Opening Comments for the 2004 Awards Ceremony
Danuta Nitecki, AUL, February 23, 2004

I am pleased to welcome you on behalf of the sponsors of this award ceremony: the Service Quality Improvement Council, chaired this year by David Stern, and the library administration, including my colleagues on the Library Management Team:

Alice Prochaska, University Librarian who will very soon present the awards,
Meg Bellinger, AUL for Technical Services and Library Systems,
Ann Okerson, AUL for collection development & international programs
Frank Turner, AUL and Director of the Beinecke Library
And Diane Turner, AUL for Library Human Resources and Security

This is the fourth annual Service Quality Awards program. I have the honor 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 high quality 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. Awards for staff are certificates for proud display. Our students each receive a $50 gift certificate for use at a local bookstore.

Nominations for the awards are received from any current library employee and then are reviewed by the Recognition Team who also seeks 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. Could I ask the committee members to stand as I introduce you to this year's committee members representing these categories of staff. Our distinguished 2004 recognition team members, many of whom were recipients of an award in previous years are:

Jan Glover [Medical Library],
Sharon Forbes [Cataloging Department]
Holly Grossetta-Nardini [Medical Library],
Claire Halloran [Access Services],
Jeannette Murdock [Engineering Library] and
Bernadette Cioffi [ex officio member from LHR].

I thank you all very much for your hard work this year as it entailed reviewing 25 nominations and making the difficult choices
to select this year's awards. The group selected Jan to chair them, which means she had to sign all the awards--but all contributed to the many details that resulted in this afternoon's impressive celebration.

I have two housekeeping points to make. First, photographs will be taken of each receipient to mount on the SQI-C web site, so if you are one and wish not to have your picture available through the Internet, please be seated once you receive your certificate. Second, envelops for the certificates will be available at the end of the program from members of the Committee.

I now turn the microphone over to Alice Prochaska, University Librarian, to present this year's awards in recognition of our colleagues' contributions to the Library's service quality improvements.