2006 Service Quality Improvement Awards Ceremony
Monday, June 18, 2007

Alice Prochaska, University Librarian, welcomes everyone
to the Service Quality Awards Ceremony

Ann Okerson, Associate University Librarian,
Collection Development begins the ceremony by introducing
the "Individual Award" recipients:

Margit Kaye,
Library Service Assistant - Map Collection

We are honoring Margit Kaye for the outstanding way she handled the extremely challenging situation of possible thefts from the Map Collection. She was able to recognize certain rare maps on a vendor's web site as ones she remembered being in the Library's collection. Her downloading the information, researching the library's records, and bringing attention to these suspicions all proved invaluable when investigations were conducted into the whereabouts of a number of important maps. Her depth of knowledge of the collection and memory for detail were essential in providing support for an inventory of over 11,000 rare maps. Without her contributions, the Library would not have been able to assess as fully the impact on Yale or to contribute as thoroughly to the case against the thief. Her service has had a critical impact on the Library and on research and teaching at Yale (and beyond), whenever maps are used.

Tara Kennedy,
Field Service Librarian

Tara Kennedy is being honored today for her work in establishing an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program across the University. While identifying and removing the source of a pest problem, the optimum IPM allows for control of pests with a minimum use of pesticides. Initially, Tara was working toward setting up an IPM for the Yale Library, when she discovered that the University was about to review its contract for pest control. Tara was able to convince the University committee of the advantage of a joint IPM, both in terms of safety to faculty, staff, and students and in terms of cost. The new system has reduced the cost to the University by about $100,000, and, by being part of the University contract, the Library has saved about $3,000. Since the new system has been in place, progress has been made in eliminating or seriously reducing the presence of pests without resorting to pesticides, thus helping us all to have a safer and more pleasant work environment.

Kelly Perry,
Library Services Assistant - Medical

Kelly Perry is being honored for her drive toward delivering excellent customer service and her personal dedication to providing access to research materials, thus demonstrating her commitment to the Library Mission Statement. This is best seen in her preparation and scanning of course reserve materials previously available only in print and making them available to students online 24 hours a day. She cheerfully does this with a one-day turnaround, even when faculty members submit requests at the last minute. Her outstanding service includes researching citations to find the correct print counterpart, providing quality control for scanned items, loading items to the proper server, and creating persistent URLs for the articles. In meetings to discuss work-flow, Kelly always has a "can-do" attitude, even when she knows a majority of the technical work will ultimately fall to her. The service she provides is certainly deserving of this award.

John Vincenti,
Manager, Library Building Operations & Security

John Vincenti's service to the Library is always exemplary. However, this year we are honoring him because he met simultaneously a number of unique challenges, with a dedication and responsiveness that excels. John's knowledge and the skills that he commanded through the flood of January 2006 were instrumental in facilitating an excellent rescue job and in making it possible for the Library to continue uninterrupted service. Additionally, he has handled seamlessly both the renovation of the CCL - and its impact on SML - as well as the renovation and construction project in the East Asia Reading Room. Also during the same period, he dealt with the overall security plan for the library buildings, working with an outside consultant on an extensive campus wide audit. This process will lead to significant changes not just in the Library but also across the University. John met all of these challenges with professionalism, calmness, and unfailing good humor.

Lei Wang,
Instructional Design Librarian - Medical Library

Today we honor Lei Wang for the significant impact he has made on the quality of services that the Medical Library provides for its patrons, as well as for his help in improving the work of library staff. Leigh designed four different tutorials that extend the education services of the Medical Library and enhance the classes taught by library staff. By turning the tutorials into podcasts, he has extended their availability to anyone who is interested. His first tutorial, "Library 101," was accessed more than 6,000 times within the first six months of its release. Lei also works collaboratively with colleagues to design tools that can be shared by all staff. One colleague described the reference collection database Lei designed to aid an intense weeding of the medical library's reference collection as "probably the single-most important timesaving device that we'd seen in years." Lei is described as a kind, good-humored colleague, one who does not hesitate to listen and help others with his skills.

Anna Yu

Today Anna Yu is being honored for her contribution, dedication, and conscientiousness during the past year and the impact she has had on the Engineering Library, as well as the other Science Libraries. She is always seeking ways to improve operations and to make them more efficient. This was particularly demonstrated when, in addition to her own duties, she took upon herself the responsibilities for a vacated position. By analyzing both positions she was able to improve the operations of both. This improvement went well beyond the two positions. She was able to pass on what she had learned to the other Science Libraries. Her interest in communication skills led her to take several courses in that area. She used what she learned to help increase communication in the library, an effort that had a positive impact on both employees and library patrons.

Four Teams were honored this year:

Daniel Dollar and the Medical Library Serials Team - standing
left to right Mary Hughes, Earl Badger and Daniel Dolar. Missing
from photo Jeanette Ponzio

The Medical Library Serials Team and its leader Daniel Dollar are being honored for their outstanding response to their department's reorganization. When the Medical Library's Technical Services department was reorganized as a result of the shift in Medical Library services from a primarily print serials collection to electronic only, the Serials Team was given the responsibility to manage the online journals. This was a huge stretch, as the members had spent years working primarily with print materials. Under Daniel's very able leadership, the team attended classes, discussed and developed policies, and mastered new software. Daniel met weekly with the team and with individuals to discuss problems, issues, and upcoming projects. The team members have enthusiastically engaged in their new roles and now provide incredibly high levels of service to library staff and patrons.

Mary LaFogg and the NT Card Catalog Moving Team. Standing from
left to right: Scott Libson, Mary LaFogg, and Carol King. Missing from photo
Eve Gendreau, Jeffrey Jones, Todd Kreher, James Letton

Today we are honoring Mary LaFogg and her team for the way they met the challenge of moving the Name/Title (NT) card catalog. One of theprojects tied to the Phase 2 Library Renovation was the removal from the Sterling nave of the card catalogs. The Manuscripts and Archives Department was responsible for boxing and moving these cards. The subject cards could readily be moved to the LSF; however, both patrons and library staff needed continued, additional access to the 8,625 drawers of the NT Card Catalog. The schedule for this project was very tight. Students and staff had to be trained to prepare records in the online catalog and to box sets of cards accurately, so that they could be located and retrieved. Compact shelving needed to be constructed and the boxed cards moved there. The whole project had to be completed before the start of classes in the fall. The move was further complicated by the fact that public use of the Nave could not be disrupted and, because construction sometimes blocked direct access to the work area. Originally, it was estimated that the task would take 16 weeks. Mary and her team completed their work in 9 weeks and $15,000 under the projected budget. They were able to accomplish this because of careful planning and the hard work of the team. Their service, dedication, and conscientiousness certainly exemplify the outstanding service characteristics this award was created to recognize.

Rich Richie (and Teresa Miguel - not present) Diversity Council Co-chairs

Rich Richie and Teresa Miguel are being honored for their establishment and leadership of the Diversity Council. The work force at the Library is particularly diverse, which in turn can lead to conflict and mistrust - unless we work together to understand and respect each other. The need to foster this kind of trust and respect led to the formation of the Council. Teresa and Rich were tasked with organizing the Council and leading it. As leaders, Teresa and Rich have fostered an atmosphere of trust, so that the Council has been able to develop and maximize opportunities for constructive brainstorming and planning. They have written a mission statement with clear cut short term and long term goals. A strategic plan has been developed, and the Council has come up with many ideas for enhancing the climate of working relationships within the Library. We look forward to the positive impact that the implementation of the plan will have on the Library's work environment.

Steam Leak Emergency Response Team - left to right - John Vincenti,
Paula Zyats, Tara Kennedy, Jim O'Toola, Bob Carbonella,
Tony Ferraiolo. Missing from photo: Joe Garibaldi, Gisela Noack,
Roberta Pilette, Ernie Marinko, David Walls

Today we honor those people who formed the team that responded to the steam leak emergency on Saturday and Sunday, January 7&8, 2006. This team dropped whatever they were doing and headed to the Sterling Library in response to the call for assistance. Damaged and endangered books were moved, water was mopped up, and the affected parts of the Library were dehumidified and ventilated. Had this team not responded promptly and worked as tirelessly as they did, the damage to the Collections and to the building would have been significantly greater. They deserve our thanks and recognition for an extraordinary job.

Farid Fouroughi
Student Award

Today we are honoring Farid Fouroughi, a student working with ILTS, for his contribution to the implementation of MetaLib. He contributed directly to the quality and content of the MetaLib database descriptions (called IRD records). He single-handily created each of the 800+ records that describe our licensed databases and updated all of them three more times as the implementation team changed the content specifications. He also assisted in the initial testing of the product, and his results informed ILTS decisions about the content of MetaLib IRD records, some aspects of the design of the interface, and prompted several bug reports to ExLibris, the product vendor. Now Farid verifies that federated searching works for our key databases. He maintains monthly statistics of MetaLib use and applies monthly updates from the vendor to database searching configurations. Farid ensures that, when a student or faculty member uses Databases and Article searching to find material by searching a ProQuest, Ovid, Ebsco, and Wilson database simultaneously, it all works. His nominator commented that he does his work with as much commitment as full time staff.

Photographs taken by:
Bernie Staggers, Media Services

© 2007Yale University Library.
Last modified August 9, 2007
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