Hannah Rutledge

Hannah is the Director of the Biotech Commons at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Originally from a small town in south Arkansas, she holds a PhD in Information Science and an MLIS from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, and a BA in Anthropology from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

Hannah’s career includes 15 years of experience in leadership across hospital, corporate, and academic library environments. She joined Penn in June 2020, coming from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where she was Head of Clinical Informationist Services at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library. In 2016, her dissertation was identified as one of ten "most notable" by the American Library Association. She is an active member of the Medical Library Association, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation.

Outside of Penn Libraries, Hannah is partnering with her mentor from Millsaps College and renown Maya archaeologist, Dr. George Bey, to build a research library at the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve in Yucatan, Mexico. Some of her ongoing research interests include bold library leadership; the history and future of libraries; the history and social impact of medicine; information and emotion; cultural heritage informatics; and diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice, and anti-racism in all areas of life.