Dear colleagues,

I am writing to share the sad news of the passing of our former library colleague, Amy Paster. Amy started at the Penn State Libraries in 1985 as the Life Sciences Librarian/Science Cataloger. In 1995 she was promoted to the rank of Associate Librarian, received tenure, and became the Head of the Life Sciences Library. Amy was promoted to the full rank of Librarian in 2016. She retired in 2020 after receiving the University Libraries Award following 35 years of tireless work in support of our students, staff, and faculty. Amy was a diligent steward of the Kneebone Mushroom Collection and our expert in this area of research excellence at Penn State. Amy led multiple agriculture and STEM librarian professional organizations and received numerous distinguished service awards. Amy’s long record of scholarship includes many collaborations with librarians and scientists, even recently contributing to an award winning 4-H research database.

In her retirement, Amy volunteered her time at various local organizations and continued her work with unique library collections in agriculture. She was a longtime donor to the University Libraries, a vocal advocate at Libraries Development events, and she was actively engaged with the local emeritus community.  

 Amy was among one of the first Penn Staters I met before formally joining the Libraries. While I never had the opportunity to work with her, I was pleased to become better acquainted after my arrival; even in retirement, she remained passionate about the University Libraries and I know many of us enjoyed seeing her at various library events. 

Amy was clearly a leader in the Libraries and a mentor to many. The University Libraries community will miss her greatly.  

As always, I encourage all of us to prioritize your well-being. Please do make use of local resources for dealing with grief and loss.

Best, Faye

Faye A. Chadwell 

Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications 

Pennsylvania State University