Marybeth attended UMASS Amherst as an undergraduate and received a bachelor's degree cum laude with a double major in English and Journalism. She studied library science at Simmons GSLIS part-time while her two children Sarah and David were small and began her professional library career as a substitute media specialist in the Quincy Public Schools. Two years as a fulltime media specialist and school librarian at the Bernazzani Elementary School in Quincy where she designed teaching materials to support lessons for first through fifth graders in library skills and literature appreciation and coached students who participated in a citywide contest focusing on knowledge of children's literature. Marybeth went on to North Quincy High School as assistant librarian where she had her first experience in managing an interlibrary loan service and the migration from a card catalog to an integrated library system.

To acquire additional professional qualifications, Marybeth returned to Simmons to audit Elizabeth Eaton's course in medical librarianship. At the end of the semester, Elizabeth told her that she had done more work as an auditor than many of the students who had taken the course for credit. Marybeth brought her new knowledge and her exemplary work ethic to her first job as a medical librarian at Franciscan Children's Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Boston. As library director (and solo librarian) at Franciscan, Marybeth implemented DOCLINE for interlibrary loan requests, developed the monograph and serial collection to reflect the unique services of this institution, provided reference services and literature searches for all levels of staff, developed and managed the budget, supervised volunteers, ordered and processed books, and circulated library materials.

While at Franciscan, Marybeth became an active and valuable member of BBLC and began the first of several terms as a member of the MAHSLIN Executive Board. She served as secretary during this first term of service, and followed with several years as a member of the Resource Sharing Committee chaired by Barbara Pastan. While she worked with Barbara, Marybeth undertook the major responsibility for producing the final edition of the MAHSLIN Union List.

Marybeth moved down the block to the Stohlman Library at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center after two years at Franciscan Children's. At St. Elizabeth's, she had her first experience as a librarian in a teaching hospital providing services for residents and medical students. It was here that her early experience as a school librarian, to her surprise, proved valuable. At the end of her first day, she turned to her colleague, Cathy Guarcello, and said, "I don't believe it; they are just like fifth graders!"

At St. Elizabeth's Marybeth was the perfect partner in a two-person library. Her first project was completely reorganizing and bringing order to the interlibrary loan service. She also managed all aspects of the serial collection, managed circulation, provided reference services, literature searches, training for all levels of staff in bibliographic searching and navigating electronic resources. Marybeth also developed and maintained a comprehensive print collection to meet the health information needs of patients, staff and visitors from the community. She participated in the evaluation and implementation of numerous databases, a new integrated library system, and electronic journals.

During her years at St. Elizabeth's, Marybeth served on the MAHSLIN board as Membership Co-Chair and as Resource Sharing Chair. She proposed and organized the MASSFAX Docline group during this term of office. She also served as a member of the NAHSL Executive Board as the MLA Membership Liaison developing materials to interest high school students in careers in medical librarianship.

Marybeth's professionalism and wisdom, her kindness and sense of humor, her ability to analyze systems and solve problems and see beyond the obvious, make her a respected and valued colleague and friend.

Marybeth – thank you for your dedication to our profession and to MAHSLIN.

Return to the MASHLIN Home Page