Extra Mile/ Above and Beyond Award
This award recognizes a person(s) who has frequently and consistently worked outside normal expectations to make a difference while still providing quality service or outstanding production levels with a positive and professional attitude. Examples include:
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Lending a helping hand for the benefit of a colleague, and
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Contributing to the improvement of the culture/quality of life of the Libraries organization.
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Participation or leadership of special projects or initiatives,
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Suggesting creative solutions to a problem or situation,
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Being typically thought of as a “go-to” person by colleagues, managers, users, and/or supervisees.
Caroline Barratt, Reference/SLC
Caroline Barratt has brought energy and creativity to several library activates this past year. She served on the By-Laws Committee of University Council where she worked diligently to get the Committee to distinguish between faculty members with academic rank and those from the Corps of Instruction. She then proceeded to make certain that faculty members from the Corps of Instruction could serve on some of the standing University Council committees. Caroline’s perseverance is to be credited with this long overdo rewriting of the By-Laws.
Caroline has also worked closely with a member of the Academic Enhancement Department to get the Libraries included in the final report of the campus Task Force on Writing. This report was commissioned by the Vice-President for Instruction. The recommendations include a full paragraph outlining the Libraries’ instruction program and suggest that librarians co-teach writing labs with Academic Enhancement faculty members to improve students’ research and writing skills.
Caroline was also one of the co-authors of the proposal to have the Libraries sponsor an undergraduate research award. Working with the CURO Honors Program on campus, the Libraries evaluated entries and gave cash awards to several students this spring.
Within the Reference Department Caroline has undertaken the role of co-sponsor of the teaching circles. These informal discussions/presentations help reference librarians and others learn about our vast collection and techniques for presenting our resources to various constituencies.
All this and she is enrolled in graduate school in Art History as well!
Jimmy A. Brown, Cataloging
During the fall of 2006, one of Jimmy's Music Section colleagues had to be out on extended leave dur to illness for close to four months. Jimmy stepped up to the plate, in many specific instances without even being asked to do so, and took over many of his absent colleague's most critical duties, especially those relating to workflow management and the supervision of Student Assistants. Jimmy sought out and examined available procedural documentation, asked probing questions about possible changes to procedures since the documentation was created, adapted existing protocols appropriately to match the short-term "crisis" situation we faced, and kept the business of the section running as smoothly as could be expected during a difficult period. Section productivity dropped far less than I initially anticipated because of Jimmy's proactive stance on, and dedication to, our unit's functionality and cohesion.
Because I was intensely involved with meeting planning and other business of an external professional organization at that time, I was--and remain--extremely grateful to Jimmy for coming forward with such a quiet-but-professional attitude and displaying competencies that I had hitherto only guessed he posessed! That may sound like a rather backhanded compliment, I suppose, but sometimes the limitations of our classified system work against supervisors learning what staff members really are capable of. I thank Jimmy once again for his invaluable help during those rough months, and hope that the committee will give serious consideration to presenting him with the Extra Mile/Above & Beyond Award.
Carol Bishop (Hargrett) and Marilyn Healey (Collection Development)
Fools have a vision of library work as soft - an idyllic enterprise where books are browsed on the softest of pillows. We know better - library work is full of mental stress, lifting, shoving, pushing, pulling - and that's just getting through T'ween the Pages during lunch. So how do library workers avoid being used up? Fortunately, two valued colleagues freely donate their time, leadership and inspiration to keep their coworkers supple and balanced. Through Pilates and yoga, Carol and Marilyn keep minds and muscles ready for the next round, with patient and professional instruction and encouragement. As Nietzsche said, "When the Superman arrives, it won't be thanks to SOLINET workshops." We thank and honor the Sensei of physical culture at the Libraries.
Briana Patrick, Access Services/Shelving
Briana has time and time again proven her worth and commitment in the shelving unit by planning shifting projects and making sure books are returned to the shelves in a timely fashion. Whenever student workers have an issue, they go straight to Briana for answers. Everyday, Briana coordinates the days shelving and shifting projects, even staying late to make sure every detail of the weekend shift is laid out. To say that the shelving unit would fall into to disarray without Briana is an understatement.
Julie Dyles, Collection Development
Between her responsibilities as coordinator of bibliographic searching for Collection Development and the demands of her library school program, Julie is juggling a full plate, like many other library staff members. The extra mile above and beyond comes into play outside the traditional boundaries of her job. Her work as a Libraries Staff Association officer has been focused on improving the quality of UGA library life. Julie and other leaders of LSA have been highly active this year with the introduction of new events, improvement of existing programs, and doing more to publicize them. Julie has been at the center of this LSA growth spurt, and even when not directly involved, she always knows what's going on. She has also been as asset to the Assets this year, but the Committee does not need this nomination to know that. Even in her daily job she exhibits the same talent for reaching out and forming new links with other departments to clarify procedures, smooth out workflow kinks, and lend a hand when others need help. She is not only a "go to" person, but also a "rely on," "fix it," and "new idea" person.
Becky Wortham, Human Resources
In the course of the past year I have had many occasions to work with Ms. Wortham on personnel issues as varied as leave without pay, FMLA requests, shared leave, position reclassifications, job searches, and reduction of work hours.
In each instance, Ms. Wortham was totally supportive and spent as much time with me as necessary to ensure that I fully understood what had to be done in order to achieve the desired outcome. She also was very proactive in that she often presented alternatives so that I could see each issue from all sides and present the best possible options to the employee.
Ms. Wortham is so knowledgeable about human resources that she rarely has to consult with the UGA's HR, but when she does, she always does so immediately and passes the information along as soon as possible. Ms. Wortham is totally responsive to the urgency of many personnel situations and it is amazing how she is able to juggle all the cases that cross her desk in such a timely manner. Ms. Wortham is also very concientous about keeping her supervisor, Ms. King, completely appraised of all the cases that cross her desk. I know this because Ms. King mentioned and discussed with me some of the issues I had been working on with Ms. Wortham.
I truly believe Ms. Wortham's contributions to the Libraries' staff are often overlooked because she does her job so well. Personnel matters are handled smoothly and current information is passed on to all staff in a very quiet, unassuming, behind the scenes manner. We have all come to expect this kind of service without realizing the kind of dedicated, knowledgeable, focused, patient, multi-tasking person it takes to make our lives so much easier.
The Libraries' staff is very fortunate to have Ms. Wortham working for them and she deserves our heartfelt appreciation. For that reason I would like to nominate her for the Extra Mile/Above and Beyond Award.
Sarah Ricker, DLG
Sarah is a key participant in the Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) initiative. Among her roles is creating metadata for the WSB and WALB newsfilm clips that are the centerpiece of the CRDL. This metadata includes detailed information describing the action in each clip, identifying the individuals pictured, and explaining the context and significance of the clips. This has been a challenging task requiring extensive research and careful writing and editing. Sarah has spent a great deal of time understanding the subject matter, and her work has risen to a very high level of quality.