Thank you Kevin. I am pleased to welcome you on behalf of the
sponsors of this award ceremony: the Service Quality Improvement
Council, chaired this year by Alan Solomon, and the library administration,
including my colleagues on the Library Management Team:
Alice Prochaska, University Librarian who will very soon present
the awards,
Barbara Sailor, Director of the Beinecke Library
Diane Turner, Director of Library Human Resources
and
Ann Okerson, AUL for collection development & technical services,
who sent her regrets this morning from her sick bed that she could
not join us today.
Since this is only the second annual Service Quality Awards program
and we have several new staff, I've asked to take a few minutes
to tell you about the program's origins. This employee awards
program was the brainchild and design of the SQIC Staffing Issues
Committee under Sandy Peterson's leadership. The group's commitment
to establishing the program was endorsed by the Library Management
Council and we launched the first ceremony with the new millennium.
The award program is an effort to identify and acknowledge individuals
and groups who best exemplify the outstanding service characteristics
and dedication of Yale Library staff. Service quality awards are
made in the following categories:
-For extended services within the library community
-For fostering cooperation and harmony in the workplace
-For strengthening the library infrastructure and operations in
support of service to readers.
Serving as models for other employees, awards are given for a
variety of activities: for service above and beyond the call of
duty, for dedicated service which exceeds the general expectation
of users, for handling in an exceptional manner a challenging
situation of high-impact or critical nature, for developing procedures
that result in significant improvements in productivity or that
have positive outcomes for library readers. Awards are given for
individuals and teams who exemplify, through their work and service
to the library, the principles of service quality improvements.
Up to 10 awards may be presented annually for any of the three
service categories. In addition, up to 2 awards may be presented
annually to outstanding student assistants for meritorious service.
Nominations for the awards were received from any current library
employee and then were reviewed by the Recognition Team who also
sought additional supporting documentation from supervisors and
other colleagues. The team members are selected by the SQIC and
include 1 librarian at the IV or higher level, 1 librarian at
the I, II or III level, one supervisor/manager, and two clerical
and technical employees. A member of LHR serves as an ex-officio
member.
We had a distinguished recognition team to thank this year for
reviewing an excellent pool of nominations and for making the
difficult choices to select this year's awards. We share Kevin's
thanks to the Award Committee members for their hard work, but
I'd like to add a special word of thanks to Kevin himself for
his extra efforts as the group's self-selected chair. He was one
of last year's recipients of a Service Quality Award and demonstrated
his continued commitment to fostering good relations in our workplace
through his urging everyone to submit nominations and to come
to today's ceremony. We appreciate all your good energies directed
to this effort Kevin.
Let me now invite our University Librarian, Alice Prochaska, to
present the awards
