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.
Silvia Sheffield
Silvia has been a hard-working and thoughtful collaborator on a wide range of projects with me over the past few years — from the NRL webpage, to user research studies, to co-writing a peer-reviewed article. It’s such a joy to work with Silvia! I always look forward to meetings with her.
- Robin Davis, Dec 19, 2022
Mia Partlow
Mia led the Communications Infrastructure project with vision, perceptiveness, and amazing project management skills. And she was a wonderful collaborator on an article we co-wrote about the project with two other colleagues. Her literature review section absolutely blew me away!
- Robin Davis, Dec 19, 2022
Troy Hurteau
As a member of the Libraries' EDI committee, Troy recently organized reading groups for any staff interested in discussing Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude Steele. Troy did fantastic work to organize multiple reading groups, provide questions for reflection, and facilitate the discussions. I greatly appreciate his thoughtful approach to providing this learning and community-building opportunity for colleagues! Thanks, Troy!
- Kim Duckett, Dec 5, 2022
Dawn Pearce
Dawn has been managing the work of creating print holdings data for HathiTrust for years now. I only recently learned about the complex workflows required to do this unseen and underappreciated work. This is just one of many aspects of Dawn's work that impacts all of our work in the Libraries. It's worth taking a moment to appreciate the skill, nuance, and expertise that Dawn's work requires. Thank you, Dawn!
- Hilary Davis, Dec 2, 2022
Robin Davis, Dawn Pearce, Silvia Sheffield, Mia Partlow
A recently published article describes the incredibly thoughtful and practical approaches that this multi-departmental, 4-person team took to create user-centered library email notifications.
A quote I love from the article:
"As we evaluated and rewrote our email templates, we considered how a stressed user or a user in crisis would react to the email. We repeatedly asked ourselves questions beginning with “What about a user who…” or “What if the user…?” We aimed to find a way to add the least amount of stress to our users’ already stressful lives, while still suggesting that they take action in response to some of these email templates."
Check it out: Davis, R. C. & Partlow, M. & Pearce, D. & Sheffield, S., (2022) “Snippets, subject lines, and exclamation points: A case study in constructing better library emails”, Weave: Journal of Library User Experience 5(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/weaveux.1634
- Hilary Davis, Dec 2, 2022
Emily Schmidt, Robin Harper
While on vacation earlier this week, Emily noticed there were no Libraries activities listed among the campus events for the Wellness Day. She and Robin quickly drew up the plans for a bookbinding stress-buster. They communicated the idea to the relevant organizers, prepped, and delivered a successful journal making session for a few dozen students (and staff!) in less than four days.
Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness, your cheerful approach, and the care you demonstrate for students and staff!
- Jamie Bradway, Nov 4, 2022
Oliver Morris
Oliver is one the most approachable, accessible, and helpful person when it comes to the financial and logistical aspects of traveling for work. He always knows how to find solutions to problems and makes sure that everything is in order for a smooth process, especially when it comes to filling out forms and providing relevant documentation. On top of that, he's prompt and friendly in every communication I've had with him. Thanks for everything Oliver!
- Victor Betts, Nov 2, 2022
Victor Betts
Recently Holly Hurlburt, a History faculty member, shared with me how much she appreciated working with Victor when she had a quick turnaround time to put together a guest presentation about archival research for a group of students. She wrote, "Victor is terrific to work with - prompt, flexible, and patient - his presentation to History Honors Students about libraries and research was supportive and perfectly pitched." I thought Holly's words provided a great way of describing my experience of working with Victor on a nomination committee this past spring as well. To those adjectives I'd add, "thoughtful, reflective, organized, and collaborative." Victor, thanks for being a great Libraries colleague and faculty partner!
- Kim Duckett, Nov 2, 2022
Trevor Thornton
Trevor has gone above and beyond in his support of our high-tech spaces, specifically the Visualization Studio at Hill Library. He created a JavaScript and HTML template which allows users to easily create mixed media content which easily runs in a browser, giving additional flexibility to the space.
Moreover, he's worked tirelessly to improve the template and ensure it meets users' needs, working alongside groups like the Data Science Academy and others. Without his work, events like the Library Staff Art Show almost certainly wouldn't have happened; I'm incredibly grateful to Trevor for all his expertise!
- Shaun Bennett, Oct 21, 2022
Justin Haynes
I’d like to take an opportunity to shout out Justin Haynes. His expertise and willingness to go above and beyond for the development team is an irreplaceable asset to the Libraries. He has done an amazing job supporting our events, donor tours, and any other random request the Friends of the Libraries has had. The latest request was to make custom centerpieces highlighting iconic Libraries’ spaces for our Fall Reception. The laser cut centerpieces were beautiful and the attendees loved them. I always look forward to collaborating with him and am so thankful to have him as a colleague. Thank you Justin for everything you do!
- Allison Hughes, Oct 18, 2022