Staff Newcomer of the Year
Awarded to a Classified staff member who has exhibited:
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Exceptional job performance,
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Strong work ethic,
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Commitment to service,
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Excellent communication and interpersonal skills ,
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Successful initiation of working relationships, and
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Demonstration of solid potential for future service to the Libraries.
Libraries' faculty members/classified staff members who were hired between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006 are eligible for this award.
Julia Thomas, Government Documents
Julia has proven herself an exceptional newcomer in not one, but TWO, positions during her first year as a full-time staff member of the Libraries. Hired in August 2006 as a Library Assistant II in Access Services' Main Library shelving unit, Julia quickly became the "Water Goddess." Baptized early on by both rain and sprinkler water, her first day on the job was spent sopping up water, moving shelves, moving books, etc. She was cool-headed in crises, analyzing situations and doing whatever needed to be done with a positive attitude. When there was a vacant position at the Repo, she stepped in and helped fill the void. She was known for her thorough and careful searching, based on her desire to find what our patrons needed. Her creative input and outstanding interpersonal skills, as well as her quick assimilation into the role of supervising students, made her a valuable member of the shelving team.
She had proven her worth so well that Government Documents Processing stole her away to fill a vacant Library Associate II position in February 2007. Moving into the position of U.S. Documents Technical Associate/Stack Supervisor, Julia brought her shelving and supervisory expertise to a new setting (…except that it was actually an old setting, since she had been a student shelver for a year in Gov Docs prior to accepting the full-time position in Access Services). In just a few months, she has already gained a solid understanding of GIL processing, accompanied by outstanding attention to all the detail we deal with every day. In addition, she has revamped the department’s student assistant manual and has masterminded and begun implementing a plan to shift the entire U.S. documents stack collection to allocate space better, now that volumes rebound after the July 2003 fire have been reintegrated into the stacks.
In all her work, Julia demonstrates exceptional analytical and interpersonal skills, investigating what needs to be done, consulting as necessary, and then getting the job done. Let’s hope we’re developing a future librarian!
Joanna Vass, DLG
Joanna consistently arrives early to work and keeps her schedule dependably. She contributes to a pleasant and productive work environment by acknowledging her co-workers while keeping her nose to the grindstone. In the absence of her supervisor, she is the go-to person for Georgia Government Publications and has contributed heavily to the elimination of backlog.
Michael Swacha, Collection Development/Preservation
Mikey is not entirely a newcomer because he first joined us as a student assistant in Preservation. We were very impressed with his work then and were delighted to hire him as a full-time staff member in August 2006. Since then he has mastered the responsibilities of a position split between bibliographic searching in Collection Development and collections conservation in Preservation. As a result of his skills, quickness to learn, good judgment, and ability to interact well with co-workers both inside and beyond the department, Mikey will be promoted in July to Preservation Technician (Library Associate II). We are very fortunate that he is ready to assume this new position because preservation is one of the areas where vicious backlogs can build up rapidly when a position is left vacant. With Mikey on board, the transition promises to be smooth and maybe even painless!
Leanne Finnigan, Cataloging
Leanne Finnigan joined the Cataloging Department’s Acquired Cataloging Section on June 5, 2006 and has proven to be an asset to the Cataloging Department. She immediately plunged into her position as an Acquired Cataloger and exceeded expectations for a monthly cataloging production level the very first month and continues to do so. Having excellent communication and interpersonal skills has helped her to successfully take over the additional duties of training and supervising student assistants in the Section. After only two months of training, Leanne began to train her first student assistant while continuing to learn the diverse job duties of an Acquired Cataloger. She has done an exceptional job of training three new student assistants which greatly aids materials moving smoothly through the Department in a timely manner.
One of Leanne’s most outstanding qualities is her unceasing enthusiasm for what she does in Acquired Cataloging and her positive outlook. She is always willing to take on extra responsibilities, whether short or long term, to accommodate changes with workflow within the Section or the Department. Leanne is well liked by her colleagues in the Acquired Cataloging Section. She has made valuable contributions to the overall morale of the section in what often times is a very tense area because of production responsibilities and the stress of a highly production oriented environment.
Her commitment to service is seen in her desire to improve herself and to better understand the workings of a library. Being a self-motivated individual, she seeks out training and development classes to enhance her computer and supervisory skills. Leanne is already planning to enroll in classes to achieve a Masters in Library Science, and I am confident she will do well and make a positive contribution to this field.
Jamie Jedlicka, Cataloging
Shortly after Jamie began working in DBM, half of the Maintenance Unit staff left for greener pastures. Given that Jamie was the only Maintenance Unit Associate for many months, her training was not only accelerated, but she worked hard to help keep the Unit on track. During that time, if it needed doing in the Maintenance Unit, Jamie probably had a hand in it!
Jamie not only progressed under these work conditions, but actually thrived. Her flexibility and good cheer in the face of ever shifting duties and responsibilities is much appreciated by everyone.
In her short time here, she not only learned regular Maintenance Unit duties, which are complex by nature, but has completed an inventory of the Science Special Holdings Location. In the last few months, Jamie has taken on the role of assisting in training new staff and has started an inventory of the Georgia Room monographs. Her willingness to work with others, flexibility, dedication, investigative skills, and grasp of complex bibliographic and holdings information is an asset to the Libraries. Not only is the library a better place with her here, but so are the Libraries catalog and collections!
Renna Tuten, Russell
From the Russell with Love, a nomination for Renna Tuten as Newcomer of the Year (Staff)
As Access and Outreach Services Coordinator for Russell Library, Newcomer Renna Tuten has quickly become a flexible and valuable colleague. Within the first week of her arrival she participated in a trip to pick up two van loads of materials donated to the Russell Library. She interacted with donors and helped to pack materials according to appropriate standards, often in less than ideal working conditions. The Russell staff welcomed her good humor, willingness to get the cart out of the ditch, and grace under pressure.
Two of Renna’s primary duties are to provide initial orientation to Russell Library collections and services and to promote the Russell to users and potential users through knowledgeable, efficient, and courteous assistance. She has performed effectively in this area and has absorbed information and practices associated with being the first point of contact in the Russell quickly and with care. She has a convivial and thoughtful approach to dealing with patrons which puts them at ease and makes them feel welcome. Renna also understands the Russell Library’s strong commitment to providing effective assistance to off site patrons as well as the challenges to doing so. She has worked with several off site patrons with complex requests to ensure that they receive all the resources available to them. She has taken ownership of this responsibility and as she learns more about the content of Russell Library collections, she will be an even greater asset.
Shortly after her arrival, Renna began taking an active role in developing ideas for improving and expanding Russell access and outreach programs. She handled logistics for several Russell events this year including the workshop for EMCs and the recent Russell Foundation Board meeting. She led the work on developing the Power to the People Film Series, arranging for the event’s venue and partners and assisting with the publicity. Her past experience with event management ensured smoothly run programs through effective planning.
Creating exhibits is a relatively new process for Renna and a new focus of her position beginning midyear. She has been a steady and engaged learner. She assumed this responsibility with great dedication and sought training in Adobe In Design, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver programs from Training & Development. Renna has produced small lobby exhibits on immigration and on Jimmy Carter and begun work on the revamp of the major gallery exhibit, History Lives in the Russell Library. For the large gallery exhibit she is also leading the training and work of two new research students.
Renna is enrolled currently in the University of South Carolina’s Library Science program. Last fall she completed courses in archival management and techniques as well as a general introduction to library and information science. She has also endeavored to build her knowledge base through continuing professional educational opportunities such as workshops offered by SOLINET on digital preservation and stewardship, the SGA/SAA workshop on descriptive standards, and additional classes offered by UGA’s Training & Development. Renna also joined the Society of Georgia Archivists, another demonstration of her professional commitment.
From the onset, Renna has been willing to pitch in where needed. She effectively carries out assignments with a good balance between independence and teamwork. Her work is careful, productive, and dependable. She has agreed to transcribe interviews under a tight deadline and the transcription was recognized for attention to detail and speed. As important, the Russell recognizes her initiative, her dedication to service, and her good nature and unfailingly congenial and respectful demeanor with patrons and colleagues. While the Russell staff is overwhelmingly pleased with Renna Tuten’s outstanding performance as a Newcomer, they are blown away by her Midas touch, her Goldfinger—her commercial driver’s license. Diamonds are Forever!