Best Supporting Player

This award recognizes a person who remains steadfast in their commitment to the Libraries’ mission and can be consistently relied upon to contribute to their department and to benefit their colleagues. Examples include:

• Bringing the best of him/herself to the workplace and encouraging the same in others;
• Dependability;
• Assuming responsibility readily;
• Flexibility;
• Fostering good will/positive interactions within their department and the Libraries as a whole;
• Boosting morale of colleagues;
• Enthusiasm displayed for the work, and
• Exemplary spirit of cooperation.

Kathryn Leache - CML

Kat is an excellent coordinator! Dependability could be her middle name. I know that if I need to be away from my desk, Kat will have everything well in hand.  With her strong background in Access Services, she's our "go to" person with questions on circulation policies and "how to" questions.  She remains patient with the staff as she explains something for the tenth time. Because of her sound knowledge, she is ALWAYS able to be patient and empathetic with patrons. Patrons who come into the CML with "issues" generally leave happy and that's no small feat.  This reflects very well on the Libraries and helps to create a positive image for the entire organization.

We have some very involved dealings with several departments in the College of Education and Kat is the point person with one of our trickier areas: psychological tests.  She is the person with whom the department speaks when there are issues and she always handles them with grace, especially in trying situations.

In addition to her public service skills, Kat’s an excellent supervisor for our student workers.  She stays ahead of the curve when it comes to potential problems and her communications with the students are always positive but firm when the need arises.  Her corrections are never harsh and she does a good job of not making anyone feel victimized. With the incredible growth of Face Book, shes even begun sending messages to our students’ pages, recognizing that they don’t always check their email.  I believe this demonstrates just one facet of her flexibility. She also sends them notes of encouragement when it is finals time or when we’ve had a large number of projects.

As with all departments in the Libraries, we have frequent interactions with a number of departments and I believe she fosters a spirit of cooperation, especially as we seek to make a myriad of changes in the CML.

She is wonderful to work with and in such a small office, that’s certainly, well, an asset.  Not only is she doing a wonderful job in the CML, but she also is attending Library School and has excellent grades there.

All in all, I heartily nominate Kat Leache as Best Supporting Player. Without her invaluable work, I would never be able to get any of MY work done!

Ngaire Smith - Reference

In the two years that Ngaire has been a Main Library employee, she’s become an integral part of our Reference Department. She eagerly accepts new responsibilities and new challenges, and she’s always ready to help out when needed. When someone is out sick or has a conflict, Ngaire never hesitates to volunteer to cover desk hours. When someone in the department needs assistance with their projects, Ngaire is the go-to person.  But Ngaire’s willingness to take on more work responsibilities is not the only reason she’s the best supporting player in the Reference Department, it’s Ngaire’s attitude about her job and her dedication to her fellow workers that makes the difference. She skillfully answers questions and strives to expand her knowledge of reference resources and trends. She brings her enthusiasm to the desk and her interactions with patrons, whether it’s in person, on the phone, via email or chat reference. She’s eager to do it all and she’s there for the entire department.

Maria Bruce - Cataloging

Maria is not only a highly productive member of the Database Maintenance Section of Cataloging, but she is dependable, flexible, and assumes new responsibilities eagerly. Her personality and hard work help facilitate a strong team environment through taking on new challenges and responsibilities, enthusiastically pitching in wherever she can, and reaching out her to colleagues in the section, department, and in the Libraries. In addition to Maria's DBM duties, she serves on the Libraries' Copyright Committee, sharing her wealth of legal knowledge and contributing to the larger needs of the Libraries.

Stephen Davis - Systems

Steve is a wonderful new asset to Tech Support in the UGA Libraries. When he first began working here, I was extremely surprised by the promptness of his answers to my and my colleagues' support requests. However, I have now come to expect excellent service from Steve and he never lets me down. Not only does he answer my questions promptly, he tries to explain why I might be having technical problems with a specific piece of equipment. Also, he not only helps solve the immediate problem, he will look for other issues which may become problems in the future and he will stay and fix those as well. Steve is always extremely friendly in his interactions with me and my colleagues, which is extremely refreshing to me as I realize how stressful his job may be at times. Steve is a great addition to Tech Support and the University of Georgia Libraries as a whole.

Mary Linneman - Hargrett

Mary Linneman is always polite, organized, professional, and willing to stop her work to help patrons and colleagues. Our unit shares imaging equipment with Hargrett, in Mary's immediate work area. I would be—completely—remiss if I did not recommend Mary for an ASSET award. This past year, she has indeed exemplified able, professional and good-natured cooperation.

First of all, every time we have had to field questions about the Bookeye scanner, Mary has more than cheerily and informatively spoken to people (by telephone or in person) about her opinions about the equipment, as one of its most frequent users. In some instances, other librarians or archivists across the state who have requested objective information from a user (rather than a vendor).

Her answers to questions were always delivered thoughtfully and thoroughly; her generosity had a direct and positive impact on our service mission, and no doubt on their grant purchases, where it has been noted that her feedback and cooperation was a huge help.  

Mary also made it possible for us to move a large component of the Red and Black newspaper digitization project forward, by working with DLG staff and interns to accomodate their schedules as well as her student workers in Hargrett. Again, thanks to Mary's superb organization, we were able keep both DLG and Hargrett scanning projects running in a timely fashion. If there were ever any equipment problems, all parties involved were notified quickly.

There has never been an uncooperative moment, nor the slightest difficulty in working with Mary. She is always a joy to deal with. Everyone who works with Mary is aware of her good nature, her wittiness, and her ability to get things organized and handle multiple tasks efficiently. And of course, everyone in Hargrett is very, very good to us. But I feel as though poor Mary is especially worthy of an ASSET award because she has helped facilitate the clearing of pathways for our work in DLG, and because we have had to disturb, hassle and annoy her more than we have had to annoy anyone else in Hargrett this past year.

Tim Peacock - Systems

Tim's a good man, always approachable. Definitely down-to-earth, never pulling rank in any of the meetings that I have participated in with him.  Aside from being an affable, decent guy, any man willing to perform the Friday biscuit run for the betterment of UGA Libraries is, indeed, an asset to us all.