June Exemplary Reference Awards Announced

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for June 2009 Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat.
Paul Wetmore, Tampa Hillsborough Public Library System will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for her Exemplary Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at this next year’s annual Florida Library Association Conference.
Brief Exemplary Chat
Geraldine Collins, Florida Gulf Coast University.
Geraldine nailed this for the patron right away while continuing a friendly and interested chat going. Kudos Geraldine!

Detailed Exemplary Chat
Paul Wetmore, Tampa Hillsborough Public Library System. Paul helped a student select materials for a research paper on Latin influence on the English Language. Asked clarifying questions, good rapport. Patron was pleased with the service and remarked “My teacher told us that the most helpful people we will ever know when it comes to education and school work would be a librarian. He is right.”

Teaching Exemplary Chat
Stacy Allsop, Nova Southeastern University.
Stacy gave excellent tips and directions to a student who had a complex research project. Stacy was able to direct the student to a helpful database and then to explain how to use the thesaurus for better search results. Excellent job of hands on teaching of a student in the use of a specialized database! The student was very pleased and Stacy offered to make certain the transcript would be available for the student’s future reference. Pat nomination.

Selecting the top transcript in each category can often be a hard process with so many terrific sessions to choose from. Below are the other people who were nominated this month by themselves, co-workers or the quality assurance workgroup.

Brief Exemplary Chat:
• Laura Baas, State Library of Florida
• Matthew Buckley, Nova Southeastern University
• Bebe Chang, Broward County Library
• Salena Coller, American InterContinental University
• Larry Cooperman, Everglades University
• Jaime Goldman, Ask a Librarian Intern
• Marylou Galvin, Broward County Library
• Cindy Jewett, Keiser University
• Carlos Morejon, Miami-Dade Public Library System
• Carlos Pedemonte, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
• Susan Smith, Hodges University
• Jane Tracey, Orange County Public Library
• Fawn Van Allen, West Palm Beach Public Library
• Peter Washkevich, St. Johns County Public Library
• Laura Welch, Ask a Librarian Intern

Detailed Exemplary Chat:
• Owen Adams, Northwest Florida State College
• Giselle Alonso, Miami-Dade Public Library System
• Cathy B., Goldstein Library (FSU- School of Information)
• Ustadza Ely, Nova Southeastern University
• Jaime Goldman, Ask a Librarian Intern
• Chip Halvorsen, Alachua County Library District
• Carol Maksian, Florida Gulf Coast University Library
• Carlos Pedemonte, Tampa Hillsborough Public Library
• Quiana Vidal, Marion County Public Library System

Teaching Exemplary Chat:
• Matthew Buckley, Nova Southeastern University
• Marylou Galvin, Broward County Library
• Sandra Lee Hawes, Saint Leo University
• Kira Smith, Ask a Librarian Intern
• Debora Stewart, Palm Beach Atlantic University

Don’t forget to nominate your or your co-workers sessions in the Ask a Librarian Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org or when closing a live chat session.

Congratulations to all those nominated this month.

February Exemplary Reference Award Winners!

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for February 2009 Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat.

Anne Robert from Jacksonville Public Library will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for her Exemplary Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at this next year’s annual Florida Library Association Conference.

Brief Exemplary Chat:
Joe Baca, University of Florida
Joe efficiently answered two reference questions on completely separate topics (Richard Nixon and learning Portuguese). He then went beyond locating the book for the patron and suggested a related online source. Excellent service.

Detailed Exemplary Chat
Anne Robert, Jacksonville Public Library.
With the customer’s local catalog down, Anne was able to overcome the obstacle by doing a search on WorldCat for a specific book requested by a patron. She also called the local library to find out the status of the catalog outage. Great customer service!

Teaching Exemplary Chat
Donna Kelly, St. Petersburg College.
Donna helped a college student by suggesting several databases and potential keywords demonstrating great virtual instruction. She verified that the patron was finding desired results. Good interchange.

Don’t forget to nominate yourself or co-workers for the Exemplary Reference Awards by filling out the short form in the Toolbox or coding your session “Nominate for Exemplary Reference Award” when you complete a great session.

Congratulations to the winners!

Exemplary Reference Awards Summer 2008

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for July Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat. Renee Patterson from Alachua County Library District will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for her Exemplary Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at next year’s Florida Library Association Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Brief Exemplary Chat Summer 08
Amy Lee-Jones. Osceola Library System
Good interview and good rapport in this brief and helpful chat. Help in finding “appostile” document for property in other country-Romania.

Detailed Exemplary Chat Summer 08
Renee Patterson, Alachua County Library District
Renee was spot on in helping this teenager not only find useful sources for decorating her room, but made some teachable moments by showing her how to use her own library’s catalog. I think the patron says it all when she says “thanx i love this website.”

Teaching Exemplary Chat Summer 08
Sarah Hammill, Florida International University
Sarah guided the customer through searching the ERIC database for articles without the use of co-browse. Customer was pleased with the service.

To nominate a session or view past winners go to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org