We'll begin with our two honored STUDENTS.

James McMannis Arts Library:

James McMannis is recognized for his exceptional handling of a challenging staffing situation in the Arts Library and for his constant quest for process improvement. James has been a student employee at the Arts Library since May 2001. He has been an asset to the library overall, but it is his stellar performance during the summer of 2002 that truly illustrates his dedication to service quality. The Arts Library found itself desperately short of staff, due to accidents and unforeseen circumstances. James willingly assumed increasing responsibilities and was the first to master the circulation procedures for Orbis2. Subsequently he served as an Orbis2 resource for the rest of the staff when they returned. In addition to crisis management, James proposes improvement projects, such as reorganizing the locked cases so that books are easier to find. James is also known as the "Mystical Missing Book Finder" because he has an uncanny ability to find mis-shelved books. Simply put, without James, the Arts Library could not have managed to maintain a consistently high level of service in the Arts Library this summer and his ongoing contributions make the Arts Library more effective and reliable.

Vasiliki Tsakraklides Microform Reading Room

Vasiliki Tsakraklides is recognized for her exceptional customer service and commitment to improving productivity and workflow. Vaso, as she is known by her colleagues, has been a member of the Microtext Reading Room staff for eight years as both an undergraduate and graduate student, consistently staffing the late shift. She has shown enormous dedication to improving the quality of service in the Microtext Reading Room, by training newer student employees, streamlining workflow, developing a shelving system in the newspaper vault, and tactfully solving customer service challenges. Having worked in the MRR for almost a decade, she is so familiar with the equipment that she anticipates problems and is ready to fix them. Vaso is one of the employees who makes the MRR a service-oriented unit; her contributions improve her fellow students' morale. She will be missed when she completes her doctorate in cell biology and moves on in her career.

Next, we have four awards for Teams
I ask that as I read off the names of the recipients, that each comes forward to the stage and that we hold applause till all are assembled.

The Catalog Management Team: Clerical and Technical Staff
Alice Armstrong
Lisa Cavalear
Doris Chadwick
Marena Fisher
Sharon Forbes
Pik-Yiu Lee
Pauline Orlando
Josephine Scalzo
Christina Tabereaux

The Catalog Management Team is recognized for exceptional handling of a long-term, high-impact project which will have far-reaching consequences for the quality of research, teaching and learning at Yale and worldwide. The Team has enhanced the quality and completeness of the Yale online catalog through the retrospective conversion of the Library's numerous card catalogs. Their efforts to facilitate the timely and accurate conversion of these card catalogs has provided a direct and improved service to library readers at an exceptional level. This year, the Team reached two major milestones, both on target and on time-the OCLC conversion of the Library's Official Catalog and the Serials Catalog. These projects included the holdings of 15 libraries, close to 2 million titles and 16 tons of cards. These multiple projects required attention to logistics, quality control and cleanup and the Team staff have been persistent and unremitting in this endeavor. The extraordinary work and immense dedication of the clerical and technical staff on the Catalog Management Team have ensured that the Yale online catalog is accurate, complete and accessible not only to our university community but also to the scholarly community worldwide. This contribution to service quality is profound and the efficiency, good spirit and teamwork of this group are an example to us all.

Orbis2 Implementation Team
Kalee Sprague
Gail Barnett
Suzanna Lengyel
Roy Lechich
Ernest Marinko
Wesley Most
Ellen Cordes
Nancy Lyon
Emily Horning
Rochelle Smith
Judy Spak
Penny Welbourne
Shawn Steidinger
Susan Burdick
John Gallagher
Cindy Greenspun
Christopher Killheffer
Mary Beth Bean
Judith Parker
Patricia Thurston
Kendall Crilly
Steven Arakawa
Marsha Garman
Richard Sarcia
Manon Theroux
Karen Spicher
Cynthia Crooker
Mary Ellen Barbarito
Roy Bohlander
Rebecca Hamilton
Ana Vitorino
John Morgan
Karen Reardon
Julie Linden
Gillian Mayman
Kimberly Parker
Steven Bernstein
Hue-Ju Chang
Geraldine Dickel
Xinkai Kong
Daniel Lovins
Dajin Sun
Keiko Suzuki

The Orbis2 Implementation Team is recognized for its development of new procedures that improve library staff and reader productivity and for successfully managing a high-impact implementation which will have lasting impact on readers and staff. Collectively, this Team successfully implemented Voyager at Yale and was responsible for profiling the system, testing functionality across multiple releases, making technical decisions, developing workflows, designing interfaces, testing migration, constructing staff and public indexes, and creating training and documentation. Lured into the project with the suggestion that their involvement with Orbis2 would average 35% of their time, team members routinely spent 50% of their time on the project and the workgroup chairs often spent 90%! Their constant intelligence, diligence, hard work and unwavering dedication to service quality enabled the Yale University Library to convert Orbis on time, within budget and with remarkably few adverse effects on service. The implementation of Voyager was particularly challenging because it is a truly integrated system, where actions taken and decisions made in one module of the system have a major impact on activities in other modules. Members of the Team worked effectively across departmental boundaries to negotiate solutions that work in the best interest of the entire organization. For decades to come, library users and staff will benefit from the conscientious, thorough and high-quality work of this Team.

SFX Implementation Team
Kimberly Parker
Matthew Wilcox
Kathleen Bauer
Karen Reardon
Richard Crane

The SFX Implementation Team is recognized for handling the innovative installation of a high-impact, cutting-edge project which has important implications for staff and reader use of electronic resources at Yale. The Team was charged with the design and implementation of SFX, the first product installed as part of the Orbis2 project. This very small, very dedicated team successfully implemented this new and technically challenging technology within scheduled deadlines and with few comparable models in existence in the U.S. Working at times in mini-teams of two or three, challenging tasks were divided and conquered. Not satisfied with the standard implementation of links from citation databases to the full text of electronic journals, the group designed custom-built modules for SFX access into the Library's own resources, including Ovid, ILL and the local e-journals database. This new service has had a highly beneficial impact on users of the Library's electronic resource and has moved Yale a significant step closer to the vision of the integrated library. Now readers can follow the "secret passageways" from one system or resource to another and locate material instantly that they might never have found before.

Yale Divinity Library Team
Susan Burdick
Julie Pohlman
Eric Friede

Alice Marsh
Kelly Shand
Marta Hadley
Carolyn Hardin Engelhardt
Cumal Gray
Mary Ellen Barbarito
Hans Kirsch
Soli Johnson
Rolfe Gjellstad
Tran Dang
Carol Allen
Martha Smalley
Joan Duffy
Diane Goldenberg-Hart
Nadav Sela
Benjamin Moss
Susan Brady
Paul Struehrenberg

The staff of the Yale Divinity Library is recognized for its exceptional handling of a challenging situation during which every opportunity was taken to develop new procedures to improve productivity for readers and staff. This past year, the Divinity Library staff provided high quality service in the midst of two challenging circumstances: the relocation of the Library during construction and the implementation of Orbis2. Exhibiting flexibility, creativity and collegiality of the highest order, the staff put in place excellent short-term service solutions, anticipating patrons' needs and working collaboratively with staff across the Library system. In preparation for the move, many collections were reviewed and weeded, relocated and preserved, and backlogs were processed, creating records for materials that have been virtually inaccessible for decades. The staff created opportunity from challenges and used the relocation and new Orbis implementation to carefully examine the collections, policies, and procedures of the Library. The result is new procedures, services and accessible collections that enhance the effectiveness of the library. The accomplishments of the Divinity Library staff during this past year have been truly remarkable, going above and beyond the call of duty. Not only have they achieved great things, they have consistently shown mutual respect and a dedication to service quality improvement.

Finally, we honor today 6 Individuals with Service Quality Awards today.

Joan Emmet is recognized for her fundamental contributions to developing and promoting improvements which result in service reliability and responsiveness. She is the keystone to managing the NorthEast Research Libraries (NERL) consortium, based at Yale. A provider of internal and external customer service, Joan is called upon to respond to the demands of the 21 NERL representatives. Deadlines come fast and furious and Joan squeezes the most out of every hour in order to provide accurate data for decision-making. Joan is an innovator and is responsive to customer expectations. She developed two superb communication tools, an up-to-date, reliable Web site and a monthly report, ensuring that time-sensitive information is at the membership's fingertips. Joan also approached invoicing in the same organized fashion, standardizing procedures in a way that has reduced turnaround time. As one of colleague wrote: "I would go so far as to say that NERL, as an organization, would not be half as effective as we are if it were not for Joan's dogged and central support of NERL. We all owe her a large measure of indebtedness for making our often chaotic and multi-faceted negotiations, not only possible, but continually successful." Most of the Yale Library isn't aware of how many of the electronic services and resources we provide to our readers come through the auspices of NERL. We would not be providing as many resources without the hard work and service quality dedication of Joan Emmet.

Marielle Mudgett-Olson is recognized for developing new procedures that resulted in improved workflow for staff and positive outcomes for library readers. Marielle's contributions improved the quality of the Lewis Walpole Library's services to its readers, in particular to the visiting fellows. Marielle streamlined the cumbersome visa, travel, and payment process for visiting fellows and her expert handling of the entire process alleviated the need to involve other staff members. In addition, Marielle often proposes changes and improvements where others miss them, for example her significant contribution to the Library's Open House flyer. Through creative use of the Internet, she has been able to procure a number of titles that are out of print and has managed to buy them for as little as half the regular price. Many of the tasks performed in her line of duty are not traditional public services, yet her commitment to internal customer service promotes the success of other staff members' performance. Marielle is a great asset to the Library.

Audrey Novak is recognized for her leadership and her fostering of teamwork during a high-impact project implementation that will have lasting positive contributions on teaching, research and service at Yale. Audrey is above all a leader, one who demonstrated an extraordinary level of service, dedication, conscientiousness, compassion and applied skill in her role as the Orbis2 LMS Project Manager. She is a brilliant trouble-shooter and problem-solver and uses these skills to support the work of others. She is a consummate professional in all her dealings with library staff, faculty, and system vendors. Her technical expertise and ability to master the myriad functions of Voyager enabled her to advise on matters ranging from simple client setup to complex interrelationships. Over the course of this multi-year, multi-million dollar project, some 160 library staff members participated in system selection and implementation activities and Audrey guided the library through this extremely stressful process with a combination of confidence, cheerfulness and energy. She kept staff morale up with her creative use of chocolate, pizza, parties and a constant flow of information. Her superb management and dedication to service quality principles resulted in an LMS project that was on target, on time and on budget. She is an inspiration to her colleagues.

Drika Purves is recognized for overall accomplishments of service quality that consistently demonstrate her dedication, attention to detail and responsiveness. When she came to the Beinecke Library about twenty years ago to be "den mother" to the Yale Library Associates, the job was infinitely smaller. Today, Drika manages the Associates program in all its manifestations and serves the Library Trustees. Drika fosters cooperation and harmony, facilitating communication, lending an ear, soothing ruffled feathers and giving gentle reminders. The Beinecke Library reputation for hospitality is largely Drika's personal creation; she set the high standards for receptions and has ceaselessly worked to improve them within budgets. She is generous with her time, often returning after hours to insure that everything is in order. Drika contributes a column to the Yale University Library Gazette, an important vehicle for letting the wider public know what the Library contributes to the life of the University. Her cheerful panache, hospitality, and concern for the welfare of others make the Library a more humane place to work.

Bonnie Turner is recognized for her dedication to internal customer service and her implementation of improvements which enhance the Library's service reliability on the Web. Bonnie directly serves the public in her front-line position at the Sterling Reference Desk, but she is being recognized today for her omnipresent Web work behind the scenes that exemplifies her commitment to service quality. Bonnie serves readers and staff by lending her considerable Web skills to multiple departments and groups to create and update pages in a highly cooperative effort. She has assisted Research Services and Collections, Document Delivery, Circulation, and all the area studies collections in the creation and maintenance of Web sites. In her support of the Library's primary Web site (the "Front Door"), she consistently provides high-level support and takes initiative in identifying problems and suggesting improvements. She shows a strong commitment to maintaining the quality of the information on many of the Library's Web sites, insuring up-to-date information for Yale readers. After the Orbis migration this summer, Bonnie single-handedly examined and corrected dozens of Web pages to insure that links and search examples were correct. As one of her reference said, "Bonnie Turner is a life saver!"

Edwina Villabona is recognized for developing and improving library procedures that resulted in significant improvement in productivity methods that led to positive outcomes for library readers. Edwina is a highly valued member of the Access Services Department. About two years ago, she became the contact person for all in-process requests. This service, long known by its trademark "yellow card," had earned a poor reputation due to inconsistent turnaround time and lack of response to patrons. Edwina revolutionized this service. She established consistent procedures to track requests, respond to patrons, and gather data. She implemented a system of regular email correspondence with patrons and consistently resolved problems, interacting with members of other departments to seek swift resolutions. Due to Edwina's process redesign and hard work, the department now has a response time of 24 hours for most in-process materials. With thoughtful solutions and diligent work, Edwina provides an excellent example to others in the department as well as the greater library community.