Congratulations to the following March 2025 Employee of the Quarter winners:
HAMILTON:
Cathy Hirsch
Cathy was a presenter at the Children’s Team Conference. Her presentation was very informative and the format she used helped keep us engaged. She also does a great job of choosing books for her storytimes that get her young readers ready for kindergarten, that include the demographics she serves, and that are relevant to the kids’ lives. Cathy also takes the time to ensure that her pronunciations of Spanish words are correct, so that her ELL kids will understand her.
FAIRFIELD:
Andrew Swatzell
Andrew has done a great job in taking on deliveries and doing whatever is necessary to keep the maintenance department afloat as we are down one staff member. Andrew has filled in for personnel while they were on vacation and also has volunteered to perform Monday deliveries. While all of this is going on Andrew has been able to maintain the Fairfield branch and keep it in great condition. Thanks Andrew.
OXFORD/SMITH:
Susan Brooks – OXB
Sue is an incredible member of the circulation team. She always has recommendations for books, restaurants, and everything in between. Sue brings a good attitude and a friendly smile every day.
LAC/BKM/TECH CENTER:
Marie Rossiter- BKM
Everything from advance planning, to administrative tasks, to daily upkeep has run much more smoothly since Marie came on board the bookmobile department. She’s quick to notice where things could run more efficiently – and propose and enact solutions. She also hasn’t been afraid to dive into community leads and make connections. Thank you, Marie!
Congratulations to this quarter’s winners! Each winner will receive their choice of 4 hours of vacation or a $50 gift card.
Congratulations to the following nominees:
HAMILTON:
Alex Scales
Whether it’s a co-worker dealing with a difficult patron, a hold that’s wandered off, a print job that’s going awry, getting a hard-to-find item, a local history question, or showing new employees the ropes, Alex is always on it. All the patrons love his humor and attention to detail.
Sammy Haven – won June 2024
Started as our new Teen Librarian and have so many ideas and a lot of drive in thinking about what teens would like, how to best organize things in that area of the library, and are really thoughtful in what they have been doing. They are wonderful!
Julie Lemon
Jule is always so kind and patient with patrons. Her enthusiasm for helping our guests makes people feel welcome at Hamilton. She’s always willing to step in and help out wherever needed.
Bernadette Miranda – won March 2024
Bernie’s programs are always so well attended, informative, and fun. Patrons come in and ask for her by name, wondering if she has programs coming up. At the desk, she is always smiling and laughing with patrons, going the extra mile to make Hamilton a welcoming environment.
FAIRFIELD:
Morgan Sackenheim
In many ways, Morgan is the glue that holds the ref team together. She was recently a superstar when it came to the annual update of the reference manual. She keeps the bulk of our lib guides and resources up-to-date and does a lot of behind-the-scenes work that draws very little fanfare or attention. We’re extremely lucky to have her!
Emma Estridge
Emma is one of our part time floaters and has so much on her plate with school and always offering to help out with programming. Yet, she is always chill and remains helpful and kind to our patrons. She deserves recognition for her work at Lane!
Jen Neborak – 2 nominations
Jen has gone above and beyond, spending her downtime making book sale mystery bags in an attempt to lessen Stapleton’s burden in the form of mountains of donations.
She goes above and beyond for any and every patron she can. The other day we had a decent amount of snow and the city had not cleared the sidewalks and she went out with me and helped shovel and throw salt down so no patron or fellow employee slipped and fell. She was not asked to help by me, she just came out and started helping.
Sarah Hedrick
Sarah always provides clear and well informed book recommendations along with high quality assistance while at the reference desk. Her hard work in preparing teen programs as well as assisting fellow staff members is greatly appreciated.
Tamara Brooks
Tammy puts so much thought, time, and effort into the programs she plans for our patrons – the high attendance numbers and compliments from patrons alone are proof! I have been able to learn a great deal from her, and she has been an asset to me as I have navigated my way through Children’s programming in my new position. Her expertise and knowledge have made my transition to the Children’s department an easy one!
OXFORD/SMITH:
Emily Hicks – Smith PL
Emily did a tremendous job assembling abstract genealogical data on families that once resided in Peck’s Addition. This was an extremely work intensive project that has taken her the last three months to research, on top of her usual work.
Akiko Urayama – 2 nominations
She’s smart and talented and has so much creative energy. She’s an inspiration to so many of us.
Akiko partnered with a coworker to host an incredible art gala. Akiko orchestrated the volunteers and the piano players. It is this type of “touches” that make the evening memorable. Akiko is a team player and always ready to step up and assist when help is needed. She is proactive and anticipates when she will be needed to help out and always does so with a positive attitude. Thank you for all that you do at OXB.
Anne Wright
Not only is Anne one of the best and most accurate shelvers we’ve ever seen and is someone who is great at helping us out if we can’t find a book, she also is the one who is always willing to point out if something is in the wrong spot and has such an amazing memory for facts and details. We’re thankful to have her around!
Sasha Levine – won June 2024
Sasha does a fantastic job with programs, book displays and desk reference responsibilities. She is one of our go-to people for all things IT as well. She is also an active member of the Wellness Committee.
Jackie Berberich – won December 2024
Jackie is an outstanding member of the OXB team. In partnership with her coworker Akiko they held an incredible art gala evening. The planning and thoughtful touches created an amazing evening for those who attended. Jackie’s creativity seems to be boundless and once again she created beautiful bulletin board displays to promote reading and the story walk. Thank you for all that you do at OXB.
Alice Ahrens – 2 nominations
Alice is the go-to for all things circulation related. She is a wizard with work flows and Search Ohio, often helping Reference with questions. Alice is also a valuable resource on the Reference Desk and a favorite with patrons.
Alice is always supportive and helpful. She never minds questions or helping out when somebody needs an extra set of eyes. Her knowledge and kindness are exactly what somebody expects when asking a librarian. She’s sweet and caring and always there for people.
Harry Davis
Seeing Harry is the highlight of my morning. He takes care of so much around the branch that we don’t even know about, which keeps things running smoothly. He’s willing to hear all our “this needs fixed” issues and handles the job right away.
LAC/BKM/TECH CENTER:
Virginia Phelps – LAC – won March 2024
Virginia is a rock star. She is such a help to the branches when it comes to organizing the purchases that keep us running, the payroll that keeps us paid, and so much more. She’s got a big job and she is always right on top of it all.
Kenzie Fields – Tech Center
Kenzie always goes out of her way to be helpful to patrons and staff alike. Recently, a Friends’ board member commended Kenzie for her excellent and knowledgeable service after she assisted him during a visit to the Tech Center. Kenzie isn’t only helpful to patrons, though. She’s always ready and willing to lend a couple of extra hours to help with an after hours or off site project or even to carpool with coworkers. Thank you, Kenzie!
Emmett Tallarigo – BKM – 3 nominations
Emmett manages our “genrefied” restocking system for the Bookmobile, which ensures that we have books that students at our school stops want. He is always ahead of whatever project we’re working on. Emmett is really rather indispensable to our work here at the Bookmobile.
Emmett has worked so hard this quarter! He’s done a phenomenal job keeping the Bookmobile stocked with new & appealing media. He’s also taken the lead on BKM’s outreach efforts with Butler Tech: he led a very successful presentation for students, and is now part of an ongoing mentorship program inside the school. These efforts are above and beyond, and we here at BKM really appreciate Emmett’s care & attention to detail.
It’s clear how important community connection is to Emmett. He has come up with some very creative engagement strategies for the kids we (briefly) see at school stops. I look forward to putting these into action – and wildly boosting our street cred with the youths 🙂