Recipient – Elizabeth Hunt, Clear Lake City-County Freeman
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Teamwork:
Elizabeth demonstrated her commitment to teamwork within weeks of starting at Freeman. She volunteered to assist with a Friday evening program that the Friends of the Library hosted to thank the library s larger donors. She went from casual Friday garb to evening wear in a matter of minutes and she helped greet donors and tell them about how their donations are used in the Children s Department.
Elizabeth also shows her team spirit in her active participation in planning for toddler programs. She regularly meets with other Children s staff to
plan toddler program themes and crafts months in advance. Within weeks of
signing on as a children s librarian, Elizabeth began planning monthly afterschool programs in art and assisting with choosing a selection of appropriate movies to be shown on a monthly basis.
Not content to work only on her own projects, Elizabeth offers to help other staff with their work. Recently, Elizabeth volunteered to assist with a weeding project for the whole picture book section. She also regularly pitches in by helping process new books when the staff members assigned to do the books are out.
Innovation:
Each of the Children s staff puts up monthly displays of children s books and other materials. Most of the displays consist of a variety of books
related to a theme targeting pre-school age children. Elizabeth s first
book display featured the series Time Warp Trio, which appealed to an older reading audience. Since that display, many other staff members have
designed displays targeting this age group.
Elizabeth also has added a sense of humor to displays by featuring an oversized boy doll dressed in costumes to illustrate her book display.
Recently, she dressed the doll as a construction worker to go with her display of books featuring big trucks.
Freeman tries to have special Friday toddler programs every few months.
Usually these programs involve booking a performer for several back-to-back performances. Within months of being on the job, Elizabeth recommended and implemented a successful gym day that brought in over ninety toddlers and parents. The gym day featured a series of fun athletic activities for the toddlers.
Another innovative feature that Elizabeth has added to the toddler programs is to use poems as well as easy picture books for the story portion of the program. She would like to see even the youngest children exposed to poetry.
Job Performance:
Elizabeth s performance as a librarian is top-notch she has a strong
knowledge of children s literature, she keeps up with the newest books and audiovisual items and programming trends and she routinely finds ways to improve the appearance of the Children s section.
When she s not answering a question from a patron, handing out a pair of headphones, or assisting with a copy machine problem, Elizabeth frequently is catching up on reader s advisory sites or looking for a craft idea for an upcoming program.
Almost every staff member who works with Elizabeth on the reference desk notices how she constantly finds ways to improve the appearance of the children s section by straightening up the audiovisual collection, adding more books to a book display or just clearing off some of the clutter that mounts up on any reference desk.
Leadership:
Elizabeth showed her tenacity as a leader when she agreed to serve as the representative of the Children s staff on the Library s Books Alive!
Carnival Committee. She began attending meetings in earnest in October 2006. She kept the Children s staff informed and solicited their input in the planning of the week of programs held during the week of March 12th 20007. Several committee members expressed how impressed they were with her professionalism and her organizational skills in coming up with agendas and putting together a chart that volunteers could use to sign up for duties for carnival day.
Elizabeth also shows leadership by assisting other staff, whether new or veteran, in using some of the technology of the library. She patiently showed a fellow librarian how to use a P-Touch machine several times in one day and she assisted new staff members in joining a library list serve.
Within a couple of months of starting in Children s, Elizabeth took on a monumental project of weeding the audiovisual collection, repairing items, ordering new items and coordinating a physical move of that collection.
Her diligence in this project has enabled the staff and public to find items easier and use the collection more often.
Elizabeth has served as a role model for several staff members in how to
approach difficult children. She tells them that she likes them and
wants them to stay in the Children s area, but lets them know that they need to change their behavior. This method has worked well for the library and the children.
Customer Service:
Elizabeth has a ready smile and a cheerful hello for every one she sees in the Children s Area whether she s sitting at the reference desk, fixing a book display or taking tickets for programs. Her friendly and enthusiastic
personality is always appreciated by our customers of any age.
Elizabeth goes the extra mile to assist customers. One time a grandmother came in looking for books to read to a 6 month old. Instead of just recommending a board book, Elizabeth went to a site specializing in resources for young children and found a list of books for that age. She
printed out the list and gave it to the grandmother for future use.
In conclusion, Elizabeth impresses library staff and the public with her professionalism, humor and enthusiasm. She just received a Master of Library Science from LSU last August and immediately started working at
Freeman Library one of the largest branches in the Harris County Public
Library system in circulation and children s programs. Even though Freeman has a dedicated Children s staff, including some who have received systemwide recognition, Elizabeth s work on this team shines out.
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