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
About 5 months into our shift to working differently, a bunch of positions were vacated in both the Collections & Research Strategy (C&RS) Dept and in the Research Engagement (RE) Dept. In addition to Oliver Morris who has generously given his time, creativity, and energy to C&RS (check out his Shout-Outs!), another person has really delivered her expertise and leadership to both RE and C&RS. That person is Silvia Sheffield, who not only stepped in to fill needed responsibilities within RE and C&RS, but also continued to fulfill her role at NRL. Silvia has contributed significantly to the ongoing development of RE as a department in goal-setting and pursuing actions related to our goals; she's helped Alexa create an assessment plan for instruction, workshops, and consultation; she has expertly facilitated our meeting culture in both RE and C&RS; she is helping Emily triage tons of streaming media requests from faculty; she jumped in to help triage researchers' requests on writing their data management plans for grants. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Silvia has been integral in taking steps to enhance accessibility to collections, improving library communication via Sirsi notifications, leading ongoing discussions on improving inclusion, equity, and diversity in our work across the library, etc. I'm grateful to Silvia for sharing her skillset and her knowledge so broadly.
- Hilary Davis, Mar 25, 2021
Bertha Chang
I have learned so much from Bertha and could go on and on listing ways that I admire her. Bertha’s generous guidance as well as her sharing of experience and knowledge have benefited me hugely as a new member on the engineering librarian team. When I meet with College of Engineering faculty, they always speak with great respect of her commitment to instruction and support of faculty, researchers, and students. Her background, skills, and leadership are invaluable to our Libraries and our campus. It is a great honor to have the opportunity to work with her, and I am thankful for her support and mentoring as I grow into the librarian I hope to be.
- Michelle Leonard, Mar 18, 2021
Robin Harper
Robin Harper deserves a shout-out for the vision she had for Preservation to get involved outside of the ground floor. She saw the opportunity to take our skills more into the public realm, starting with our Preservation Week demos in the lobby and workshops with the MakerSpace. As we have done more of these, more opportunities have arisen such as offering content for FOL, guest hosting the Twitch stream, and working with more classes on campus. As a group that tends to stay behind the scenes, we needed someone who could see beyond our traditional role and push us to do more. Thanks, Robin, for getting Preservation out of its shell and making new partnerships in the Libraries!
- Emily Schmidt, Mar 17, 2021
David Tully
I have had the privilege of working with David on several student success initiatives, and he is an exceptional colleague. He is often quick to take on new demands while keeping things on track. We are currently working on executing a complex grant that requires collaboration with units across the university, and David's thorough attention to detail, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm have forged strong relationships with campus partners. Kudos to David!
- Tina Morrison, Mar 16, 2021
Liz Bell
I have to shout-out my teacher in all things Citation Index Web of Science review work, Liz Bell. Liz has taught me so much over the last few months about how the Citation Index Web of Science review queue works and has provided me with countless innovations and tweaks to make the review queue work better that I am then able to share with our great Citation Index/DLI team. Liz has a wonderful eye for process and innovation and we are so lucky to have her on our team. Thanks Liz!
- Beth Ashmore, Mar 16, 2021
David Serxner, Barbara Weinberg, Beverly King, Julia Reynolds
I have to give a shout-out to my new Citation Index CV service team. We lost a few student workers to graduation and senior projects over the break and we needed some folks who could quickly get up to speed on ingesting and cleaning metadata from faculty CVs. Like the metadata pros that they are, Barbara Weinberg and David Serxner stepped in to help and Beverly King stepped in to help train by providing quality control reviews of the metadata. Even Julia Reynolds, who is an honorary member of A&D, has helped us out with tackling this work to support our faculty all while she is still supporting our on-site operations. I couldn't ask for better partners in this work as their attention to detail and desire to serve our students, staff and faculty show through in every step. Thanks CI CV service team!
- Beth Ashmore, Mar 16, 2021
Robin Davis, Katharine Frazier
Robin and Katharine exceeded all of my expectations during recent usability testing with input from FOL Board members. They were both thoughtful, patient, astute in their considerations, and incredibly helpful in summarizing ways to improve the FOL and giving webpages. Our participants seemed delighted to be able to contribute and part of their enthusiasm stemmed from the easy conversations with this diplomatic duo. While Robin and Katharine naturally put the test group at ease, they also ensured we were well prepared for discussions and follow up. Thanks to them both for their extraordinary efforts!
- Tina Morrison, Mar 16, 2021
Isaac Pomper, Ashton Reddish
The Veterinary Medicine Library's team of Library Technicians have been running the day-to-day in-person operations of the VML since Day 1 of the pandemic. With both of our librarians strictly limited to working from home due to at-risk family members, we have relied on Ashton and Isaac to make sure the VML is open, welcoming, and safe for all of our patrons. They have been 100% reliable and have creatively solved problems and improved our service model. Not to mention coordinating the installation of our Smart Locker technology with colleagues all across the Libraries! I'm sure that these two already feel thanked, since Peggy and I thank them just about every day, but I wanted to make sure all of the Libraries knew how grateful the VML (and the CVM) are for them!
- Dave Provost, Mar 16, 2021
Jigna Patel
During COVID-19 F&B has automated many work processes. The most significant change has been the adoption of DocuSign for our financial approval documents. Jigna successfully led this transition effort and has become our expert on all things DocuSign. Her work has involved the creation of a new Google form, new approval documents (RTCF, invoice verification, and personal reimbursement), the routing of all envelopes, and ensuring that all required individuals approve a request. This process has gone smoothly and has resulted in improved turnaround times even in a remote work environment. Jigna is also helping Acquisitions and Discovery adopt DocuSign and Libraries Human Resources envisions using Docusign for EHRA appraisals. Jigna's expertise has been critical so far and will be just as important going forward as we look to automate these other processes within the Libraries. A big shout-out to Jigna for her great work!
- Joe White, Mar 15, 2021
Shelly Black
Shelly recently won a t-shirt design contest that was part of an Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association's fundraiser. Her design was voted the winner by the APALA membership. For the contest, the APALA encouraged designs that spoke to the themes activism, advocacy, community, and/or solidarity. As the winner, Shelly will receive an honorarium, as well as a free year of membership in APALA. The t-shirt is available for sale through Bonfire (https://www.bonfire.com/store/apala/). Hannah and I want to give Shelly a shout-out for her work!
- Brian Dietz, Hannah Rainey, Mar 10, 2021