Meet Hilary Turner: Baylor Libraries’ New Business Liaison Librarian

After a career that spans publishing, higher education, and corporate marketing, the Baylor Libraries are pleased to welcome Hilary Turner as our new Business Liaison Librarian. In her new role, she will work closely with faculty and students in the Hankamer School of Business, providing research support, information literacy instruction, specialized business resources, and collection development.

Turner graduated from Rice University in 1999 with a double major in English and Psychology. As a production editor with Penguin Group USA and Pro-Ed, and during stints as a freelance editor, she learned to apply her education as part of a collaborative team to help authors get their ideas onto the printed page and out into the world. The publications she edited spanned trade print, broad educational materials, and graduate-level textbooks. While serving at the University of Texas at Austin in the Health Professions Advising Office and School of Journalism, she managed students, interfaced with faculty, planned and promoted successful events and programs, and secured a $32,000 mini-grant.

In 2015, she returned to Rice and completed an MBA in Marketing. This program launched her into the corporate world, where she learned the inner workings of the insurance industry at Liberty Mutual and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, managing everything from data analytics to internal communications to customer-facing marketing materials. As a product manager at Dell Technologies, Entrust, and Eagle Eye Networks, Turner had the opportunity to work across departments, conducting competitive intelligence and industry research that she helped translate into effective product marketing materials.

Through these experiences, she realized that her passions converged in making information accessible and meaningful, and connecting the right people with the right information. This led Turner to librarianship. She enrolled at the University of North Texas to pursue a Master of Library Science degree that she will complete in August 2026. During her program, she has gained experience in librarianship through her work with the Library of Congress, where she contributed an article to their blog, In Custodia Legis. She also supported both undergraduate and graduate business students at Georgetown University as an online reference librarian and virtual instructor, and by creating a LibGuide for their MBA program’s Startup Law course. In her current position at the Hutto Public Library, Turner handles everything from circulation to programming to tech support to marketing for this small but rapidly growing community outside of Austin. She was also honored to receive a BRASS Student Travel Award, a Texas Digital Library Scholarship, and a SWALL Kara Mara Grant.

“We are excited to welcome Hilary Turner to the Baylor Libraries as our new Business Liaison Librarian,” said Jeffry Archer, Dean of Libraries, Museums, and the Press. “As a former business librarian, I appreciate Turner’s combination of extensive field experience and emerging librarianship expertise that position her to help Baylor students and faculty navigate increasingly complex information and research environments.”

Although she was raised in New Jersey and Connecticut, Turner is a native Texan who is excited to remain in Texas and join the Baylor and Waco community.

“This role is essentially my dream job. It’s the culmination of all the different pieces of my life coming together: My business background, my time as an MBA student, and my love of connecting people with information. I’m excited to give back to Baylor business students the experience I’ve gained and my librarianship education, and eager to work with my new colleagues across the Baylor Libraries. And Waco has already charmed me with its historical neighborhoods, coffee shops, independent bookstore, and the ease of getting around. I couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

Turner will formally begin in her new role as Business Liaison Librarian on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, following Baylor’s new faculty orientation.