Emily Hurst, MSLS
Dean of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library

Emily Hurst began her tenure as dean of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library and associate vice provost at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) on Feb. 1, 2024.

She joined UMB from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where she had worked since December 2014, most recently serving as deputy director and head of the Research and Education Department for VCU Libraries, Health Sciences Library. 

Hurst has over 15 years of experience working for health science libraries. At VCU, she oversaw the operations of a diverse group of liaison librarians and ensured that the library met the information needs of health sciences students, faculty, and staff. She is committed to improving library relationships with university groups and supporting community health information needs. 

Having previously worked as the technology coordinator for the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), Region 3, she has a strong background in NLM resources and experience integrating them into educational settings as well as providing health information outreach to community members and state and local health professionals. At VCU, she worked closely with outreach efforts in the Richmond community as well.

Hurst serves as an elected member of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Board of Directors and is active in the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of MLA. She has been recognized for her achievement in health science librarianship and leadership by MLA as well as state and local library associations. In 2023, Hurst won MLA’s prestigious Estelle Brodman Award as the Academic Health Sciences Librarian of the Year. 

She earned her Master of Science in Library Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.