities that will advance what the libraries are trying to do,” Knott said.

 Julia Esparza, associate director of the health science library at Louisiana State University, wrote a letter of support for Hurst’s nomination, she said. Esparza knew Hurst when she worked with the National Library of Medicine in Texas and from the south central chapter of MLA, Esparza said.

 Esparaza described Hurst as dynamic, considerate and adaptable when teaching; Esparza was very willing to submit one of Hurst’s nomination letters, she said.

 “I was very honored to be first of all asked because Emily has reached a lot of people throughout her career,” Esparza said. “Knowing that one of my letters would be one of three that would help support her, I felt very honored about that.”

Esparza understands what winning this award means, as she is a past winner herself, she said. A consideration for nomination means “you are the best of the best” in this field and to win means you have shown strong leadership and contributed to research, according to Esparza. 

She was not surprised Hurst won the award, Esparza said.

“The first time I met her I thought, ‘this is someone who’s got a great future,’ and she just blew that away,” Esparza said.