Last month library staff members were recognized with 9 awards in UW’s annual Special Recognition Award Program for University Support Staff. Team awards were a new addition to the program this year with library staff receiving two of the three awards in this category.
And the winners are...
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University of Waterloo ETheses Team |
Team members: Rose Koebel, Christine Jewell, and Bill Oldfield. The group also includes staff from the Graduate Studies Office (GSO) and Information Systems & Technology (IST).
"This has been a very successful collaboration and we have achieved a great deal together" -- Christine Jewell
What they did: The ETheses team was instrumental in making electronic submission of theses to UWSpace the default submission format. This year the team successfully migrated the repository to the UWSpace interface, providing an efficient means for students to submit their theses, while also streamlining the GSO functions.
How It Has Made a Difference : With UWSpace as the default for theses submission, the submission process is expedited for students and the GSO. Additionally, UW theses are being made freely available on the internet, so that researchers from around the world can access them. This open access format benefits both the UW scholars who submit their theses, as well as those who read, learn from, and cite them.
In addition to furthering work on this project, the ETheses team is currently contemplating ways to spend their $4,000 award. Ideas so far include applying the funds toward travel expenses for the Electronic Theses and Dissertations conference and contributing funds toward a retrospective digitization project to provide electronic access to older theses through UWSpace.
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Inventory and Security Implementation Group |
Team Members: Eric Boyd, Ian Donaghey, Betty Graf, Wish Leonard, Alex McCulloch, Ann Naese, Carl Nagel, Linda Teather, Melanie Watkins, and Charles Woods
What they did: Supported by a $1 million gift from 3M, the team implemented a 3M RFID security system in both the Davis and Porter Libraries. This project involved tagging over 1,410,000 books, with the final RFID tag applied in March by Circulation Services Collection Manager, Ann Naese. Taking just over 15 months to complete, the implementation project was impressively on time and on budget.
How It Has Made a Difference: The UW Library is the first academic library in Canada to have implemented this technology. The project has significantly improved security in the Library, as well as staff's ability to locate and identify library materials. Additionally, with the security gates in place, library users are no longer required to have their bags checked when leaving the Library.
Now that the team's work is completed, the only thing left for them to do is decide on how to spend their $5,000 award. While no decisions have been made yet, Ann Naese hints that it will be used to purchase something "extra" that the Library would not normally allocate funds to.
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Individual Award Winners |
Seven library staff members also won individual recognition awards in the categories of Positive Influence, Building Relationships, Outstanding Service, Fostering Innovation, Going Beyond Expectations, Leadership, and Makes UW a Better Place. Congratulations to Helena Calogeridis, Annette Dandyk, Marian Davies, Gail Sperling, Laurie Strome, Janet Wason, and Charles Woods.
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