On
April 9th, 2003 the Fairfax County Public Library Board
of Trustees recognized Star Volunteers at a dinner at
Squire Rockwell's Restaurant and ceremony at George Mason
Regional Library. Thirty-five volunteers and three corporate
volunteer partners, Datatel, Inc., ExxonMobil Corp., and
Volunteer Fairfax, were honored. Awardees were selected
from over 3,200 individuals who contributed over 157,000
hours of service to the Library in FY 2003. Awards were
given for 1,000, 3,000, and 5,000 hours of service and
for exceptional projects and performance.
Datatel has a long history of community service
in Fairfax County. Last year, the Fairfax County Public
Library was fortunate to be chosen as a site for Datatel's
Community Day, June 22nd. Coordinated by Ana Borray, fourteen
Datatel staff provided Internet tutorials, HTML classes,
and shelf reading at John Marshall, George Mason, Kingstowne,
and Chantilly Libraries. In addition to volunteer time,
Datatel donated $1,500 to the Library Foundation to purchase
2,500 English and bilingual books for the Virginia Foundation
for the Humanities' Motheread®/Fatheread® literacy
program for low-income families. We would like to present
this plaque to the Datatel Internet Tutoring Team in appreciation
for their outstanding support to the Library community.
 ExxonMobil
has supported the Library in many ways during the
past year. Last summer, the company provided a $2000 Community
Summer Jobs grant to the FCPL Foundation for a college
student to develop and implement a family literacy program
for members of the Salvadoran community near the Woodrow
Wilson Library in Falls Church. ExxonMobil also contributed
$20,000 to the Foundation to purchase Korean library books
for children. In November, Tracy Mason, Public Affairs
Advisor for ExxonMobil, coordinated 32 employees and their
families to organize the picture book collections at eight
branch libraries in support of Children's Book Week. Five
of the employees became regular Library volunteers, and
several applied for ExxonMobil Volunteer Involvement grants
for the Library Foundation. The Library Board gratefully
presents this plaque to Tracy and the ExxonMobil Children's
Book Week Team for their outstanding volunteer project.
 Duwain
Ketch, president of the Friends of Kings Park Library,
responded to an impending shortage of qualified Library
staff with an idea he has worked tirelessly to develop:
the Friends Scholarship Fund. Last year the Fund raised
over $38,000 and awarded four academic scholarships to
meritorious Masters of Library Science students, one winning
the first annual Edwin S. Clay III Scholarship in honor
of Sam's 20 years of service as Library Director. Continuing
Education Scholarships were also awarded to Library staff
and volunteers. The Library Board presents this plaque
to Duwain, along with sincere thanks for this outstanding
contribution.
Beatriz Fiadeiro has contributed over 1,000 of
hours of volunteer service since 1999 as an Administrative
Assistant at Library Administration. Despite ongoing challenges
with rheumatoid arthritis, she travels to the Government
Center via MetroAccess several times a week and donates
over 20 hours per month of cheerful, responsive help to
nearly every administrative department. Beatriz types,
photocopies, files, and prepares mailing and supply orders,
and her appreciative Library staff "clients"
also receive entertaining email, electronic greeting cards,
and postcards from her.
 Hannah
Lederman has donated over 1100 hours of service to
Access Services since 1998. In spite of her own visual
impairment, she sets the record for speedy checking and
rewinding of audiotapes returned by visually impaired
Access Services customers. She also promotes Outreach
Services to the residents of the Renaissance Gardens assisted
living facility and delivers Large Print books to them.
In addition, she heads a support group for visually impaired
adults, and she collected donations to purchase a Closed
Caption television for the residents of the Green Spring
Village retirement community.
 Manisha
Singhal designed a Microsoft Access database for Centreville
Library that allows staff to sign up customers for all
programs online. Staff can sort attendees by last name
and print out a list for each program. The database eliminates
the need for a program signup notebook and allows staff
to spend more time serving the public. This useful program
has been made available to all Library branches.
Pooja Kohli, a Circulation Department volunteer
at Chantilly Regional, routinely organizes carts, searches
the shelves for reserved books, and takes full responsibility
for processing delivery. During the transition to the
new circulation system, however, she went above and beyond
her regular duties to donate many extra hours of service
and also to train new volunteers on the new SIRSI system.
Her contribution was crucial to Chantilly's successful
transition to SIRSI.
 Jan
Bohall has donated 1,133 hours to Fairfax City Regional
Library since March 1996. Jan's specialty is locating
reserved books on the "pick list" for customers. She always
goes the extra mile to find books that are difficult to
locate. Jan has a warm and gracious manner and is a welcome
visitor to the staff workroom.
Joan Brown has contributed over 1,000 hours at
Fairfax City Regional Library since March 1995. She helps
with book drop, delivery and holds, as well as entertaining
the staff with solutions to the problems of the world,
the IRS and retirement. Her friendly support each Monday
morning is much appreciated.
 Laddie
Lowe has donated 1,370 hours to George Mason over
the past five years. He does most of the branch's patron
maintenance, updating individual records, which he recently
learned to do in the Library's new SIRSI circulation system.
In addition, he helps process delivery and searches for
reserved books for the "pick list."
 Ruth
Ellen Coffey has contributed over 1,000 hours since
1995, volunteering on the Circulation Desk. Every Monday
night she uses her Southern charm to provide the best
customer service possible. In addition, Ruth is one of
the Herndon Friends, through whose efforts book sale funds
are used to supplement branch needs.
Nancy Buchanan has contributed over 1,000 hours
of reliable service to the Kings Park Library since 1995.
A retired branch manager of an FCPL mini-library, Nancy
is an expert at checking in delivery, processing and shelving
reserved books, and working on both the Checkout and Returns
desks at Kings Park. As a member and former Chair of the
Kings Park Friends, she also contributes many hours of
service for the Friends' semi-annual book sales.
Norene Gerstner has donated over 1,000 hours as
coordinator of the Kings Park volunteer gardeners. Since
1996 she has weeded, planted, designed, and solicited
plant donations from local retailers. She has guided many
Boy Scouts to achieve their Eagle Award through Library
planting projects. She also encourages adult volunteers
to create additions like the beautiful new bamboo trellises.
Recently, she donated a wooden bench to entice Library
customers to linger and enjoy the garden. Thanks to Norene,
the Library's grounds are as attractive and inviting as
its interior.
Mary Pajewski has contributed 1,024 hours of service
on Kings Park's Circulation Desk over the past ten years.
Mary also provides valuable assistance with the Friends'
book sales. The staff are very grateful for her dedicated
support on Tuesdays.
Lois Shaver has donated 1,062 hours on the Kings
Park Circulation Desk on Tuesday evenings. She quickly
learned the new SIRSI circulation system and is very adept
at handling a variety of service situations. Lois also
volunteers for other organizations including Fairfax Hospital,
and Kings Park staff feel fortunate to have the benefit
of her time.
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