On
April 10th, 2002 the Fairfax County Public Library Board
of Trustees recognized 55 "Star Volunteers" at a dinner
at Main Street USA and ceremony at George Mason Regional
Library. The honorees were selected from over 3,200 individuals
who contributed over 155,000 hours of service to the Library
in FY 2002. Awards were presented for 1,000 and 5000 hours
of service and for exceptional projects and performance.
(l-r) Jennifer Yang, Gearline
Young, Leah Barrett, Edwin S. Clay III (Library
Director), Marge Fare, Jean Burris, Dipal Dave |
Jean Burris retired from FCPL's Public Information
Office in 1997 and since then has contributed over 1,000+
hours of valuable volunteer service at Library Administration
and George Mason Regional Library. At Library Administration,
she provides clerical and database support, and at George
Mason, she processes the book drop each Wednesday.
Gearline Young, an Exceptional Service Awardee,
is also a retiree from Fairfax County Public Schools.
As FCPL's Volunteer Outreach Coordinator for the African-American
Community, Gearline planned and presented a Fine Arts
Fair to celebrate the birthdays of Langston Hughes and
Marian Anderson. Spearheaded by her sorority, Alpha Kappa
Alpha, and co-sponsored by the Library and Fairfax County
Public Schools, the fair featured speakers, multimedia
presentations, student exhibits, and an essay contest
which students prepared for through research at Sherwood
Regional Library.
The Contacts Database Team created a database for
Library Administration which consolidated all their community
contact lists. The lists, which were in a variety of electronic
formats, are now in one central database that can be contributed
to and used by all departments. Marge Fare designed
the database, imported as many records as possible, and
developed sample reports for testing for mass mailings.
Michael Ann Brown, Dipal Dave, and Jean
Burris manually entered thousands of records and researched
and cleaned up existing data to ensure that good, current
information was included. We honor them with an Exceptional
Service Team Award for providing the Library with this
exciting and extremely useful new resource.
The American Management Systems Team has partnered
with the Library System to provide technology tutoring
to patrons in five branches. Jennifer Yang was
the first "AMSer" to offer one-on-one weekly Internet
tutoring and programs at Fairfax City Regional Library,
beginning in 1998. The following year Leah Barrett
joined her and now tutors at George Mason Regional. Alice
Chang began offering tutorials this year at John Marshall,
and Namita Amin, at Tysons-Pimmit. Sallie Johnson
assisted patrons at Patrick Henry. Meg Phillips,
AMS Employee Relations Manager, developed the formal partnership
with us two years ago and recruited our AMS tutors. These
outstanding volunteers have introduced hundreds of new
users, many without home computer access, to the Library's
catalog, databases, the Internet, and e-mail. Team AMS
has set a wonderful example of how an employee volunteer
team can make a major difference in the community by volunteering
their specialized skills on a weekly basis.
James Pohlman, a volunteer at Access Services since
1996, has contributed 1,170 hours of service for Talking
Books patrons. He records the branch newsletter Loud &
Clear, duplicates and repairs talking book tapes, and
selects and maintains the duplicating equipment. Jim's
service was recognized by the Points of Light Foundation
and featured on their Web site.
Eleanor Wille has contributed 1,075 hours of service
at Centreville since 1993. Her tremendous support on the
Circulation Desk makes it possible for staff to offer
many extra services to Centreville patrons.
(l-r) Charles Fegan (Library Board Chair), Chuck
Caputo |
Chuck Caputo, honored for Exceptional Service,
has given Internet tutorials and programs for the public
at Chantilly for two years. In addition to these duties,
however, he has also trained new Internet volunteers from
Chantilly and led a workshop for Chantilly Information
staff. Reaching out beyond Chantilly, he trained volunteers
from other branches and tutored at the Older Workers Expo.
He also attended training on new assistive technologies
for low vision patrons, and then shared the training with
Chantilly staff and patrons.
(l-r) Sharon Dattilo, Charles
Fegan (Library Board Chair), Pat Barber |
Marion Flores has contributed over 1,000 hours
of valuable service at Fairfax City since 1997. She volunteers
two days a week, assisting the Circulation Department
and pricing and sorting donated books for the Friends
book sale. Her work has helped the Friends raise thousands
of dollars for special projects for the Fairfax community.
Maxie Hopkins and Mary Frances Johnson have
each volunteered over 1,000 hours as Friends of the Fairfax
City Library. They sort and price gift books and contribute
to both the ongoing book sale and the fall and spring
book sales. Their dedication has been crucial to the Friends'
success in fundraising for special projects to benefit
the Fairfax City library and community.
Sven Johnson joined the Friends of Fairfax City
in 1997 and became President two years later. He has donated
over 1,000 hours of his time managing the Friends and
organizing their book sales. Sven has previously been
recognized by the Board and Volunteer Fairfax for Exceptional
Service, and now receives his 1,000 Hour Award.
Pat Barber, Sharon Datillo, and Rabia
Razvi indexed 240 sourcebooks and over 8,500 songs,
in record time, to create a searchable Popular Songs database
for Fairfax City Library. They receive Exceptional Service
awards for making it possible for the Information staff
to access Fairfax City's special music collection more
quickly and help patrons more efficiently.
(l-r) Charles Fegan (Library
Board Chair), Emily Johnson |
Emily Johnson is honored for Exceptional Service
as Treasurer of the Herndon Friends. When the Friends
had to revalidate their 501©(3) status with the IRS last
year, Emily handled the critical and time-sensitive process
of cross checking and balancing over six years worth of
statements and transactions. She also designed a meticulous
accounting system that can easily withstand any future
audit.
(l-r) Charles Fegan (Library
Board Chair), Mary Underwood, Sally McLean |
Sally McLean has donated over 1,040 hours at John
Marshall since 1994. Having earned a Library Science degree
from Vanderbilt, she enjoys shelf reading the Shakespeare
shelves and organizing the recorded and large print books,
as well as a variety of other tasks. She also serves as
Boy Scout Unit Commissioner for a pack and a troop and
is a district merit badge counselor for reading.
Mary Underwood, an Administrative Officer with
the Defense Intelligence Agency, has contributed over
1,040 hours at the John Marshall Circulation Desk since
1992. The community enjoys talking with her about topics
ranging from what books they have read to inquiring about
Bentley, her Tibetan Terrier. Both staff and patrons appreciate
her skills and dedicated service.
(l-r) Charles Fegan (Library
Board Chair), Molly Connally, Troy Ketch |
Molly Connally, has donated over 1,200 hours of
service with the Information and Children's staff at Kings
Park. She does Reference filing, prepares bibliographies
and displays, processes new books, and files on-order
cards. Molly is also a valued member of the review committee
of the "Adult Books for Young Adults" column of School
Library Journal. She selects and reviews books for the
column, and the editors have praised her reviews for their
clarity and insight.
Troy Ketch, a high school English teacher who also
tutors ESL students, receives an Exceptional Service Award
for achieving the impossible. He has developed a successful
Father/Son book discussion group. One evening each month
Troy and his CAGS, which stands for Calling All Guys,
meet and bond over books. They started with Harry Potter,
then moved to other fantasy titles, war titles, and adventure.
They are now engaged in a Lord of the Rings board game
competition with Kings Parks' teen book group AfterHours.
(l-r) Martha Fitzpatrick,
Charles Fegan (Library Board Chair), Lance Baxter
|
Lance Baxter, Exceptional Service honoree, helped
open Kingstowne Library and then stayed to become Historian
for the Friends. He keeps a scrapbook of all events and
activities at Kingstowne, and patrons enjoy seeing their
photos in it and learning more about the branch. But even
more notable, he almost single-handedly manages Kingstowne's
highly successful book sale, coming in several times a
week to process and maintain the books. His dedication
has resulted in substantial funds for the purchase of
materials for children's and adult's programs and events.
Martha Fitzpatrick receives an Exceptional Service
award for many contributions at Kingstowne. She began
by unpacking mountains of boxes of books, then joined
her husband Ken as an Internet tutor, providing one-on-one
tutorials on weekday mornings. In addition, she regularly
volunteers for the Circulation Department. She prepared
an excellent program on genealogy Internet resources which
has been requested by another branch, and also presented
a popular program on Web sites for crafters.
(l-r) Charles Fegan (Library
Board Chair), Gina Woods, JoAnn Fargo, Anna Hennessee |
Anna Hennessee has contributed over 1,040 hours
of valuable at Pohick Regional since 1992. She began as
a gift books processor and reference filer, and now she
processes the book drop and makes labels for recorded
books. The Pohick staff greatly appreciate her dedicated
service.
JoAnn Fargo is a member and former president of
the Friends of Pohick Library. In addition to her advocacy
for the Library, she has contributed over 1,000 hours
of service as a book sale volunteer. Besides sorting,
pricing, and stocking books for Pohick's ongoing sale,
she helped to organize many large biannual sales, raising
major funding to support extra programs and services for
the Pohick community.
Gina Woods, a Pohick Friend and book sale volunteer,
receives an Exceptional Service award for outstanding
management skills in clearing and selling a major backlog
of gift books. Working several days a week for eight months,
she cleared out books that had reached the rafters of
two storage rooms, reorganized book storage in the workroom,
and gradually moved it all to the public area for sale.
This provided a safer work area for staff and less damage
to the books. Her excellent marketing techniques also
resulted in a 25% increase in sales revenue for programs
and materials for the public.
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