Congratulations to the following June 2019 Employee of the Quarter Winners:
Fairfield:
Odalis Jimenez (2 nominations)
Odalis always has a friendly smile on her face! She goes out of her way to help patrons and coworkers. She started the Family Story Time in Espanol to serve the Hispanic members of our community and also runs our Music and Movement program. Our branch wouldn’t be the same without her!
Odalis’s Storytime en Español programs are gaining interest and recognition in the community. Just today, someone recognized the outstanding programming offered by Odalis, stated what a benefit she is to our patrons, and how much his kids absolutely loved the program they attended! Super proud of what you bring to our branch and to our community through your outstanding customer service and diverse program opportunities!
Hamilton:
Trent Hart
Trent has on many occasions assisted us with a myriad of situations. During the renovation he has come in to meet contractors, helped with planning, fixed and repainted walls and many other duties. He is always willing to come help in any way possible. This transition period has definitely gone more smoothly because he is around at Hamilton and we are lucky to have him.
Oxford:
Caitlin Campbell
Caitlin has been an invaluable mentor for a new children’s librarian and is a strong model of being a children’s librarian and leading by example. She has been so generous and supportive in sharing her expertise in programming.
LAC/BKM/Tech Center:
Debbie Bond, LAC
Debbie has been a fabulous addition to Lane Libraries. She mastered the platforms of all of our main vendors and has done a wonderful job in getting all the materials we need. She’s often at the branches working with others on weeding and other projects. She’s hard-working, conscientious, and a pleasure to be around. Thanks Debbie!
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:
FAIRFIELD
Heidi Patterson
Heidi is amazing! She is always there to help for more in-depth technological issues. Heidi is very fast with getting back to staff and patrons about all issues.
She is very patient and kind with all patrons and staff, and she deserves ALL THE AWARDS!
Laura Donnell (3 nominations)
Laura is always a team player. She is always willing to jump in and help out a coworker when they are swamped or can’t keep up. She is so very patient with the patrons and goes beyond the call of duty to provide great service to them. She has a wicked sense of humor that we all appreciate and she lifts our spirits often. I am glad that I get the pleasure of working with her and I think she deserves Employee of the Quarter for her ongoing service to our branch.
A patron came in with minutes to spare before closing and needed help with making a ton copies for a project. Laura was very patient with her and stayed with her during the closing procedures to make sure she had everything she needed.
Laura has worked hard all these years she has been here. She puts so much effort in her work and always makes me laugh even on the hardest days.
Tamara Brooks
Tammy is such a wonderful co-worker and a great Children’s Librarian. She is so very knowledgeable in terms of collections, resources, best practices, etc. I greatly appreciate not only all the hard work she puts into making every season and every event in Children’s a success, but also how much she helps us with our own things, whether that means giving us suggestions, sharing past experiences, etc. She has an incredible talent when it comes to planning and executing Children’s programming. She is very organized and creative in everything she prepares. Our patrons love her and trust her!
Morgan Sackenheim (2 nominations)
In her short time in her new position, Morgan has already contributed so much to our team. She’s created handouts and provided instruction that is super useful to her colleagues, and as a result, our patrons are better served.
Has put together a lot of useful information for reference and nailed that presentation at our staff meeting.
Hannah Spurlock
Hannah is such a big help with so many things. She takes on any task, big or small, asked of her and the results are consistently superior. I appreciate her hard work and willingness to help out with anything.
Chris Esposito
Chris has done an outstanding job of learning all aspects of service at our branch. His presence in the teen zone has been helpful to us and positive for patrons. In addition, his participation on the Fairfield Fresh committee is valuable to his colleagues as a whole! He is a hard team worker who is enthusiastic to pick up any task.
Rylee Del Rio
Rylee is a super shelver! She comes in for her shifts like a stealth ninja and before you know it, multiple carts are finished and she is heading for another, and always with a smile on her face. She is also fantastic at helping patrons who see her at work and ask for assistance. FFB is lucky to have her on the team!
Savannah Usher
Savannah is another FFB Shelver that comes in and starts shelving before you even realize she is here. Like a phantom, she is in the stacks and making things incredibly neat and presentable for the patrons and answering any questions that she may be stopped for with a super bright smile on her face. She is a great member of the FFB team!
Jennifer Bonnlander
Jen B. is one of those workers that sees something that needs done and gets it done. She is proactive at keeping our collections looking fantastic and she makes it look super easy at the same time. Jen will always volunteer for a big collection shift and does it while shelving carts – all at the same time! We are so glad she is on the FFB team!
Kerri Doll
If you were to look up dedication in the dictionary, I am sure Kerri Doll would be found under the definition. Kerri is detail oriented, hard working, and one of the most helpful people I have ever worked with. She keeps the McNaughton’s flowing and when she does shelf checks, we know if she didn’t find it that it is not truly here (“Book Whisperer”). Kerri has now caught several printing issues with new McNaughtons that we have been able to fix before getting them out to the public (binding issues, grease stains, excess glue, etc.). She is a rock for our FFB team and we greatly appreciate everything she does!
Jacob Urmston
Jacob is a breath of fresh air at FFB and is one of the best cart organizers around. Jacob is always able to assist patrons with their questions as he is out shelving and has helped several patrons with computer questions when Reference staff are busy. He has a great attitude every time he is at work and he can bring even the grumpiest co-worker out of their funk. We really enjoy having Jacob on the FFB team!
Alyson Sizemore
Aly is proactive at keeping our collections neat and orderly and can always spot areas that need improvement (such as numerous copies of the same item that take up needed shelf space, sad looking books that no one would want to take home, etc). She is also fantastic at helping keep up with rotating out our old McNaughtons and making room for the newer titles. She is super organized and can get a lot of carts shelved per shift. We really are happy to have her on the FFB team!
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HAMILTON
Alex Scales (2 nominations)
Alex is always on top of things by paying attention to detail and reading emails.
Alex is always willing to go the extra mile when working on historic requests. Our team was given a request for newspaper articles about a person charged with murder from 1981 or 1982, but the requester did not have an exact date of the murder or trial(s). Because the newspaper archive only goes up to 1977, we were looking at having to go day by day through microfilm to try to find an article about this request. Alex took it upon himself to visit the Butler County records and Butler County Clerk of Courts to find the original date of the murder arrest. By doing this, he was able to find many other documents that will help us narrow our search frames quite a bit. It really helped move this Historical Request forward. He’s a great teammate.
Shyann Thomas
Shyann has recently returned as a Shelver, and her attention to detail in the position and the way in which she keeps the shelves straightened, orderly and read for correct order is fantastic! Our shelves look so tidy and we are very grateful to have her kind and generous self back with us!
Camille Dainton
Camille is an exceptional staff member and we are lucky to have her! She is hardworking, always looking for a project or something to work on, and is thorough in every task she takes on. She recently has moved from being a Shelver to a Circulation Assistant, and caught on to her new responsibilities very quickly. She is now a member of the ‘Blue Slip Team’ and has shown that her detective skills are excellent! I know that when I assign her a task it will not only get done in a timely manner, but the end result will be exceptional. Camille will do great things in her life!
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OXFORD
Sherry Dunkelberger, Smith
Sherry does a super job at any assigned task and even finds others to do. (For example, she discovered a way to repair a faulty latch on the AV cabinet.) Within one quarter she curated a wall exhibit of Oxford art and created a display featuring a 19th-century travel diary. She is a tenacious researcher who tries never to let a reference question go unanswered. If Smith Library doesn’t have the information that’s needed, she frequently finds another institution that does.
Patrons have come to rely on her helpfulness and enthusiasm.
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LAC/BKM/TECH CENTER
Amanda Bull Chafin, Tech Center (4 nominations)
I really appreciate Amanda’s can-do attitude. When the Tech Center was in-between managers Amanda really stepped up and made sure everything was completed on time. She is incredibly hardworking and also very creative.
Despite not being the manager, she takes it upon herself to act as a fantastic leader when our manager is both here and not. Numerous times she’s proven to be both efficient and adaptable displaying great knowledge of things she herself didn’t really know she could grasp. Without her this branch would be nothing short of a mess.
Amanda BC has been a tremendous help to me as I transitioned to manager of the Tech Center. She’s really the backbone of this building, and we all rely heavily on her vast amount of technical know-how. Amanda really stepped up when it came to the Lego Mindstorms & Sumobots class – not only teaching herself how to use them, but also how to lead the classes with very little prep time.
Amanda has immense knowledge on the equipment and online resources that we offer at the Tech Center. She is our go-to gal if any of our machines malfunction and she walks us through the steps of fixing and/or updating our tech. She always has fun and innovative ideas for our programming and our patrons love her classes (especially her Glowforge class!). While we were in the process of hiring a new manager, Amanda stepped up and filled the role. With her guidance, we were one of the firsts to submit our summer programming and we stayed on track with our orders and projects.
Matt Leffler, LAC (2 nominations)
Matt comes in every day with a positive attitude and will go out of his way to help anyone. He has been a great asset to the LAC team.
Matt is really doing a great job in his new role in Systems. He is always thinking of ways to improve library services and is extremely knowledge about new tools and resources that are available. Matt is always willing to assist where needed and I have heard multiple staff members comment that they really enjoy working with him.
Debbie Cook, BKM
Debbie does such a great job with deliveries and handling many of the books we have to shelve at the branch. I was out sick a few weeks ago and wasn’t able to get my teacher collection finished and she was really helpful and offered to deliver it after I returned. She also is so helpful in getting our large amount of newly returned books from schools shelved!