Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:
I write to announce the retirement of Harriette Hemmasi, Dean of the Library, as of August 29, 2025. Dean Hemmasi has led library staff in building and expanding meaningful partnerships across the university.
Since joining Georgetown in the fall of 2018, Dean Hemmasi’s goal has been to enhance library services, collections, and spaces so that they align with the evolving academic needs of Georgetown faculty and students. Highlights of Hemmasi’s tenure include collaborating with the Jesuit community to integrate the Woodstock Theological Library collection; working with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics to incorporate the Bioethics Library; arranging safe and effective methods for access to library collections, services, and buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic; and managing the delivery of University-wide exhibitions and events, including the Marino Family International Writers’ Academic Workshop.
Dean Hemmasi has reorganized library divisions and strengthened its capacity to support research including digitally-enabled scholarship, initiated the library’s first DEI committee in coordination with the Office of Institutional Diversity; and planned for operations at the newly expanded Capitol Campus. Hemmasi has been instrumental in planning for and promoting a renewed vision for the future of Lauinger Library, with the renovation of Pierce Reading Room – the first phase of the longer-term project – currently underway.
Prior to Georgetown, Harriette was the Joukowsky Family University Librarian at Brown University, executive dean of libraries at Indiana University, Bloomington and acting associate university librarian for technical and automated services at Rutgers University.
Information on the search committee for the new University Librarian will be forthcoming. Please join me in congratulating Harriette Hemmasi on the announcement of her retirement. We are grateful for her leadership of the Library.
Sincerely,
Soyica Diggs Colbert
Interim Provost