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Access Services
Access Services sponsors free support groups for adults
with vision loss. Held monthly at various sites, the groups are open to
families and friends. Their success is due to the dynamic leadership of
volunteers Thelma Sheridan, leader of Dimview;
Gloria Sussman, who leads Reston VIP; Rosemary
Hilsabeck, VIB Little River Glen; Hannah
Lederman, VIP Greenspring Village; and Rhoda
Stevens, VIP Vienna.
Dimview began in 1980 under the stewardship of Thelma Sheridan. The
group formed to discuss recorded books, but quickly became a self-help
group. Members exchanged information and resources dealing with vision
loss, and speakers were invited to talk about technological developments.
To meet increasing demand, two more groups evolved in the 90s, VIP Reston
and VIB Little River Glen. VIP Greenspring Village and VIP Vienna were
added in 2002 and 2004.
The support group leaders embody Access Services' mission to make
library service accessible to individuals with disabilities. Each month,
they contact speakers, advertise programs, and support the participants.
Some of the leaders themselves cope with vision loss, yet provide new
hope to others. They receive Exceptional Service Awards for their
inspirational contributions.
Fairfax City Regional Library
Madeleine McCoy, a Virginia Room volunteer, is
recognized for Exceptional Service for her historical research in support
of a Virginia Department of Transportation project plan. In planning road
construction, VDOT respects the significance of old burial sites. In
2005, VDOT was planning a project at the corner of Braddock and Guinea
Roads. This area included the Guinea Road Cemetery, the former site of an
African American community in the Braddock District. VDOT approached the
Virginia Room for information about the cemetery, and Madeleine spent
over 550 hours researching the area. Her work enabled VDOT to conduct the
project with due respect for the history of the location and also
revealed a wealth of new information for the Virginia Room's historical
files.
George Mason Regional Library
Barbara Effron, a professional storyteller with a
masters degree in library science, has contributed over 1,000 service
hours since 1998. She volunteers at the Information desk, freeing staff
to attend meetings and complete projects. She also organizes and
merchandises the children's collection, and her knowledge of picture
books, classics and folktales has been a great asset to the public and to
staff.
Bea Wood has contributed over 3,000 hours of service
since 1983. Twice a week, she processes reserved books to make them
available for the public to pick up. Without Bea's diligent efforts,
countless customers would not have received their "holds" in such
a timely fashion, and her sense of humor is always a delight to the
library staff.
Kings Park Library
Anne Drimer has contributed over 1,000 hours of
service since 1996 at Kings Park. In addition to her job as a pharmacist,
she comes to King Park every Thursday to provide friendly and efficient
service at the Circulation Desk for afternoon customers.
Gen Lester, a retired Fairfax County Public Library
manager, returned to volunteer in 1996 and has contributed over 1,000
hours at Kings Park. She provides experienced public service at the
circulation desk, processes reserved books, and assists with the Kings
Park Friends book sale.
Irene Wright a retiree from the Fairfax County Public
Schools, has contributed over 1,000 hours of service since 1998. She
works at the circulation desk and helps process the daily delivery of
Kings Park materials that were returned at other branches.
Jane McCurdy has volunteered at Kings Park since 1998,
donating over 1,000 hours. Every Monday morning, she checks in all the
books and materials that customers have placed in the book drop over the
weekend. Jane also volunteers at Green Spring Gardens.
Linda Wirth, a part-time librarian from GWU, has
contributed over 1,000 hours of service since 1995. She spends every
Monday evening providing skilled customer service at the circulation
desk, and also works with Kings Park's Master Gardener to enhance the
library's beautiful landscape.
Kingstowne Library
Violet Quatrochi has been a dedicated library volunteer
for over nine years, contributing more than 1,000 hours at the John
Marshall and Kingstowne Libraries. Currently Vi takes Metro Access to
Kingstowne every Wednesday to process the books and materials that come
in delivery.
Diana Stein has contributed over 1,000 hours since 2000
as a circulation volunteer at Kingstowne and Richard Byrd. She joined the
Kingstowne team to prepare for the opening of the branch. She now
commutes from Prince William County to process reserved books and provide
gracious service at Kingstowne's circulation desk.
Liz Townsend began volunteering at Kingstowne before it
opened and has now contributed over 1,000 hours as a Friday morning
volunteer. She processes reserved books, maintains the romance
collection, and provides skilled service at the circulation desk.
Patrick Henry Library
Isabelle Chester, better known as Miss
Belle, receives an Exceptional Service Award for her monthly
family-friendly music programs at three library branches. Since 2000, she
has performed monthly at Great
Falls Library. In 2005, she added Dolley Madison Library to her
monthly tour, and in 2006, Patrick Henry. Miss Belle has offered more
than 100 programs to over 5,000 children at the three branches, and she
has a devoted following of toddlers and caregivers. While Belle's
services are free, she enjoys the hugs from many of the children present
at her programs.
Pohick Regional Library
Lois Dusza has contributed over 1,000 hours of
volunteer service at Pohick Regional since 2000. Lois works faithfully on
the circulation desk every Wednesday morning and enthusiastically pitches
in to repair damaged library books.
Claire Tuley, a senior at Robinson High School,
writes and directs clever, delightful, and hilarious adaptations of
popular fairy tales for Pohick Library's Teen Playhouse. Each summer for
four years, teen volunteers have presented Claire's plays to appreciative
children who are participating in the Summer Reading Program. For her
contributions, she receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Simrun Bal, a sophomore at Lake Braddock Secondary
School, has volunteered as a Homework Help Tutor at Pohick Regional since
2004. She is the only teen tutor to have volunteered every semester since
the program began. She has helped over 75 young children get a better
understanding of their assignments and succeed at school. She is a role
model they admire and her positive influence extends to all those she has
helped. Simrun receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Reston Regional Library
Charles Denno has diligently volunteered at the
Reston circulation desk every Saturday afternoon from 1-4 pm, with no
exceptions, since 2002. Over the years, he has also applied for volunteer
incentive grants totaling $2,500 from the company he works for,
Citigroup, and these funds have enabled the FCPL Foundation to enhance
library programs and services. For his outstanding commitment to the
library, he receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Mike James has volunteered twice a week since 2004 as a
technology tutor. His patient, quiet, and confident teaching style has
made him an effective teacher and a favorite of new immigrants and older
citizens who want to learn basic Internet and Microsoft skills. He goes
the extra mile, bringing in his own laptop to help customers with issues
the library's Internet pcs cannot handle and helping customers learn the
English alphabet so that they can use the keyboard. For his outstanding
efforts, Mike receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Lisa Osborn attends library school classes through
Clarion University's online distance library science masters program. At
Reston Regional, she works on projects for the information staff. Of
particular note is the system she developed to sort biographies within
the same last name. Lisa learned to use Sirsi, implemented the project,
and customers and staff now find it much easier to locate and shelve
biographies, particularly those about big families such as the Kennedys.
For her outstanding work, which was not undertaken to earn academic
credit, she receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Nan Rainey has contributed over 1,000 hours of service
at the Reston Regional Library since 2000. She is an active member of the
Reston Friends book sale team, for which she helps sort book donations.
Nan's efforts have greatly enhanced the receipts from the Friends'
semiannual sales, the proceeds of which are used for library programs and
services.
Richard Byrd Library
Betty Kourkoutas has contributed over 1,100 hours of
service since 2001. She volunteers twice a week checking in books and
materials that are delivered to the library from other branches. Her
contributions are much appreciated by staff.
Sherwood Regional Library
Dorothea Brueckner was a staff member at Sherwood for
20 years. Since retiring in 1998, she has contributed over 1,400
volunteer hours at the circulation desk during staff meetings. Recently,
Dorothea asked a customer at the express checkout terminal if she would
like to learn how to use the new system. The customer responded that she
didn't think so, she would use the full service line. Dorothea answered
"then we'll give you all the help you need!"
Beverly Morse has been a lively presence at
Sherwood for seven years, contributing over 3,400 service hours. Twice a
week, she helps process reserved books and the book delivery from other
branches. Once when the branch was short-staffed, she handled the book
drop, delivery, holds and the pick list all in one morning. Beverly also
covers the circulation desk. She has joined the children's department as
an expert "book talker", visiting schools to promote the Summer
Reading Program, and she also works on labeling children's books.
Joan Lerner has donated over 3,400 hours since 1993.
She helps the Sherwood circulation staff unload and process the book
delivery. She has often come in to help out on extra days when she knows
others are away. Recently Joan broke her arm and was in the hospital
awaiting surgery on a Thursday when she was supposed to work. When staff
called to see how she was feeling, her main concern was the volunteer she
was leaving alone to do the work without her.
Technical Operations
Mary Ann Collingwood, a former Cataloging Department
Administrative Assistant I, traveled for three years from her new home in
Delaware to Technical Operations in Chantilly to volunteer over 2,500
hours of her time and expertise. She added thousands of gifts and other
items to the catalog, prepared materials for branch shelves and customer
use, and unpacked materials in the Receiving section. Mary Ann receives
an Exceptional Service Award.
Ting Tang, a retired molecular biologist, combed
through years of interlibrary loan (ILL) records to create a spreadsheet
of the largest U.S. sources of ILLs and the fees they charge Fairfax
County Public Library customers. She also researched the largest holders
of genealogical material and created a list of institutions that the
library cannot borrow from. This information can be accessed by all staff
on the library intranet, thus streamlining the ILL process. Ting also
volunteers at Library Administration answering phones and working on
research projects. She receives an Exceptional Service Award.
Thomas Jefferson Library
Robert Bales retired as an electrical engineer in 1993
after a long career with various federal agencies. Long known to staff as
a dedicated library user, he started volunteering at Thomas Jefferson in
2003 and has since contributed over 1,200 hours. Three mornings a week,
he searches for books reserved by customers and pitches in on other
projects, making it possible for the staff to provide additional help to
customers.
Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library
Melda Sauers began volunteering at the monthly
Tysons-Pimmit Friends book sales in 2001 and is now the vice president of
the Friends. She has contributed over 1,200 volunteer hours. She sorts
and prices donated books each week, and at the book sales, she sets up,
cashiers, consolidates books, and helps dismantle the sale. She is key to
the success of the Friends' sales, which have helped raise funds for
children's programming and furniture at the branch.
Ruth Pietrowicz began volunteering in 1999 and
became the president of the Tysons-Pimmit Friends in 2000, contributing
over 5,354 hours of service. She spends more than 50 hours a month
coordinating the Friends book sales. Ruth recruits and trains new
volunteers, works with Friends and volunteers to sort and price books,
and keeps the on-going book sale organized in between the large sales.
Ruth's extraordinary work has made possible many enhancements to the
library.
Andrew Fauver began volunteering in 1990, contributing
over 5,500 hours of dedicated service. He comes in five days a week and
focuses his efforts on finding and processing reserved books. He can be
depended upon to find paperbacks or juvenile series paperbacks that
others may overlook.
Mae McCarty was a rural letter carrier in the Tysons
area for 30 years. In 1995 she began volunteering at Tysons-Pimmit in the
circulation department. In that time, Mae has processed many thousands of
gift books in support of an inter-branch swap program to replace worn
library copies. She has also processed delivery, served on the Friends
Board, worked on book sales, and performed countless other tasks. This
year Mae reached an extraordinary milestone - the 10,000 service hour
mark. Her postal service heritage of dedication is obvious, and she is an
inspiration to the community.
Woodrow Wilson Library
Chris Stromme has been a regular
volunteer at Woodrow Wilson since 2005. But her greatest gift, for which
she receives an Exceptional Service Award, was to take on single-handedly
a history project that was a showpiece at Woodrow Wilson's 40th
anniversary celebration on March 31st. After wading through 40 years of
files and historical documents, Chris created two scrapbooks that took
the many friends and neighbors of Woodrow down memory lane, as well as
discovering several special artifacts such as the original ribbon from
the 1967 opening ribbon cutting ceremony.
Pat Jack, a volunteer at Woodrow Wilson Library since
1994, has contributed over 3,000 hours of dedicated service. Her
flexibility and willingness to step in on short notice to work at the
circulation desk, handle reserved books, or help with any other task
makes her a valuable member of the branch team.
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