Anne Piternick, Professor Emerita of the School of Information, passed away peacefully on January 20, 2023. Anne began her library career in 1952 as an Information Officer for the Research Department of a Manchester textile company. After qualifying as an Associate of the British Library Association (later, Fellow), Anne learned about opportunities at the UBC Library and, in 1956, flew to Vancouver when she was offered a position as Librarian. In 1966, she was hired as Associate Professor in the UBC School of Librarianship (now the School of Information), and then Professor (1978) until her retirement in 1991.
Her teaching and research interests included special libraries, authorship, indexing, and access to the scientific literature. She engagement in advancing Canadian bibliography to reflect the growth of research and publication led to her serving as Chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Awards Committee for Bibliography and Archives, the first time these areas were supported by SSHRC. With the advent of computerization, her work on alternatives for the scientific journal, scientific authorship, and online searching were seminal contributions, including development of a course in online searching.
Anne was active in the UBC Faculty Association and was the Senate Faculty Association Representative (1969-72), at that time the only other woman in Senate apart from the Dean of Women. She was Associate Dean of Arts (1985-90), the first woman to serve in the Dean of Arts office. In 1987, she was Distinguished Visiting Professor at UCLA, and in her retirement, President, Association of Professors Emeriti (2003), and an active Member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Campus Enhancement (2004–22) and Chair (2018-20).
‘A real force of nature,’ Anne will be much missed by her relatives and friends for her generosity, talent for connecting people, and commitment to giving back.
A donation link is now available for those who wish to make a gift online to the Anne and George Piternick Student Research Award-E863.
