Campus Recognition

Two student assistants at College Library, Alyssa Kowis and Mandy Morrow, recently received recognition from the Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian, Edward van Gemert, for their dedication and commitment to providing exemplary service.

In her years at College Library, Alyssa has been an overnight staffer, a student security supervisory, a lead worker, and (most recently) a collection management assistant handling the processing and troubleshooting of materials for reserves. One of her supervisors recognized that Alyssa “has consistently taken extra responsibilities when the library needed her in turbulent times and sought out ways to benefit us during the steady times too.” Because of her dedication in trekking “over to the University Book Store to purchase textbooks” and processing materials quickly, many students on campus had their reserves available the same day the request was received.

Mandy made her mark in the College Library Infolab, where she has worked for three years. Among her many accomplishments include taking the initiative to organize the physical space of the storage of the InfoLab, the technology staging area, and even the staff office, which, as her nomination letter noted, “improved conditions for everyone she worked with.” Mandy then moved onto organizing the lab’s virtual space. She updated the wiki, removed old, irrelevant material, and even went so far as to document all the procedures that weren’t yet documented. During that same time period, she also re-organized the entire student employee training program. Not only did she prepare lesson plans, but she took into consideration visual, verbal, and kinesthetic learning styles – coming up with activities like a scavenger hunt and a poster-printing exercise to give student assistants real-world, hands-on experience.

Without a doubt, College Library has benefited greatly from the combined efforts of Mandy and Alyssa. Their accomplishments, along with those of two other student assistants in campus libraries, were recognized at a ceremony on Thursday, December 10. The four of them were celebrated for their:

• Exemplary working relationships with library colleagues and/or library clients
• Contributions to establishing a welcoming learning and research environment
• High-productivity coupled with teamwork, leadership, and/or cooperation
• Creativity, initiative, and independence that positively influences library services
• Achievements and work products that significantly benefit library services

We would like to congratulate Mandy and Alyssa for their efforts on behalf of the staff and patrons of College Library.