Excellence in Use of Technology
This award recognizes a person (s) whose ability, competence or expertise in the use of technology noticeably improves library service and the fulfillment of the Libraries mission. This use of technology should result in some or all of the following:
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Improved use of advanced technologies by employees and/or users, Development of a new or enhanced technical program, process, or system
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Consistently accurate and rapid responses to technical issues
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Development or implementation of a new service
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Creation of user-friendly materials or interfaces
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Creating a streamlined workflow
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Being recognized as a resource on technical questions
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Working with other departments to satisfy needs for access to materials
Tim Murray, Serials
Tim Murray has been managing the microfilm collection at Serials with the type of care and expertise it takes to ensure the continuing availability of a vulnerable medium such as microfilm. I've known him to go out of his way many times in dealing with issues surrounding the preservation of the microfilm collection, such as: climate control, cabinet restoration and location, labeling, storage, and also the maintenance and repair of the microfilm/fiche readers. Besides the hands-on work, he also displays genuine enthusiasm in sharing his knowledge with patrons and co-workers. He has combined that expertise and his skills in designing online applications in creating digital workflows for the department that have yielded accuracy and ease of navigation in microfilm-related research and problem solving.
Tim Murray, Serials
Tim Murray has created a number of databases and programs that enable the library to fulfill its mission more effectively. He has a broad understanding of the Serials Department workflows and procedures and he is able to use his programming skills to mine data in support of various tasks. For example, he has created two web-based applications, Claim Wizard and SEESAU, that work with GIL's predictive check-in system to assist staff in their print journal claiming activities and in checking access to our online journal subscriptions. SEESAU, in particular, is used to streamline and incorporate electronic journal management activities into the existing departmental workflow. These applications use Access data drawn from GIL coupled with a user-friendly web interface to generate individualized reports for staff.
In addition to these two web-based applications, Tim has also created several databases that are used by staff in both the Serials and Reference departments. These include the Old Georgia Newspapers Database and the Unified Newspaper Database. These databases are fully searchable by city, county, state, and date, which allows public service personnel to more easily assist patrons in locating microfilm materials.
Marty Tanner Hughes, Systems
Marty serves as an unofficial ambassador to the Systems world, not merely because her office is the first one on the sub-basement hall, but because of her skill as an interpreter, translating requests from the language of the library street into technogeek and back again. She is the ideal person for her position because of her wide-ranging knowledge of library workflows and ability to draw upon technology for new solutions. When Cataloging, Acquisitions, and Collection Development were wrestling with revisions to rush procedures left over from the GALIN (or maybe even MARVEL) era, it was Marty who came up with an elegant new technical solution to resolve our difficulties. Her support of the Medium Rare project is helping us to take better care of our existing collection, and the new reports she has designed to identify items with high circulation counts will help us make better use of shrinking budgets to build our future collection. She is particularly adept at "teaching us to fish" by creating programs that we can use and adapt on our own rather than remaining directly dependent on her intervention. In meetings she is always prepared to answer questions and present the available technical options. If she says "let me think about it," this is not a ploy to get you out of her office -- well, maybe it is, -- but she wants you out of her office so that she can start helping you, and a solution is almost always ready before you expect it. Perhaps the highest praise I can offer to Marty is that when I go to her for help, I can never tell whether I am the first, the fifth, or the fiftieth person to appear on her doorstep that day. She is unfailingly friendly, professional, and truly able to help.
Thomas Knowlton (SLC), Ian Thomas (Science), Diane Trap (Reference), Christian Lopez (Access Services)
The UGA Libraries Podcast Working Group is introducing an exciting and ambitious new service designed to promote the Libraries collections and events to patrons and the wider UGA community. Through the use of podcasting technology, the group is working to create an online marketing campaign advertising library resources, including databases, software, and digital objects, with the hope that in time users can begin to contribute their own content in the form of testimonials about the Libraries resources and services.
By endeavoring to learn about this useful technology and find ways to incorporate it into our services, the Podcast Group is making Library 2.0 a reality at UGA and creatively working to advance our mission to serve and instruct the public. They have worked diligently over the year to get plans off of the ground, gather and experiment with equipment, arrange and record sessions and promote the project both within the Libraries and to Library supporters. Through their efforts, the Libraries and Library patrons can look forward to a new rich resource for learning about our spectacular collections and programs.
Robin Fay, Cataloging
Robin is very creative; many good ideas came from her.
She is always the first person to be consulted whenever we have questions about a program, software or technology related issues. She is very knowledgeable and always willing to help others.
This year, Robin designed an interactive training program using technologies that she learned from her Instructional Technology Class. The training materials not only helped the DBM section in training new employees but also were very useful to other sections. The program she designed is nice and easy to follow; it saves trainer’s time and is convenient for trainees to conduct self-paced study. I highly recommend that you take a look of the program at: g/catalog/tutorial/intro training.ppt.
Robin Fay (Cataloging), Emily Giles (Database Maintenance)
Completely on their own initiative, Ms. Fay and Ms. Giles worked for several months to revise and expand the online tutorial that was created several years ago for Database Maintenance Staff. They did an outstanding job, providing a tutorial that can be used by all staff in the Cataloging Department as well as staff throughout the Libraries who catalog or are interested in learning the varied aspects of GIL processes. This new tutorial barely resembles its predecessor and covers such topics as cataloging basics, the MARC format, GIL searching, GIL records (structure and editing), GALIN, links to other tutorials, and a review section that includes a crossword puzzle!
Take a look for yourself:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/catalog/tutorial/
We have already employed this tutorial in training two new staff members in Database Maintenance and have also shared it with staff in another department for training purposes. So far the response has been great! This tutorial allows staff to proceed at their own pace and also allows them to go back and review any section whenever necessary.
I am totally impressed with the creativity, imagination, and innovation Ms. Fay and Ms. Giles showed in their use of readily available software to develop and produce this tutorial. They are truly deserving of this asset award for their initiative in successfully developing a product that has already proven successful in training new employees.
Brad Baxter, Systems
Brad is not only a brilliant programmer, but also one of the most creative and effective team members I've ever worked with. He is simply outstanding in regard to his ability to get to the crux of IT challenges, conceive appropriate solutions, and clearly communicate his ideas. The volume of work that he completes is impressive. This year, he has made key contributions to the GALILEO Upgrade and Civil Rights Digital Library initiative, and he developed faceted searching capabilities for the Digital Library of Georgia site.
Phil Fitzpatrick, Systems
Phil is extremely knowledgeable and always helpful. His contributions in installing and maintaining library systems are critical for the success of the UGA Libraries.
James Benyshek, Media Archives
James has led the way in developing video digitization processes for the UGA Libraries. His contributions to the Civil Rights Digital Library, Georgia HomePLACE projects, and to the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, in general, are highly significant.
Phil Fitzpatrick, Systems
Phil Fitzpatrick has played, and continues to play, such a central role in so many of the Libraries’ electronic services that it is hard to know where to start in recommending him for this award! Recently, he has been busy installing, configuring and maintaining a vmware server, which allows us to centrally control 'distributed' resources. He is also the person who is centrally responsible for setting up the world’s largest (in number of instances) EZProxy server, and is heavily involved in the Galileo upgrade deployment of servers. His technical expertise is both broad and deep.
In addition, he has been involved in the development and implementation of many web-based products, such as the blog, various database-driven resources, and the new wiki. Despite the time needed to perform all these tasks, he manages to keep up-to-date on hardware, software and coding issues. While doing all of this, he will always take the time to help those of us who encounter problems with coding or an application. He has helped, for example, to get the web site’s Quicklinks menu to work in different browsers, and has addresss various issues with the blog and its RSS feed. He also runs the programs that collate the statistics about our site.
Phil is dedicated, smart, helpful and forward-thinking. He is key to the success of many of our electronic services, and, as such, is very deserving of the award for Excellence in the Use of Technology.