Longtime Business Librarian Pete Pietraszewski Takes a New Role

Pete Pietraszewski stands in front of her class at Mendoza.

Barbara “Pete” Pietraszewski, most recently the Entrepreneurial Spirit Endowed Business Librarian for the Thomas Mahaffey Jr. Business Library at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, began a new role on July 1 as the Hesburgh Libraries’ liaison to the Keough School of Global Affairs and as a data services librarian in the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship.

Throughout her years supporting the Mendoza, Pietraszewski helped shape the Thomas Mahaffey, Jr. Business Library into far more than a place to find information. Under her leadership, it became a place where expertise, curiosity and collaboration helped people do their best work.

As business education, scholarly research, and technology evolved, she continually expanded the library’s reach by building relationships, developing innovative services, providing specialized research support and connecting the University with cutting-edge information resources. Many of the collaborations, services, and systems she helped establish continue to benefit faculty and students today.

Advancing Student Learning

Teaching has been a hallmark of Pietraszewski’s career. For several consecutive years, she conducted more library instruction sessions than any other individual instructor in the Hesburgh Libraries, reaching more than 2,000 students annually through core Mendoza courses such as Principles of Marketing and Foresight in Business and Society. Her instruction reflected a broader commitment to embedding the library in the curriculum and equipping students with the research, information and analytical skills essential for lifelong learning.

Building Lasting Partnerships

One of Pietraszewski’s greatest strengths has been building connections that align the business library’s expertise with the needs of faculty, students, and campus colleagues. She co-founded the Research Resource Requests Management (RMan) Group with Mendoza IT, creating a coordinated process for acquiring specialized research data and software. The partnership streamlined faculty support, improved communication across units, and became a competitive advantage in recruiting new faculty to Mendoza.

Her influence extended well beyond the College, fostering strong collaborations with academic departments, research centers, administrative units and technology teams across campus. Through these efforts, the Mahaffey Business Library has become a trusted partner wherever business information, data and market intelligence can advance teaching, research and strategic initiatives.

Expanding Access to Specialized Research Resources

Pietraszewski has championed access to specialized business information resources that have enriched teaching and research. She led the successful implementation of ARGUS software for the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, overcoming complex licensing and technical challenges to make the industry-standard platform available to students. When traditional deployment proved impractical, the Hesburgh Libraries developed an innovative solution that ensured students gained hands-on experience with the software.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she partnered with David Yeh, Mendoza’s manager of enterprise technology, and Mendoza IT to implement remote access to the Bloomberg Terminal, ensuring uninterrupted support for faculty and students amid unprecedented disruption. The innovative disaster recovery model they developed was later shared with peer institutions, positioning Notre Dame as a leader in maintaining access to critical research resources.

Strengthening Library Services

Behind the scenes, Pietraszewski has modernized library operations by leading the implementation of professional service management and knowledge management systems, including FootPrints, Spiceworks and ServiceNow. These initiatives improved accountability, streamlined workflows, preserved institutional knowledge and created a stronger foundation for library services that continues to benefit faculty, students and library staff.

Throughout her career, Pietraszewski has demonstrated that the Mahaffey Business Library can be far more than a repository of information; it serves as an active partner in teaching, research, innovation and problem solving. The relationships she has cultivated, the collaborations she has inspired, and the services and systems she helped create will continue to shape the library and support the University’s mission for years to come.

Reflecting on her career, Pietraszewski said, “I’m especially proud that the Business Library became known as a place people turned to — not just for information, but for collaboration and counsel. We wanted it to be the kind of place where people felt recognized the moment they walked through the door, where they knew someone was genuinely invested in helping them succeed. That spirit shaped the relationships we built across the University.”

Academic and research inquiries for the Mahaffey Business Library can be sent to Business Librarian Michael Deike, who will continue as the liaison to the Mendoza College of Business, at (574) 631-1450 or mdeike@nd.edu.

Learn more about the Mahaffey Business Library