Nominees and Recipients for Library Employee Excellence Awards

2023 Nominees


Behind the Scenes (Group)

MSL Overnight Hiring and Training Team – Christine Yip, Joanna Tuskey, Vanessa Jewett, Ross Franklin, CJ Gott, Barrett Uhler, Brad Curry, Bernard (Khi) Mingo, and Lourdes Morales

Conservation and Preservation – Fletcher Durant, Katie Smith, Jimmy Barnett

Raimonda Margjoni and Jason Heckathorn

Electronic Resources – Doug Kiker, Gerald Langford, and Devon Hickey

Research and Health Sciences – Marketing Team Margaret Ansell, Matthew Daley, Victoria Miller, Courtney Pyche, Stacey Ray, and Garfield Simmons

Course Reserves – Paul McDonough and Joann Endorf

Behind the Scenes (Individual)

Laura Spears

Julio Muñoz

Tina Litchfield

Matt Kruse

Jennifer Staples

Matt Yost

Garfield Simmons

Stacey Ewing

Misty Colson

Evie Giaconia

Customer Service

Steve Hersch and Michele Wilbanks

SOP Grant Awardees – Jesse Mixson, Mari Meke, Kaela Ramhit, Sara Pace and CJ Gott

Sarah Erekson

Tina Litchfield

Robin Fowler

Victoria Miller

Dominique Curry

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The US Caribbean and Ethnic Florida Digital Newspaper Project – Melissa Jerome and Sarah Tew

Books and Boba Project Team – Lisa Campbell, Michael Dietz, Tiffany Esteban, Jeanne Ewert, Jennifer Hofer and Sara Pace

Pocketalk – Mari Meke, Kelly Handy, Cera Keene and Jesse Mixson

Michelle Nolan

Lauren Adkins

Innovation

Staff Performance Evaluation Task Force – Keith Manuel, Kelly Handy, Jake Goodson, Gregory Clayton, Christine Yip, Joseph Piazza and David Jockers

ARCS AI – Borui Zhang (lead), Aida Miro-Herrans, Natya Hans, Sarah Meyer, Tiffany Esteban, and Xiaoli Ma

Dustin Durden

Cera Keene

Xuan (Lily) Pang

Sarah Prentice

Instruction and Training

Undergraduate Internship Committee – Keith Manuel, Kelly Handy, Adam Chalmers, Ginessa Mahar, Sarah Meyer, Joe Piazza, Joanna Tuskey, and Jasmine Simmons

April Hines

Tiffany Esteban

Kelly Handy

CJ Gott

Jake Goodson

Natya Hans

Adam Chalmers

Outreach

CJ Gott and Joanna Tuskey

LAC Digital Humanities Symposium Organizing Committee – Melissa Jerome, Hélène Huet, Sarah Tew, Tiffany Esteban

Vaccine Hesitancy Project Team – Maggie Ansell, Lauren Adkins, Mary Edwards, Jane Morgan-Daniel, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Hannah Norton

Library West Creative Team – Lisa Campbell, Hélène Huet, April Hines, Mari Meke, Jeanne Ewert, Sarah Erekson, Sara Pace

Michelle Nolan

April Helena

Barrett Uhler

Ann Baird

Katherine Nguyen

 

2022 Recipients

Behind the Scenes

  • Acquisitions Accounting and Serials Unit, Raimonda Margjoni, Michelle McCLure Elneil, Verna Bedford, Laura Feder, and Mark Allender

Behind the Scenes

  • Paula Bickford Cline

Customer Service

  • LibGuide Accessibility Task Force, Sakuna Saengow, Danielle Johnson, Gus Clifton, Will Chaney, and Matthew Daley

Customer Service

  • Gregory Krueger

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

  • Michelle Nolan

Innovation

  • Digital Development Team & Digital Services, Cliff Richmond, Douglas Gordon, Julio Muñoz, Dustin Durden, Jeremiah Cummings, Laura Perry, and Alexis Charnas

Innovation

  • Hao Ye

Instruction and Training

  • Digital Partnerships, Shelia DeRoche and Jake Goodson

Instruction and Training

  • Aida Miro-Herrans

Outreach

  • Neil Weijer and Bridget Bihm-Manuel

Outreach

  • Jim Liversidge

 

2022 Nominees for Library Employee Excellence Awards

Behind the Scenes (Group)

  • Alexis Charnas, Dustin Durden, and Cliff Richmond of Digital Development and Digital Services for updating the NDNP processor for ingest of digital newspapers and conversion of microfilmed newspapers to digital formats
  • Evan Wack, Patricia Ruwell, and Cynthia Bowker for migrating our desktop computing environment to the Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager system
  • Accounting and Serials Unit; Raimonda Margjoni (unit head), Michelle McClure, Verna Bedford, Laura Feder, and Mark Allender for transferring the library budget into ALMA, maintaining subscriptions and orders, and developing new tools for selectors and fund managers
  • Website Working Group: Michelle McClure, Laura Feder, Eric Gumbayan, April Helena, and Pauline Bickford Cline for creating and launching the new and enhanced Acquisitions website

Behind the Scenes (Individual)

  • Victoria Miller for crucial work ensuring evening hour operation of the Health Sciences Library
  • Bridget Bihm-Manuel for designing and implementing the Florida history bar coding project and inaugurating a new Florida Federal Writers’ Project website
  • Pauline Bickford Cline for contributions to the usability testing of the new library website and overseeing analysis the transcripts of Ask-a-Librarian
  • Tara Cataldo for leadership in collection management in the sciences and processing of the John Ingram book collection on orchids

Customer Service

  • Sakuna Saengow (AFA), Danielle Johnson (MSL), Gus Clifton (LTS), Will Chaney (LTS), and Matthew Daley (LTS) for developing ideas and creating guidelines for the improvement of our LibGuides
  • Greg Krueger for exemplary customer service to the libraries
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Diversity Equity and Inclusion

  • Katiana Bague, CJ Gott, Michelle Nolan, Lourdes Santamaria-Wheeler, Barrett Uhler, and Kestrel Ward or the Pride Month exhibit Transcend: Beyond the Gender Binary
  • Hao Ye and Jane Morgan-Daniel for crafting the mission and value statement for the Health Science Library
  • CJ Gott for creativity in designing and producing culturally relevant buttons for students, including Beijing Olympics buttons and Arab-American heritage buttons
  • Betsy Bemis for adding to the inclusiveness of voices and perspectives in the Panama Canal Museum Collection through use of oral history
  • Michelle Nolan for this past year’s services to Chemistry and STEM and supervising a student-built guide to the Smathers Libraries

Innovation

  • Digital Development Team (Dustin Durden, Doug Gordon, Jeremiah Cummings, Julio Muñoz, and Cliff Richmond) and Digital Services (Laura Perry and Alexis Charnas) for updating the NDNP processor for ingest of digital newspapers and development of the new UFDC, dLOC, and the new Florida Digital Newspaper Library
  • Hao Ye for model work in the field of reproducibility librarianship and assistance to student researchers
  • Matt Kruse for opening access to Special Collections and making the collections discoverable and accessible
  • Jake Goodson for improving the rate at with VIDs can be added to the UF Digital Collections

Instruction and Training

  • Shelia DeRoche and Jake Goodson for the training and assistance they provided to partner institutions in the Digital Library of the Caribbean
  • Information Literacy Committee (Brittany Kester, Natercia Valle, Lisa Campbell, Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Neil Weijer, Michelle Nolan, Carol McAuliffe, April Hines, and Alexandrea Glenn for creating new Videos teaching students how to use features of the Libraries, including searching of Primo and use of the VPN
  • Jake Goodson also for training and assistance provided to partner institutions in the Digital Library of the Caribbean
  • Jane Morgan-Daniel for her role in mentoring new faculty
  • Aida Miro Herrans for building in and teaching bioinformatics sessions in university coursework and designing and teaching the course Genomics Research Experience

Outreach

  • Maggie Ansell, Lauren Adkins, Mary Edwards, Jane Morgan-Daniel, Hannah Norton, and Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig for their COVID-related public health survey looking at vaccine hesitation and creation of vaccine information kits
  • Neil Weijer and Bridget Bihm-Manuel for the Storied Books Project in Special Collections
  • Laura Marion and Casey Wooster for leadership in the creation of Resilience: Black Heritage in St. Augustine, a year-long celebration of the history and culture of Black Americans in St. Augustine, and preparation the exhibit Presence/Erasure: Black History in St. Augustine
  • Tracy MacKay-Ratliff for her design work with Source magazine and as designer and partner in Cuba: Delivering Cuba through the Mail – Cuba’s Presence in Non-Cuban Postage Stamps and Envelopes by Emilio Cueto
  • Jim Liversidge for processing of the Bob Hope Collection and design and hosting of its public events

 

2021 Recipients

Behind the Scenes (Group) – Storage and High Density Facility Unit at ALF/ILF: Clinton Dailey, Dee Hawes, Cindy Mclean, Jared Nash, Coty Collins

Behind the Scenes (Individual) – Sakuna Saengow

Behind the Scenes (Individual) – Gerald Langford

Customer Service (Group) – Borland Library, Jacksonville – Cynthia Ellison and Garfield Simmons

Customer Service (Individual) – Joe Piazza

Diversity Equity & Inclusion (Group) – Health Science Center Library Language Inclusivity Sub-Group – Jane Morgan-Daniel, Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Lori Eubanks, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Hannah Norton

Innovation (Individual) – Cliff Richmond

Instruction and Training (Individual) – Neil Weijer

Outreach (Group) – Governor’s House Library, St. Augustine – Laura Marion and Casey Wooster

Special Recognition Award – Price Library Challenge Grant, Rebecca Jefferson

 

2021 Nominees

Behind-the -Scenes (Group)

Archive Space: Matt Kruse, John Nemmers, Andy Hunn, Chris Nicolich, Cliff Richmond, and Gus Clifton

Digital Development Team: Dustin Durden, Doug Gordon, Julio Muñoz, and Cliff Richmond

Marston Safety Protocols Team: Michelle Nolan, Melody Royster, and Jean Bossart

Storage and HDF Unit at ALF/ILF: Clinton Dailey, Dee Hawes, Cindy Mclean, Jared Nash, and Coty Collins

Misty Colson and Lela Johnson

Behind-the-Scenes (Individual)

Gerald Langford

Sakuna Saengow

Jody Hewitt

Joe Piazza

Erin Gallagher

Matt Kruse

Mary Edwards

Customer Service (Individual and Group)

Special & Area Studies Collections Public Services: Michele Wilbanks and Steve Hersh

Cynthia Ellison and Garfield Simmons

Web Team: Gus Clifton, Matthew Daley, and Will Chaney

Public Services: Thiago de Andrade, Keith Manuel, Jennifer Farrington, Paul Kirk, and Meredith Kite

Todd Digby

Joe Piazza

Sakuna Saengow

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Individual and Group)

Live Captioning Work Group: Kestrel Ward and Twanna Hodge leading, Lisa Campbell, and Keith Manuel; Matthew Daley and Nancy Schaefer, contributing

DEI Finding Aid Revision Working Group:  Nelissa Caraballo, Steve Hersh, and Matt Kruse

Bonnie Smith, Tina Litchfield, Joe Piazza, and Juliana Rojas

HSCL – Language Inclusivity Sub-groups: Jane Morgan-Daniel, Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Lori Eubanks, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, and Hannah Norton

Randall Renner

Matt Kruse

Ginessa Mahar

Innovation

Cliff Richmond

Neil Weijer

Instruction and Training (Individual and Group)

Sakuna Saengow and Christy Shorey

Library Training Program Staff: Cynthia Digby and Juliana Rojas

Nancy Schaefer, Maggie Ansell, Mary Edwards, Jane Morgan-Daniel, Michele Tennant, and Hannah Norton

Christine Yip

Perry Collins

Christy Shorey

Jason Heckathorn, Angela Gaines, and Enrico Gumbayan

Neil Weijer

Outreach (Individual and Group)

Tara Cataldo, Vanessa Jewett, Sarah Prentice, Melody Royster, Suzanne Stapleton, and Barrett Uhler

Governor’s House Library – Laura Marion and Casey Wooster

Chloe Hough & Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig

Katiana Bague

Chelsea Johnston

 

2020 Recipients

Behind The Scenes – Facilities and Security Department: Brad Hatch, Bill Hanssen, Joe Hitzler, Jun Tolentino, Peter Miller, Brian Word

Behind the Scenes – Library Technology Services Department: Thomas Bielicke, Cynthia Bowker, Willie Chaney, James Clifton, Matthew Daley, Donald David, Todd Digby, Donald Gordon, James Hunn, Julio Munoz, Christopher Nicolich, Robert Phillips, Clifford Richmond, Patricia Ruwell, Laurie Taylor, John Thrasher, Michael Tyler, Evan Wack

Customer Service – Summer Doorside Pickup Team: Lisa Bailey , Katiana Bague, Ashley Beard, Elizabeth Carr, Kyle Chamblee, Michael Dietz, Tiffany Esteban, Robin Haskins, Paulina Kalantarov, Tram Lai, Victoria Miller, Sakuna Saengow, Scott Sills, Kestrel Ward, Debra Woodward, Ashley Vaught

Customer Service – Larisa Dumich

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – ClimateQUAL Advisory Group: Jason Heckathorn, Trey Shelton, Bonnie Smith and Laura Spears

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Library Technology Services Department Web Team: Will Chaney, James Clifton, and Matthew Daley

Innovation – Randell Duggins

Innovation – The Practicing Kindness in Crisis Team: ( Perry Collins, Twanna Hodge, Tracy MacKay-Ratliff, and Chelsea Johnston)

Instruction and Training – Robin Fowler

Instruction and Training – Support and Enforcing Masking and Social Distancing Guidelines Team: Katiana Bague, Greg Clayton, Janice Dees, Michael Dietz, Cynthia Digby, Jennifer Farrington, Chloe Hough, Keith Manuel, Victoria Miller, Sakuna Saengow, Joanna Tuskey, Michele Wilbanks, Christine Yip

Outreach – COVID-19 LibGuide Team: Margaret Ansell, Stephanie Birch, Lisa Campbell, Mary Edwards, Twanna Hodge, Ginessa Mahar, Michelle Nolan, Hannah Norton, Nancy Schaefer

Outreach – “Facilities Rural Access to Quality Health Information through Little Free Libraries” Project Team: Lauren Adkins, Margaret Ansell, Susan Harnett, Jane Morgan-Daniel, Melissa Rethlefsen

 

2020 Nominees

Behind the Scenes – Groups

  • Facilities Planning Dept. – for outstanding assistance helping staff and reconfiguring buildings to adjust to COVID-19
  • Library Technology (IT) – for setting up remote work and for diligent completion of our web migration
  • Access Support, Acquisitions, and Scholarly Communications – for opening patron access to electronic resources
  • Matthew Daley and Gus Clifton – for their work and help in guiding everyone through web migration

Behind the Scenes – Individuals

  • Michael Dietz – for his leadership in helping colleagues adjust to working under COVID
  • Sakuna Saengow – for creating and coordinating the book pick-up service
  • Matthew Daley – for carefully identifying older library web pages and incorporating them into web migration
  • Anne-Marie Hollingshead – for her dedication to helping staff with honoraria, travel, and other fiscal needs
  • Larisa Dumich – for her onsite work during home shelter scanning and fulfilling ILL requests in Health Sciences during a time of great need
  • Jennifer Farrington – for her scanning of needed materials from Special & Area Studies Collections (4,000+ pages) during COVID
  • Ashley Monahan – for increasing the speed of document delivery and for the design of the Access and Resource Sharing website
  • Moxy Moczygemba – for addressing student and research needs and outreach through social media

Customer Service

  • Human Resources – for guiding staff into a smooth transition to remote work
  • Library West Summer Door-Side Pick-Up Team (Lisa Bailey , Katiana Bague, Ashley Beard, Elizabeth Carr, Kyle Chamblee, Michael Dietz, Tiffany Esteban, Robin Haskins, Paulina Kalantarov, Tram Lai, Victoria Miller, Sakuna Saengow, Scott Sills, Kestrel Ward, Debra Woodward, Ashley Vaught) – for ensuring that patrons could obtain materials during a time of limited access to the libraries
  • Facilities Planning Dept. – for outstanding dedication to adapting operations and creating staff work places in response to COVID
  • Larisa Dumich– in recognition of handling phone reference, scanning, and ILL patron needs at Health Sciences throughout the home shelter period
  • Paul McDonough – for his dedicated service to patron requests and coordination of more than 20,000 requests for course reserve materials
  • Colleen Seale – in recognition from her colleagues for her leadership and mentoring in the libraries

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  • Website Team (Gus Clifton, Matthew Daley, and Will Chaney) – for re-designing the Libraries websites to incorporate best practices for accessibility by all users
  • Climate Quality Advisory Team (Jason Heckathorn, Trey Shelton, Bonnie Smith, and Laura Spears) – for support of positive organizational change and for discussion across the Libraries about steps forward
  • Laurie Taylor – for advocacy and promotion of inclusiveness
  • Hao Ye – for drafting the HSCL’s Statement on Systemic Racism and Injustice and for his advocacy in confronting racism

Innovation

  • Library Technology (IT) – for problem-solving our needs for remote work, web migration, and IT adaptations to re-opening the Libraries
  • Janice Dees and Brittany Kester – for creative adaptation of remote work in social media, creating new children’s content, and improvement of metadata on YA literature at the Education Library
  • Michael Dietz, Ashley Vaught, and Kyle Chamblee – for streamlining the review and relocation the Library West Oversize Collection
  • Practicing Kindness Team (Perry Collins, Twanna Hodge, Chelsea Johnston, Bob Lockwood, Tracy MacKay-Ratliff, Hannah Norton, Ariel Pomputius, Terry Selfe, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Laurie Taylor, Michele Tennant) – for bringing our library community together through programming, safe spaces, and team-building activities
  • Christine Yip – for spear-heading the re-opening of the Marston Science Library
  • Randell Duggins – for developing and producing protective equipment for the Libraries, UF researchers, Shands, VA and NFRMC hospitals.
  • Joe Piazza – for guiding staff smoothly through the remote work process

Instruction & Training

  • Rules on Masking and Social Distancing Team (Katiana Bagué, Greg Clayton, Janice Dees, Michael Dietz, Cynthia Digby, Jennifer Farrington, Chloe Hough, Keith Manuel, Victoria Miller, Sakuna Saengow, Joanna Tuskey, Michele Wilbanks, Christine Yip) – for overseeing safety protocols for re-opening of the Libraries
  • Health Science Center Libraries Faculty –for transitioning to online workshops and offering double the usual number in order to meet the needs of faculty, graduate students and professionals in Summer and Spring 2020
  • Twanna Hodge – for leadership in critical community building work, building and fostering trust, mentoring, and advancing the Libraries’ resources and services to be inclusive and welcoming
  • Ann Baird – for outstanding outreach and teaching to 80+ first-year majors in Design, Construction & Planning
  • Robin Fowler – for mentoring and training of 45 additional librarians and supervision of an expanded Smathers’ Ask-A-Librarian service, now meeting the highest number of requests in the state
  • Michelle Leonard – for hosting UF Research 2020 Summer Seminar Series: Research Integrity and the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) (22 sessions and 300 registrants)

Outreach

  • Michael Dietz, Christine Yip, Sakuna Saengow – for overseeing plans on how to re-open the Libraries in Fall Semester
  • Practicing Kindness in Crisis web series and digital book (Perry Collins, Twanna Hodge, Tracy MacKay-Ratliff, and Chelsea Johnston) – for leadership in ways to express compassion towards ourselves and each other, to be a supportive community
  • Cross COVID LibGuide Team (Margaret Ansell, Stephanie Birch, Lisa Campbell, Mary Edwards, Twanna Hodge, Ginessa Mahar, Michelle Nolan, Hannah Norton, Nancy Schaefer) – for creation of a COVID-19 guide that is now one of the information resources that UF Health recommends to those that have been exposed to COVID.
  • Fall Festival Committee (Robin Fowler, co-chair; Sara Gonzalez, co-chair; Valerie Minson; Jeanne Ewert; Pauline Bickford-Duane; Anne Baird; Hao Ye; Alexandrea Glenn; Barbara Hood; Safraz Sattaur; Moxy Moczygemba; Twanna Hodge; Jennifer Farrington; Neil Weijer; Sarah Coates; Scott Sills; Matthew Daley) – for the success of the virtual Festival that garnered 1,400 visits from the UF community
  • Health Science Center Libraries (Jane Morgan-Daniel, Lauren Adkins, Margaret Ansell, Susan Harnett, Melissa Rethlefsen) – for public service to Okeechobee County through its program for “Facilitating Rural Access to Quality Health Information through Little Free Libraries”

 

2019 Recipients

Behind-The-Scenes – Michael Dietz

Customer Service – Robert (Bob) Lockwood

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Individual) – Margarita Vargas-Betancourt

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Group) – HSCL Diversity & Inclusion Team (Lead:  Jane Morgan-Daniel; Members: Lauren Adkins, Greg Clayton, Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Chloe Hough, Hannah Norton, Garfield Simmons, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Michele Tennant)

Innovation – Raimonda Margjoni and Michelle McClure

Instruction & Training – Suzan Alteri

Outreach – Nancy Schaefer and Sara Meyer

 

Behind-The-Scenes

  • Misty Colson
  • Tracy MacKay-Ratliff
  • Bill Hanssen
  • Brianne Nilsen
  • Michael Dietz
  • Laurie Perry
  • Christine Yip
  • Sarah Coates
  • Lori Eubanks
  • Library Technology Service department’s Enterprise and Support Unit (Evan Wack, Cynthia Bowker, Donald David, Debra Fetzer, Patricia Ruwell, John Thrasher, and Mike Tyler)

Customer Service

  • Brianne Nilsen
  • Perry Collins
  • Steve Hersch
  • Chelsea Johnston
  • HR Department (Brian Keith, Bonnie Smith, Joe Piazza, Tina Litchfield, Danielle Sessions, Cynthia Digby)
  • Bob Lockwood
  • Barrett Uhler

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

  • Margarita Vargas Betancourt
  • HSCL Diversity & Inclusion Team (Lead: Jane Morgan-Daniel; Members: Lauren Adkins, Greg Clayton, Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Chloe Hough, Hannah Norton, Garfield Simmons, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Michele Tennant)

Innovation

  • Sarah Meyer
  • Sarah “Moxy” Moczygemba
  • Shelia DeRoche
  • Ernie Williams and Jean Bossart
  • Raimonda Margjoni and Michelle McClure
  • Janice Dees
  • Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig

Instruction and Training

  • Suzan Alteri
  • Gerald Langford
  • Ariel Pomputius
  • Laurie Taylor & Helene Huet
  • Michael Dietz
  • Haven Hawley, (Women’s Studies liaison), Paul McDonough, and Alyssa Zucker (undergraduate coordinator/associate chair, Women’s Studies), Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig (history of medicine), Margarita Vargas-Betancourt (iconography and colonization of Mexico), Carol McAuliffe (cartography), Suzan Alteri (science education for children), Florence Turcotte (Zora Neale Hurston as anthropologist), Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler (knowledge creation in museums), Barrett Uhler (curatorial assistance) Valrie Minson, Stephanie Birch

Outreach

  • Laurie Taylor and Hélène Huet
  • Michelle Leonard, Sam Putnam, and Melody Royster
  • Digital Resource Showcase (by Melissa Jerome, with Stephanie Birch, Lisa Campbell, April Hines, Hélène  Huet, and Sarah “Moxy” Moczygemba)
  • Nancy Schaefer and Sarah Meyer