Shout-outs to Staff
The following are Libraries staff who have received a shout-out from one or more of their colleagues for going out of their way to be extra awesome at their job.
Thomas Jones
Thomas was a HUGE support during the bookBot platform migration last month. The bookBot EMS software had not been upgraded since the system came online 11 years ago, and while upgrading this software may seem like a straight-forward process, it was a complex project that required extensive collaboration, communication, and planning. I relied on his expertise heavily throughout the migration, and Thomas was always gracious in his flexibility to adjust his schedule and be available at any time for questions or testing.
Thank you, Thomas! I couldn't have done it without you.
- Dawn Pearce, Sep 19, 2023
Kristen Wilson, Hiva Kadivar, Josh Boyer, Maria Collins, Adebola Fabiku, Dre Orphanides, Jason Ronallo
This team planned a Discovery Retreat for 30+ Libraries staff members. The full-day event was engaging, fruitful, and fun. It was wonderful to discuss exciting new ideas with my colleagues. I appreciate the meticulous, thoughtful planning that went into making the retreat happen, and I look forward to the next chapter of Libraries innovation!
- Robin Davis, Sep 15, 2023
Mara Blake
We are shouting out to Mara Blake to acknowledge her collaboration with the Data Science Academy on the data science collaborative consulting program, her role in co-hosting a national conference to build communities for research consulting service models, and her work as co-editor of a special issue of the journal Stat.
Emily Griffith, her primary collaborator notes "Mara has been an excellent partner for our data science endeavors-- her interest in new ideas combined with her talent for strategic planning make her a strong advocate for our joint programming. We are lucky to have her at NC State!"
- Dr. Rachel Levy, Executive Director, Data Science Academy, Dr. Emily Griffith, Director of Consulting, Data Science Academy, Sep 13, 2023
Joddy Marchesoni, Shannon Ricci, Jo Klein
It is always so hard to find the time for professional development so when it finds you, it always so nice. This summer I had the opportunity to learn a lot from Shannon, Joddy, and Jo. Joddy and Jo did an excellent data visualization presentation that I learned a lot from. I was in attendance because my presentation was right after their presentation and it was such a happy accident to come away having learned a lot myself. After an email exchange tracking down some DVS data, I found out about some cool work Shannon and Joddy were doing with Google Apps scripts. This led to a very productive Zoom meeting that taught me a lot about Google Apps scripts that I hope to use to speed up my own data collection from emails. I so appreciate my DVS colleagues sharing their extensive expertise with me in these wonderful coincidental ways.
- Beth Ashmore, Sep 12, 2023
Alison Edwards
Sparked by a conversation with a colleague in DELTA, Alison brought an important idea to the Libraries: let's do more to support graduate student teaching assistants. Over the summer 2023 she did exceptional work to bring together colleagues from throughout the Libraries, DELTA, and the Graduate School to create the TA Toolkit, a suite of workshops to help graduate students as they develop skills and confidence with their teaching. She also led the effort to plan the TA Toolkit Open House where we welcomed more than 70 new graduate students with an opportunity to learn about cross-campus support for them as teachers. The event was a great success! Throughout this project, Alison demonstrated impressive strengths in leadership, creativity, collaboration, and diplomacy as she helped the cross-organizational planning team come to a shared vision and create something special for this graduate student population. There are already ideas floating around about ways to extend on the "Toolkit" model as well as evidence that the relationships that developed in the project team will lead to other fruitful collaborations between the Libraries, DELTA, and the Graduate School. Thank you, Alison!
- Kim Duckett, Sep 8, 2023
Tyler Kroon, Kristy Borda, Hannah Rainey
Special thanks to Hannah, Tyler, and Kristy who have quickly become Research Engagement's go-to colleagues for learning about AI research tools. They've created learning opportunities for others in the department, developed a workshop for a local library conference, and are designing a workshop for students. I recently borrowed extensively from their content to enhance my own instruction for a group of graduate students and, honestly, could not have done this without their amazing work! Their content is conceptualized and packaged very well and so useful! Thank you!!!!
- Kim Duckett, Sep 8, 2023
Emily Schmidt, Robin Harper, Lynn Whittenberger, Justin Haynes, Aasta Thomas, Darrien Bailey
This summer, Darrien Bailey led the LSS Instruction Team in the decision to solve a few recurring problems with the books for our ever-popular scavenger hunt by making our own fake books. This idea led to the creation of amazing book titles like: Runway Royalty: Miss Piggy's Fashion Design Masterclass, Dumpster Diving 101 with Oscar the Grouch, and Under My Wing: Psychological Safety and Emotional Expression with Big Bird for students to find. These books were made with use of the creative minds and tools we have at the library and a multi-department collaboration -- and they are a delight to share with students!
Thank you to:
Darrien Bailey and Aasta Thomas for pursuing this idea, coming up with clever book titles, designing cover art and for Aasta's attention to detail which involved digging into the Library of Congress to create accurate call numbers!
To Lynn Whittenberger for (without skepticism!) being willing to add these books to the catalog - and thinking of the extra steps to make sure we don't accidentally confuse patrons! Just one example of the care and attention that Lynn puts into her work.
To Justin Haynes for working with Darrien to laser cut the designs into the book covers and making the vinyl stickers inside book covers! He's even working on making a 3D print to mount inside each book. Justin takes this approach with every project and we always come up with something more interesting or better than we first imagined.
To Emily Schmidt and Robin Harper for making sense of a fuzzy idea to help students return the books to the correct spot on the shelves - and then making (by hand!) custom boxes for each of the twelve books! The willingness and swiftness of their work was truly amazing.
I am grateful to work with colleagues who are so willing to work on creative and fun projects outside of the realm of typical duties and to make a fun experience for our students!
- Alison Edwards, Sep 5, 2023
Dawn Pearce
Dawn helped us improve our process for connecting with students as part of the Personal Librarian Program. When we consulted with her about our data issues, she helped identify a new solution that will save the folks working on the Personal Librarian program a lot of time. I highly appreciate and value Dawn's contributions to the Libraries. Her work on the technical side of the library may not be easily seen by students and faculty but she is always helping us do our jobs better and more efficiently.
- David Woodbury, Aug 17, 2023
Ash
Ash has been such a valuable team member to C&RS! Every time we've given them a project, they knock it out quickly and deliver something that is high quality and thoughtful. They recently helped us with an open access/journal lookup project for a high-profile group on campus. Ash not only completed the project but they also provided data and insight that we hadn't originally asked for--- definitely went above and beyond! This project was especially important as it will help our department prioritize future publishers that researchers want to publish OA with.
- Hillary Fox, Aug 11, 2023
Margaret Peak
I would like to give a HUGE shoutout to Margaret for her guidance, and thoughtful assistance around helping me submit my research study to the IRB. This was my first time having to submit something to the IRB and it was a very daunting task. Margaret gave me all of the information about the materials I needed, gave feedback, and was available to answer all of my questions along the way, which made me feel more at ease about the process. Margaret, you are the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
- Beatrice Downey, Jul 25, 2023