Congratulations to Susan Barribeau and Vicki Tobias, Librarians of the Year
The UW–Madison Libraries’ 2013 Librarians of the Year were announced during the annual awards reception held in Lathrop Hall. The recipients of this year’s honors are Vicki Tobias, Images & Media Archivist at University Archives in Steenbock Library, and Susan Barribeau, English Language Humanities Librarian at Memorial Library.
Susan Barribeau received the Librarian of the Year award given to a librarian who has worked more than ten years at the Libraries. Susan is the first person to receive this award a second time, having also won in 2000 as the Librarian of the Year with less than ten years of service. Susan has held a number of positions in her twenty-one years with the Libraries. She has held her current position as English language humanities librarian for nearly five years. Susan never misses an opportunity to acquire new and unique items that make our collections special and useful to our faculty, staff, and students. She has also been exceptional at promoting the collections. For example, she and a student assistant recently launched a Blog to bring more attention to the Little Magazines, a nationally prominent collection. This effort culminated in her participation on a panel at the Grolier Club in New York in March that brought together private and institutional collectors of American Little Magazines. Susan brings this same work ethic and enthusiasm to the numerous collaboration efforts and committees that she serves on. She has been an active member of the Evolving Directions in Academic Research and Resources committee that brings in speakers to present their research to library staff. She has also served as a representative to the University Library Committee to advocate for the Libraries and work with faculty to support library priorities and strategies.
Vicki Tobias received the Librarian of the Year award that is given to those with ten or fewer years of service to the Libraries. Vicki began her love of archives and librarianship while working for the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives as a Web and Digital Projects Coordinator in 2000. It was that job as well as her colleagues at the WHS that inspired her to work towards an MLS from the UW School for Library and Information Studies on the Archives Management track. After graduating Vicki began working for the Libraries in 2004 as a digital services librarian for the UW Digital Collection Center. She is now the UW–Madison Archives images and media archivist. In both of these positions, Vicki has advocated for and been instrumental in the digitization of many collections across campus, such as the Aldo Leopold collection and the Oral History Program. She has also worked hard to create more publicity about these collections especially through the use of social media. In order to further the goals of the Libraries and the UW archives, Vicki has and continues to work with groups across the General Library System, campus, and beyond on a variety of projects and committees. She currently works with the Library Marketing Committee and the Library Social Media group to publicize library resources and services. To quote one of those who nominated her, “Vicki is an excellent colleague, knowledgeable, hard working, pleasant, and funny. I would find it hard to imagine a more deserving candidate for Librarian of the Year.”
Congratulations, Susan and Vicki!