Please describe the specific situation in when an employee was asked to complete an unusual task.

While researching the local government part of the Reference Department's Research Central guide on government, Eric discovered that neither the city of Athens or the Chamber of Commerce had good websites for community services. Since Eric works on the Reference Desk he knew that information about the community is often requested. It can be a time consuming task to determine which office sponsors a program or provides a service. Eric knew the Athens community deserved better and offered to work on a site that would meet this need. Little did he know how great the need was. A year later use of the webpage is soaring with an average of 677 view per page. In April of 2003, the site had 20, 319 page views. Perhaps the popularity of the site is due to Eric's broad perspective on the resources provided. He includes links for agriculture, business, crime, employment, environment, history, organizations, population and demographics and the weather. In addition he has added a whole section on the arts and entertainment. Traditional services like animal welfare, education, hospitals, human services, lodging, media and transportation are also featured. While Eric thought that the entertainment section might be the most popular page on the site he has been surprised to find that the population and demographics link is used most often. While the scope of this assignment fell outside that which we typically give reference librarians, Eric feels that its getting plenty of use for academic purposes to justify the effort.

What was the nominee asked to do that fell outside of his/her job description?

The objective of the Research Central guides was to provide undergraduates with a good place to begin their research. This website exceeds this scope by serving as a community resource. Eric is proud to have been able to provide the community a resource which so many people consult regularly.

How did the nominee overcome/complete the task?

Eric drew upon his knowledge of the kinds of information students and community members need to plan their days, solve a problem with a realtor, or draw up a business plan. He talked to people in city government and searched the web. He even took his own pictures of city landmarks to feature on the website.

(Optional) How bad was the situation/task?

Much of the information Eric brought together was dispersed among telephone books, individual web pages, and pages the library had created for city government. It took considerable time to organize it and design a website which would present the information in a way that would encourage users to learn more about the community.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

When Eric begins a task he is thorough and focused throughout his time working on it. He is constantly asking himself how he could improve the product, looking at other sites for tips, and talking with potential users about what they would hope to find.

Please describe the specific situation in when an employee was asked to complete an unusual task.

Have you ever noticed how drab and lifeless the Science Library is, just books and machines. Not a very inviting place to spend your work day.

What was the nominee asked to do that fell outside of his/her job description?

The Nominees were not asked to bring a little color and life to the Science Library, they just did it. It is self assigned "other duty as assigned."

How did the nominee overcome/complete the task?

They brought plants from home,big beautiful plants. The plants are on the public service desks and around in the study areas. The plants soften the library, making it a more inviting place to work and study.

Please describe the specific situation in when an employee was asked to complete an unusual task.

As coordinator of the gift books program within the Acquisitions Department of the library, Will constantly has to deal with those books that do not get added to the libraries' collection. More often than not, bibliographers will reject more titles than they choose and this leaves us with a tremendous backlog of books that in most cases are smelly, falling apart,and sometimes just downright nasty. By August 2002, the libraries had amassed approximately 35,000 rejected gift titles. Will actively petitioned for some way to rid the much-coveted space of the Repository of these books in a way that would not involve filling the city landfill. We explored many different ideas for ridding ourselves of these books and finally decided on selling them to ALibris, a used book dealer.

What was the nominee asked to do that fell outside of his/her job description?

Will was asked to coordinate the packaging and shipping of approximately 1100 boxes in order to prepare these books for shipping.

How did the nominee overcome/complete the task?

In order to prepare these books for sale, Will had to arrange for all 1100 of boxes to be brought down from the second floor of the Repository to the first floor. Since the Repository has no elevator, this seemingly easy task took on monumental proportions. Will took it upon himself to design and then construct a slide that could be bracketed to the stair railing and then used to slide the boxes of books down the stairs. The slide worked beautifully! Next the boxes of books needed to be palletized and then shrink-wrapped for the transport of the materials. Volunteers were solicited from the Acquisitions Department and around 15 of us spent a Saturday moving boxes, loading them on pallets and then shrink wrapping them. It was a long day full of hard work, but quite fulfilling to be getting rid of this tremendous backlog of gift books. The day went smoothly, and did not portend the disastrous day to come.

(Optional) How bad was the situation/task?

The situation reached crisis point on the following Monday when the truck driver that ALibris had hired showed up at the Repository. We had made it explicitly clear about the lower than normal loading dock at the Repository and the fact that a small transfer truck was needed to be able to maneuver to the loading dock. Also whatever truck was sent would need to have a lift in order to make the smooth transition from the low loading dock to the back of the truck. The truck driver showed up in an 18 wheeler! We knew right away that this did not bode well for the rest of the project. When he got out of the truck to appraise the situation, he became livid! He decided to try and maneuver his extremely long truck around the sharp corner and try to back it up to the loading dock. He actually managed to do this after much direction from Will, me, Caroline, and the entire staff of the Repository. Once he had successfully backed the truck up to the loading dock, the truck driver asked if we had a lift. Of course we didn't and the anger that had just subsided bubbled quickly back up to the surface. Will remained cool during this whole fiasco and took it upon himself to contact ALibris as well as contacting different University departments to see if we could rent a lift from anywhere else on campus. After numerous phone calls, we finally got ALibris to agree to send a smaller truck with a lift to come out the next day. Everything ended up working out, but not after numerous hassles and headaches. During this entire ordeal, Will always kept a cheerful disposition and handled the situation in an extremely professional manner.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Not only did Will excel as the coordinator of the gift books project, but he is also consistently called upon to assume many other duties in various other departments within the library. The mailroom relies on him to help receive shipments when they are short staffed. Systems calls upon him to help wire and set up computers. The Development office and Hargrett has called upon him to help pick up book donations. Not to mention the countless other departments who solicit his help. Will's cheerful disposition ensures that whomever needs assistance will receive it with a smile.