Hello everyone,
This afternoon I have a few bits of news to report.
Most of you know that our combination administrative and fiscal staff person in Ellis 104, Jacqueline Rash, is back from her maternity leave. (Her son Anderson was born April 1). We are delighted to have her back.
With her return, our temporary staffer, Tom Barnes, is moving. Fortunately, he has accepted the position formerly occupied by Kathy Peters as the accounting person in Technical Services, so he will be moving to Ellis 56 in June.
In other news, Freddy Martinez-Garcia has accepted a new position at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, and will be leaving us at the end of June. I know you all join me in wishing him well in his work there. Cindy Cotner will be helping out in supervising Access Services for the immediate future. Thanks to her for her flexibility.
We are getting a new librarian as well. Joseph Askins, currently of the University of South Carolina, will join us in early August as the new Head of Instruction in RAIS. Searches are ongoing for the Engineering Librarian and Asst./Assoc. Director for SCaRaB, and I hope to have good news to report on those searches this fall.
Many of us were able to see Michaelle Dorsey receive her Chancellor’s Award for Excellence on Monday. She spoke well, and made the Libraries look good at the ceremony! I hope we can have a library staff member nominated every year, and win again, but it will be very difficult to exceed Michaelle’s excellence. Congratulations to her again, and thanks to all who participated.
You may have seen the invitation to the Friends of the Libraries event on June 16. It’s a fundraiser of course; all are welcome to buy a ticket and attend. Contact Sheila Voss with questions.
The Libraries seem to have made it through the budget process, as we have discussed earlier, and I’m still hopeful we’ll get a little increase to offset the huge cuts to collections funds.
In good news, the Health Sciences Library’s new furniture is here, and the new chairs for the Info Commons in Ellis will be coming early June.
Some of you know that I will be on vacation for the next two weeks. Acting Director will move between Deb Ward and Jeannette Pierce primarily, but in general call the office (2-9161) if there’s a need and Jacqueline will sort it out.
Happy Memorial Day weekend to all as we honor those who have served our country.
Thanks to all for what you do, as usual,
Ann