Congratulations to the following December 2020 Employee of the Quarter Winners:
Hamilton:
Tamee Johnson
Tamee goes above and beyond to find items for both holds and missing lists, even when she’s injured. She always keeps up an amazing attitude and makes us all laugh.
Fairfield:
Morgan Sackenheim – 2 nominations
Morgan has worked her butt off this quarter doing a lot of different things. She has done an excellent job making her webinars on a variety of topics, helped organize staff activities like our bake off, and has become a master of the Cricut making all sorts of crafty things. She does all of this and more, but she always does it a great attitude.
Morgan has done a great job keeping patrons engaged during the pandemic. She continues to create quality digital content for Webinar Wednesdays where she explains many of Lane’s digital resources in an engaging and easy to follow manner, guiding patrons through using these resources even when they might not be able to visit us.
Oxford/Smith:
Sarah Gifford – 2 nominations
Sarah is making the best out of our situation. She’s moving forward with excellent programming ideas; supporting Circ with quarantine check ins, and maintaining a positive attitude. She is using the slow times wisely and attending to weeding projects. She’s the backbone to the Reference Team and her work is much appreciated.
There is never a time Sarah does not put 110% into what she does for us. During these times, Sarah has dove into adult virtual programing, learning the tools required and coordinating community partners to ensure interesting and varied programing is still accessible to our patrons. She has also put hours and hours and hours into weeding the collection, joining the systemwide effort to keep our shelves stable.
She is a stalwart work friend and always helpful coworker, and we are very lucky to have her here.
LAC/BKM/Tech Center:
Virginia Phelps, LAC – 2 nominations
Virginia is a wonderful addition to Lane Libraries and the Business Office. She is friendly and hardworking. She is amazing at finding the supplies we need to keep us safe during Covid.
Virginia has just been a calming voice through this whole pandemic, and as we get towards the end of the year, shes been awesome to work with through her first year with us at LAC.
Congratulations to this quarter’s winners! Each winner will receive 4 hours of vacation.
Congratulations to the following nominees:
Hamilton:
Trent Hart – 2 nominations
Trent taught me how to run the delivery route recently, and I had a chance to spend a couple days hanging out with him. He was excellent company and I was also impressed by his work ethic and energy. The work went beyond simply learning where all the crated books and recycling bins in the system are hidden. It was like being in a mobile classroom for a few days, as we drove hither and yon around western Butler County, talking about geology, tectonic plates, California, the western deserts vs the eastern deciduous forests, electronic music, aviation, Mexico, etc.
Trent has really stepped up in John’s absence, he deserves a lot of recognition for helping with deliveries.
Michaela Perkins
Michaela is a hard worker and always looking to lend a hand to wrap up projects. She diligently works on inspecting materials leaving quarantine almost every single morning she works. She meticulously slogs through data for attendance count sheets and local history entries and is just a kind and good natured co-worker.
Jennifer Albinus
Jennifer has really been a hard worker during these COVID times! Every time I see her she is changing a bag of quarantine materials out, hauling them to the meeting room, and otherwise just plain on top of things around here. She has picked up being responsible for the Seed Library while Tess is on Maternity Leave and has done a great job at keeping up with that as well. We are lucky to have such a hard worker and dedicated staff member as Jennifer!
Fairfield:
Savannah Usher – 2 nominations
Savannah is always so kind, patient and attentive to patrons. She takes the time to listen and goes to extra mile to ensure that the patron leaves pleased. I have seen her confidence grow over the past year and like all staff, Savannah has been a shining light during the pandemic.
Savannah not only does her job very well, but she is also incredibly kind to her coworkers and our patrons. In fact, I had someone reach out to me through social media to make sure that I knew how impressed she was with Savannah’s customer service offered at the drive-up window. She also received a paper Shout Out from another patron, calling her a “top shelf” employee. I couldn’t agree more!
Peter Bour – 2 nominations
Peter is always eager to help patrons and coworkers no matter the task. He provides great customer service while maintaining a positive outlook no matter how stressful a situation or day might be.
Peter is a very encouraging coworker! He is always upbeat and is a great listener. He goes above and beyond when it comes to making sure our patrons have all of the resources they need. I’ve had several patrons ask for his name and share how helpful he is and how he took extra time to make sure their needs were met.
Jen Umbstead
Jen is such a joy to work with, she is very encouraging and supportive. She is sought out by patrons for her reading recommendations and her friendliness. Jen is always willing to lend a hand or share her knowledge if you can’t remember how to do something.
Jennifer Bonnlander
Jen is one of those employees that you can just count on to be proactive – if she sees an area that needs attention she doesn’t ask, she just DOES. Any project that needs taken care of, she is the first one in line to help. Actually, sometimes I will get an area ready for shifting and before I can even ask for a Shelver’s assistance, she has it all done. She is the Stealth Ninja Shelver of FFB and we appreciate her every day!
Kerri Doll
Kerri is such a hard worker – she processes all of our new McNaughtons at FFB, plus pulls the paging lists (which are absolutely scary on Mondays), looks for shelf check items and can find even the most elusive book when it hides from the rest of us. We really appreciate her quiet, steady presence – she is another FFB Ninja!
Oxford/Smith:
Alice Radlinski
Alice is the go to person for the Circ Dept. She’s a focused and steady worker who keeps the dept. moving in the right direction. Even with our extra processes and heightened safety concerns Alice is smiling, laughing and remaining positive. She continually provides good service to all our patrons.
Akiko Urayama
Akiko has done a great job assembling craft kits and keeping patrons connected to the library during this crazy time. She is so enthusiastic in every thing she does, be it dealing with patrons, virtual story times, and more. She is a bright spot in the day and a pleasure to be around.
Caitlin Campbell
To help facilitate family discussions about racial equity, identity and justice, Caitlin developed a set of book club discussion kits for families. She has worked incredibly hard coming up with themes and books to fit each theme. Caitlin also developed a set of questions for families to discuss while reading each book. I am incredibly proud of her and I know these kits will be a great resource for the families we serve!
Caroline Williams
Caroline has been helping in so many ways. She puts a lot of time and labor into ‘the mines’ of the quarantine materials, and also has been directly responsible for much of our take and make programming success as she ‘pushes’ our kits out the door. Filling different desks, being front door greeter, Caroline has been doing it all, and we are very grateful to her doing it all with her signature wit and care.
LAC/BKM/Tech Center:
Mike Busam – BKM – 2 nominations – Won Sept 2020
Mike stepped up to the plate and took on deliveries with John being incapacitated now. He’s doing a great job and we really appreciate him pitching in!
Mike has volunteered to help anywhere and everywhere needed during the last several months, and he always does a great job.
Sarah Turner – BKM
Sarah is an asset to the Bookmobile Dept. She has great story times with creative crafts for area children.