Dedication to Quality Service

A motivated staff committed to providing the highest quality of service is essential in order for University Libraries to fullfill our mission to provide excellent research collections, quality service, responsive instruction and training, and inviting facilities. The Quality Service Award recognizes the fine work of staff who strive to provide the best service to both library users as well as to colleagues. The award is presented three times per academic year. Following are the 2005/2006 recipients of the Quality Service Award.

Toby Heidtmann

At UC, library users have immediate access to over three million library materials. Through services such as OhioLINK and Interlibrary Loan, students and faculty can also request library materials from libraries throughout the U.S. and beyond and get those items delivered often within only a day or two. In addition, users from other libraries request to borrow materials housed at UC. This borrowing and lending of library materials takes a group of library staff to coordinate and manage the thousands of items a month that arrive and depart from University Libraries. Leading this effort with “efficient and effective service” since 1994 is Toby Heidtmann, Head of Interlibrary Services, and the Winter Quarter recipient of University Libraries’ Quality Service Award.

In nominating Toby for this award, his nominators stated that Toby’s commitment to providing library users with the materials they require as quickly as possible has led to a streamlining of interlibrary services. This has resulted in faster turn-around time for library users when requesting materials, as well as for a more efficient work flow for library staff when requesting and delivering those materials. Toby was instrumental in the implementation of the Illiad Interlibrary Loan service, which has significantly shortened the delivery time of articles and has “revolutionized our interlibrary loan operation,” as one nominator wrote.

Through his work with OhioLINK, Toby is a “first-line source of information to library users,” said one colleague. His many contributions to “making OhioLINK work” were cited again and again by his nominators as an invaluable service that provides library users with the resources they need.

In addition to his work delivering library materials to users, Toby contributes his time and efforts to numerous University Libraries initiatives and endeavors, remaining a “constant source of leadership and dependability.” Toby has been chair of the Collection Access Committee since 1993, where he “coordinates circulation issues with all library jurisdictions to best serve the needs of UC’s diverse groups of users.” In addition to serving on this committee, Toby is currently on, or has served on, the Policy and Planning Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee, the Organizational Effectiveness Task Force, the UCLID Redesign Task Force, and the Conservation, Binding, and Processing Task Force – all groups dedicated to providing users access to library materials. To each of these groups, Toby brings both this extensive knowledge of University Libraries and his quiet and caring demeanor.

In June, Toby will end his 24-year tenure at University Libraries when he retires. As proclaimed by those who nominated him for the Quality Service Award, Toby has made numerous and substantive contributions to University Libraries in a multitude of areas – interlibrary loan, OhioLINK online borrowing, circulation, conservation, collection management – to name but a few. Good luck and thank you, Toby.

Elna Saxton

Elna Saxton, Head of the Serials and Electronic Resources Department, was the Fall Quarter Quality Service Award winner. Elna’s nominator articulates what those who have had the pleasure to work with her know and that is that "Elna shows respect to all, encourages teamwork, and inspires people to work hard." The quality service she provides to her colleagues is apparent in her willingness to provide leadership in a number of task forces, working groups, and interim department head assignments.

Mikaila Corday

Congratulations to Mikaila Corday, Senior Library Specialist in the Interlibrary Services Department, and the Spring Quarter recipient of the Quality Service Award. Cheryl Albrecht, Associate Dean of Public Services, and the Quality Service Award Committee presented Mikaila with the award. Mikaila is well known for her knack for tracking down incomplete citations, diciphering multiple languages, and finding materials located on the opposite side of the globe – just a few of the many reasons she was chosen for this honor.

Circulation Stacks Management Team

In Spring Quarter, the Circulation Stacks Managment Team became the first recipients of the Team Quality Service Award. The members of this team were surprised at their monthly meeting by Dean and University Librarian Victoria Montavon, Cheryl Albrecht, Associate Dean of Public Service, and the Quality Service Award Committee. The team received multiple nominations, which spoke to the clear commitment this team has to providing library users with outstanding service in an efficient and consistent manner.

Team Members include: David Ball, Greg Borkenhagen, Mikaila Corday, Al Early, Sara Harper, Elaine Ignatius, Dorris Jackson, Arlene Johnson, Ben Kline, Michael Lennon, Dorian Love, Joyce Pons, Jack Rininger, Lindsey Ritzert, Tausha Ross, David Sandor, Jay Sinnard, John Stork, Caryn Watts, and Dennis Young.

Source Index