2023 Recipients – Library Employee Excellence Awards
2022 Recipients – Library Employee Excellence Awards
2021 Recipients – Library Employee Excellence Awards
Behind the Scenes: Storage and HDF Unit at ALF/ILF
- Coty Collins, Dee Hawes, Cindy McLean & Jared Nash
Despite being short staffed, the team pulled 9,361 items for the second shipment of the Google Books Scanning Project; trayed 59,449 items from UF and University of Miami collections; deduped 6.013 items from the FLARE collections; and implemented new workflows for Alma.
Behind the Scenes: Sakuna Saengow
Sakuna has worked tirelessly behind the scenes in multiple Alma implementation Working Groups. In addition, she completely revitalized, updated and streamlined several work-flow processes at the Circulation Desk in the AFA Library.
Behind the Scenes: Gerald Langford
Gerald exemplifies the spirit and actualization of the Libraries’ Strategic Directions. Service is the core guiding principle that underpins all his interactions and efforts. His greatest strengths lie in his generosity with skill-sharing. Whether creating exemplary workflow documentation for colleagues or training Student Assistants on new tasks, Gerald exudes patience and collegiality.
Customer Service: Cynthia Ellison & Garfield Simmons
Borland Library was the first library to reopen fully staffed after the pandemic because their mission is so critical to patient care at UF Health, Jacksonville. This could not have done without the dedication of Cynthia and Garfield. She does her own ILLs. Garfield handles the subscription clients, including law firms and non UF physicians. He recently took the initiative to apply for a technology grant for Borland.
Custom Service: Joe Piazza
Joe serves as the lead for handling Covid situations among library personnel. While we have written protocols, it seems each situation that arises has its own little quirks, and there are always questions. Joe has been patient and efficient in fielding these questions and responding in a timely matter. He spends significant time keeping current with the ever-changing protocols so he can advise his colleagues.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Matthew Daley, Mary Edwards, Lori Eubanks, Jane Morgan-Daniel, Hannah Norton, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig
This sub-group of the HSCL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team developed and implemented a process to review all content on the Health Science Center Library website to ensure the use of inclusive language.
Innovation: Cliff Richmond
The UF Digital Collections are online and working because of Cliff. He developed robust automated tasks and processes that have kept UFDC going, despite it being technologically at the end of life. He’s done this while also improving supports for DSS processing and innovating in preparation for the migration of UFDC to the new platform.
Instruction & Training: Neil Weijer
This past year Neil created five instructional videos and taught 18 UF instructional sessions, as well as two other sessions for Oak Hammock. His pre-recorded and live-streamed class sessions supported undergraduate and graduate courses in a wide range of CLAS departments. The same technology was used to mentor to SASC’s inaugural cohort of University Scholars and Undergraduate Discovery Fellows.
Outreach: Governor’s House Library
- Laura Marion and Casey Wooster
Laura and Casey had lead roles in “Resilience: Black Heritage in St. Augustine,” a collaborative project between 12 cultural and academic institutions to highlight Black history within history of the city. They strengthened relationships throughout the St. Augustine community and raised awareness about library resources.
Special Award: Rebecca Jefferson, Curator of the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica
With sincere thanks and appreciation for your leadership and success with the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant awarded to the University of Florida to support the growth and development of the Price Library of Judaica’s efforts to protect, reserve and promote hidden or endangered Jewish heritage materials from Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Previous Star Performer Award Winners
2013
- Justino Llanque Chana – Latin American Collection, Department of Special and Area Studies Collections
- Rebecca Jefferson – Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica
- Christine Yip – Marston Science Library
- Clinton Dailey – Auxiliary Library Facility (ALF)
- Paul Losch – Latin American Collection, Department of Special and Area Studies Collections
- Dan Reboussin – African Studies, Department of Special and Area Studies Collections
2012
- Colleen Seale – Humanities and Social Sciences
- Brian Word – Facilities Planning
- Christine Yip – Marston Science Library
- Tina Pruitt – Human Resources
- Lisa Bailey – Humanitities and Social Sciences Circulation
- John Freund – Preservation
- Randy Jewett – Resource Description Services
- Laurie Taylor – Digital Humanities Librarian for the UF Digital Collections (UFDC)
2011
- Chris McHale – Library West Circulation
- Paul McDonough – Government Documents
- Brad Hatch – Facilities Planning
- Melanie Davis – Interlibrary Loan