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Text2008 Star Volunteer and Community Service Partner Awards
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Presented by the Fairfax County Public Library Board of Trustees, April 9, 2008
Community Service Partner Awards
Verizon
Verizon has been a strong supporter of the Fairfax County Public Library
through the Foundation. Currently Verizon is the Signature Sponsor
for the Fairfax County Public Library and Foundation partner
initiative, Art in the Pages, a public art sculpture project.
Verizon came on board in the very early stages of this project when it
was just a mere concept and made the project possible though a generous
grant match of $26,500. Verizon also underwrote the Foundation’s
Legislative Reception in 2007, supported the literacy initiative
MotherRead/FatherRead, and more.
Virginia Commerce Bank
Virginia Commerce Bank has given both money and financial knowledge in
support of the Fairfax County Public Library. In July 2007,
Virginia Commerce Bank provided $3,000 to sponsor the Library’s podcasts
which are listened to by thousands of people each year. Debbie
Moshides with Virginia Commerce Bank is also a very active and dependable
member of the Library Foundation’s Finance Committee. She
voluntarily lends her expertise to help compare banking options and
effectively mange the Foundation Funds which results in greater
enhancement of the Library system.
Star Volunteers – Length of Service: 1,000 Hours
City of Fairfax
Sandy Griffith
Sandy Griffith has been volunteering since 1999 as a Circulation
Department volunteer at the City of Fairfax Regional Library. Sandy
is always there on the busiest days to help process the delivery and
holds and is always willing to come in when the branch is in need of
extra help.
Louise Prosser
Louise Prosser was a founding member of the Fairfax Friends of the
Library in the early 1970s. She has continued to graciously
contribute her time and energy to the library on Tuesdays and during all
book sales. She is especially talented at
categorizing/arranging mass market paperbacks, as her organizational
skills are superb and her personal specialty is Edwardian fiction.
Lyn Sanford
Lyn Sanford volunteers Friday mornings with the Circulation Department
at the City of Fairfax Regional Library, helping to process delivery and
holds. She also helps with the Pick List and is one of the branch’s
expert menders.
George Mason
Frances Denny Frances Denny is a dedicated
volunteer at George Mason Regional Library who comes in two days a
week. She is a diligent and hard working addition to the
circulation staff helping to process the delivery.
Carolyn O’Flarherty
Carolyn O’Flarherty helps with the Monday morning book drop at George
Mason Regional Library and pulls holds that have been on the shelves for
five days. The staff appreciates her hard work, cheerful attitude
and willingness to come in when the branch needs extra help.
Kingstowne
Ellen Ajer
Ellen Ajer has been volunteering at Kingstowne since it opened.
She is a steady and reliable Wednesday morning volunteer helping to
process deliveries. It is a pleasure for the branch staff and
especially for new volunteers, to be greeted by Ellen’s friendly demeanor
and welcoming smile.
Rita Smith
Rita Smith faithfully volunteers two days a week at Kingstowne. On
Tuesdays she scours the shelves in search of patron holds and on
Thursdays she is an important part of the circulation staff. Over
the years Rita has energetically expanded her volunteer duties to include
all aspects of working at the Circulation Desk.
Kings Park
Joan Cann
Joan Cann initially started volunteering at the Kings Park circulation
desk then moved on to do the pick list and some shelf reading. For
the past few years, she has found her niche coming in diligently every
Wednesday to process numerous holds from start to finish. With
style and a smile, Joan Cann has shown she can handle any volunteer task.
Betty Rae Powers
Betty Rae Powers provides excellent customer service at the busy Kings
Park circulation desk. She volunteers every Wednesday for 3 hours
during dinner time which allows staff more flexibility to schedule
coverage for the desk. She shares her upbeat and positive attitude
with everyone she interacts with while in the library.
Martha Washington
Mike Simmons
Mike Simmons began his volunteer career at Sherwood Regional Library and
now volunteers at Martha Washington. He works during busy morning
hours and is trained to do delivery, holds and pick lists. Most
importantly he can quickly determine what the morning’s priorities are
and takes the initiative to get things done.
Patrick Henry
Cindy Shropshire
Cindy Shropshire is an important Circulation volunteer. She helps
in the back room processing holds, checking in materials, editing patron
registrations and processing the pick list and missing list. Her
cheerful manner and willing demeanor is appreciated by all the staff.
Reston
Mike James
Mike James is a technology volunteer at Reston who provides one-on-one
tutoring session for customers of all computer abilities. When he’s
not busy on the computer he willingly helps to sort delivery.
Ann Newman
Ann Newman is a member of Reston’s mending team. She helps
re-cover books, repair spines and glue in pages. She volunteers at
the library an impressive three or four mornings every week.
Mike Schneck
Mike Schneck is a board member of the Friends of Reston Regional Library
and an important asset to the book sale. He works as a sorter
keeping the shelves stocked at the on-going book sale and is an essential
volunteer at the large semi-annual book sales.
Chris Sylvester
Chris Sylvester is a member of the Friends of Reston Regional
Library. She is the editor of the Friends’ newsletter, a book sale
sorter, a member of the mini book sale team and a super sales woman at
the semi-annual book sales.
Richard Byrd
Roger Endert
Roger Endert volunteers an amazing six days a week at the Richard Byrd
Library. He helps with the on-going book sale sorting, receiving
and pricing donated materials. He also regularly purchases books
himself from the book sale and gives them to people studying for their US
Citizenship test.
Jim Fitzgerald
Jim Fitzgerald is the coordinator of the Friends of Richard Byrd
on-going book sale which generates important funds to purchase materials
and underwrite programs at the branch. Jim is a dedicated volunteer
and is often at the branch six days a week helping to organize materials
for the book sale.
Eva Kaufman
Eva Kaufman is President of the Friends of Richard Byrd Library.
She plans the annual book sale and volunteers twice a week at the branch
sorting and reviewing books for the ongoing book sale. The Friends
donated money from the book sales to purchase a digital camera for the
branch and support both children’s and adult programming.
Star Volunteers – Length of Service: 3,000 Hours
City of Fairfax
Frank Passuth
Frank Passuth, a WW II Navy Veteran has indexed hundreds of
thousands of records for the Virginia Room. His projects have
included the indexing of the Quentin Porter photograph collection,
various Fairfax County historical publications and all the birth, death,
and marriage announcements from the Fairfax Journal. He is
currently working on updating the index to the Historical Society of
Fairfax County Yearbooks. His patient and accurate labors have
resulted in the creation of numerous research tools that are used daily
by local history researchers and genealogists.
Patrick Henry
Jane Seeman
Jane Seeman volunteers on the Circulation Desk on Tuesday evening at
Patrick Henry. Traditionally it can be tough to find volunteers to
work evening hours, so Jane’s commitment is extremely valuable to the
branch. In addition, Jane is the Mayor of Vienna so volunteering
gives her the opportunity to keep in touch with Patrick Henry Library
patrons. Jane is also a former Library Board of Trustees member.
Sherwood
Barbara Williams
After volunteering for over 3,000 hours, Barbara Williams has become
very knowledgeable about all aspects of working at the Circulation desk
and her calming mood and positive attitude are always appreciated by
staff and patrons. She has lent a hand numerous times when
the branch is short staffed. A former statistician, Barbara also
uses her skills to keep track of all the Page Department stats including
how many carts of books are shelved per month, per day, and per hour.
Star Volunteers – Length of Service: 5,000 Hours
Access Services
Wellington Machmer
Wellington Machmer has been a pillar of support to the Access Services
Talking Book Program since 1992. He uses specialized equipment to
duplicate and prepare a quarterly mailing of over 800 copies of the
branch’s newsletter to customers. He also duplicates several
magazines and helps with minor repair of cassettes, shelves Talking
Books, and weeds the collection. Access Services has greatly
benefited from his years of experience and knowledge. Wellington
lives in Alexandria and commutes 44 miles weekly to volunteer at Access
Services. This year, he celebrated his 92nd birthday!
Star Volunteers – Exceptional Service
Dolley
Madison
Lisa Friedman
Any librarian who has ever been stumped by a child's question about
a specific title or series, knows how hard it is when the child only has
a small bit of information, but a great deal of eagerness in locating a
title. Through volunteer Lisa Friedman's dedication, initiative and
creativity the children's section of the Dolly Madison Library has made
questions like this a bit easier. For over a year, Lisa worked with
the children's department to create two guides for children's book titles
in series: "What's that series about" and "What's that
series called?" The two guides complement one another with
the first providing short descriptions of what titles are about and the
second with images of book covers using fun categorizations. Lisa
wrote over 125 descriptions of children's series titles for these guides
and participated in developing the categorization scheme.
Great Falls
Lynn Mobley
Lynn Mobley started volunteering in 2002 with the Great Falls Library
Circulation Department and was trained in all the support duties such as
processing delivery and the Holds List, sorting carts of books and shelf
reading. As her interest in circulation grew, Lynn
participated in the Circulation Mentoring program, and she is now one of
Great Falls' most experienced Library Aide volunteers, providing
efficient, courteous and professional support at the Circulation
Desk. Lynn consistently volunteers to work extra hours or days when
desk coverage is needed and she graciously agrees to schedule changes
which benefit the Branch. In December 2007, in addition to her
library aide duties, Lynn volunteered her services to the Page Department
when there was a Page vacancy and one Page was on emergency sick
leave. Her assistance in sorting and shelving library items was
invaluable. Lynn Mobley personifies the word 'Volunteer' and her
willingness to help, no matter the situation, is greatly appreciated by
all.
Martha Washington
Dan Barolo
Dan Barolo is one of Martha Washington’s most visible and productive
volunteers. He began volunteering two years ago as a technical
volunteer teaching One-on-One Internet sessions. Last year, Dan
took an interest in the incoming donations for the Friends Book Sale and
began helping with sorting, but quickly expanded his role in the book
sale process and the Friends of Martha Washington. As a
result of his enthusiasm, he has revitalized the Friends of the Martha
Washington library is now serving as the President. In September
the Friends held their most successful book sale ever. Dan
also recently began a new book sale initiative – selling donated books on
eBay. Martha Washington Library is very fortunate to have
such an enthusiast volunteer. He has truly made an impact on us.
Patrick Henry
Timothy Foley
Tim Foley has been organizing and managing Patrick Henry Library's
Pokemon League since the spring of 2005. Almost every Friday
afternoon of the year, between 40 to 50 kids crowd into the meeting room
to play the Pokemon card game. Tim organizes these kids into a
semblance of order - keeping the entire room moving on track. Tim
has shown great sensitivity and patience with our younger participants,
who are new to the league and he does a great job making everyone feel at
home. Recently Tim has also volunteered at Patrick Henry’s “Game
On” nights, keeping the Dance Dance Revolution module on track on these
active nights.
Reston
Patty Aycock
As one of Reston’s first English conversation volunteers,
Patty Aycock was instrumental in getting the new one-on-one English
conversation program off to a successful start. Her
enthusiasm and positive attitude made every English learning customer
very welcome. She has helped grateful customers study for and pass
citizenship tests. She is taking ESL classes to be a better
conversation partner, and has arranged to extend her volunteer hours so
she can follow up with customers who need extra attention. Patty’s
work as a volunteer is the definition of outstanding service to the
library customers, especially recent immigrants.
Charly Karlsson
Charly Karlsson has been volunteering for the Friends of Reston Library
book sale for the past 10 years and has been the Chair of the sales for 7
years. She is an innovative person and is constantly finding
ways to expand and improve the book sales. She revamped the
semi-annual book sales by redesigning the floor layout, adding new
shelving, and creating a “specials room.” Her latest innovation is
advertising the semi-annual book sales on the 13 screens of the Reston
movie theater. Charly often volunteers an excess of 35 hours a week
sorting books, recruiting and training volunteers, and developing new
ideas. She is a cheerful and devoted volunteer and the branch is
grateful for her work.
Judy Konnert
Judy Konnert has been the meticulous and thorough Secretary for the
Friends of Reston Regional Library for the past three years. Last
year she stepped up to a new leadership role as the Chair for Online Book
Sales. Through eBay and Amazon, Judy handles all aspects of book
sales to customers. Her online customer feedback performance rating
is Platinum and she has generated over $10,000 in revenue.
Helen Teachout
For the past five years, Helen Teachout has forged important
relationships with a large number of businesses resulting in their
support of the Friends of Reston Regional Library book sales. She
is able to solicit in-kind donations of equipment, food and beverages for
the volunteers helping with the sales. These donations ensure that
every dollar generated from the sales can flow into directly supporting
the library. She is a creative and persistent volunteer who knows
how to get things done!
Sherwood
Sheila Sheehan
Sheila Sheehan has volunteered two days a week in the Periodicals
Section at the Sherwood Regional Library since 1991. She is a quick
learner and has grown to be a valued trainer for new circulation aides
and volunteers at the branch. Sheila keeps herself updated about
changes to the WorkFlows system and is always willing to pitch in when
needed.
Woodrow Wilson
Jonathan Distler
Jonathan Distler leaves his full time job on Mondays and heads to the
Woodrow Wilson Library where he spends two hours tutoring customers
looking to improve their computer skills. His sessions are always
full. As someone fluent in English and Spanish, he fills a
unique void in the community. He has helped countless people obtain
email accounts, learn how to send applications electronically, and how to
use Microsoft Office. In short, he is enriching lives on a weekly
basis.
Stuart Feldstein
Stuart Feldstein has been helping with the Woodrow Wilson Chess Club
every Tuesday for over four years. He patiently coaches the
children and ensures that their moves and strategies are correct.
Parents are very grateful for the opportunity for their children to come
and play chess every Tuesday and throughout the summer. This is the
only chess club for kids in the Library system and parents bring their
children from all over the county to learn the game and interact with
other children.
Thao Le
Thao Le was a patron of the Woodrow Wilson Library as she grew up in the
Culmore neighborhood. Now, as a college student, she decided it was
time for her to give back to the library. She started working in
the stacks, doing various list support and two years ago she increased
her volunteer commitment to include computer tutoring. She balances
this weekly commitment with her college studies and employment. She
has the flexibility to tutor either in English or Vietnamese. She
often gets repeat students and the students marvel at how patient she
is. The Woodrow Wilson Library is fortunate to have such a
dedicated, caring, and intelligent volunteer among its staff.
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