Valerie Ann Peña, a retired staff member who spent her career of nearly 40 years within the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, died on June 1. She was 74 years old.

Ms. Peña was born in Philadelphia. She received her BA in Spanish in 1965 and her MA in Romance languages in 1973, both from Penn. She earned her MS in library science from Drexel in 1973. She joined Penn Libraries in 1971 and became a department head within the Vet School Library in 1973. In 1987, she became the chief medical librarian.

While at Penn, she served on the Almanac Advisory Board; the University Council; the Administrative Assembly, which she chaired; and the staff grievance panel. She was a member of the Library Diversity Team, which received a 2006 Models of Excellence Award (Almanac February 21, 2006). She retired in 2008.

She is survived by her daughter, Alethea, who works in Penn Medicine, and her partner, Kim Mollo; her companion, Patrick McCarney; and her former husband, Aniano (Cindy Creekmore).