Patricia Wright, who served as librarian at the University of Pennsylvania and Sweet Briar College in Virginia, died of a pulmonary embolism earlier this month at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 79 years old.
A native of Thayer, Missouri, Wright was the valedictorian of her high school class. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of Missouri and a master’s degree in library and information science at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia.
Her first job in academia was at the Library of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania. Beginning in 1967, she served in several library posts, including acting head librarian, at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. In 1997, she retired after a 30-year career at Sweet Briar College and was named professor emerita of library science.