May Exemplary Reference Awards

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

Debra Bogart from Keiser University 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.

Exemplary Brief Chat: Jaime Goldman, Ask a Librarian Intern.
Jaime’s session contained so much information and interaction into only about 10 minutes that, we had to re-verify it was only a brief chat and not a detailed session. Jaime continually chatted with the patron to ensure they were following along and understood. Directions on page navigation were clear and concise. Jaime broke her dialogue up into smaller bits, to keep the reader from waiting and getting overwhelmed with a huge block of text. Personable, professional, well searched, and perfectly communicated. A true exemplar!

Exemplary Detailed Chat: Debra Bogart, Keiser University.
Debra conducted a good reference interview with a patron who provided sketchy information on what they were looking for. She used great detective work to track down a very old journal article from 1969. During the chat, Debra kept the patron informed on what she was doing and where she was searching. Debra then located a library convenient for the patron to visit and even told her where in the library she would find the periodicals section. Debra concluded the chat with a discussion on using worldcat.org and the patron’s library catalog to find resources in the future.

Exemplary Teaching Chat: Laurie Bates, Sarasota County.
Good reference interview with a student. Laurie did a great job helping the student learn more about the topic. She took the student to the home library website and introduced the student to the library’s databases. Laurie instructed the student on how to navigate the website, find the appropriate database, how to start a search, and how to interpret the information. The student left the session confident of having more than enough information and new tools to get started.

Congrats to all the winners!!

Other’s nominated this month are below – there session’s were also great and are viewable in the Ask a Librarian Toolbox.

Detailed Nominees: Bebe Chang, Broward County Library.  Kira Smith, Ask a Librarian Intern.   Jaime Goldman, Ask a Librarian Intern.  Laura Welch, Ask a Librarian Intern.  Nicole Heintzelman, Winter Park Public Library.  Paul Fahle, Tampa-Hillsborough County. Paula McCahon, Marion County Public.  Salena Coller, American InterContinental University.  Vicki Flora, Pinellas Park Public Library.

Brief Nominees: Ann Lindell, University of Florida.  Jennifer Kepple, Ft. Walton Beach Public.   Kristin Corbin, Suwannee River Regional Library.   Lori Hansen , Lee County.  Rose Taylor, Manatee County.  Carla Clark, Miami Dade College.   Carlos Pedemonte, Tampa-Hillsborough County.   Sally Bissell,  Lee County.  Susan Smith, Hodges University.   Susan Weiss, Florida International University.

Teaching Nominees: Christina Hastie , Daytona State College.  Kira Smith, Ask a Librarian Intern.  Laura Welch, Ask a Librarian Intern. Melinda Gottesman, University of Central Florida.   Owen Adams, Northwest Florida State College.  Renee Patterson, Ask a Librarian Intern.  Rhonda Kitchens, State College of Florida- Sarasota – Manatee.   Richard Llwell, Nova Southeastern University.   Salena Coller, American InterContinental University.

Don’t forget to nominate your sessions for the Summer and now via the Ask a Librarian toolbox or at the end of your session.

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!

November 2008 Exemplary Reference Awards

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for November 2008 Exemplary Reference Awards. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Detailed Chat, Brief Chat, and Teaching Chat.

Laura Cifelli from Lee County Public Library will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for his 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.

Exemplary Brief Chat
Nola Pettit, University of Central Florida. Nola showed the customer how to locate articles in an online database. Nola quickly directed the student to specific databases that would be useful for finding specific information about a character from a Shakespearean play.

Exemplary Detailed Chat
Laura Cifelli, Lee County Public Library. Laura helped a parent find ADD resources from an excellent government website.

Exemplary Teaching Chat
Ana Lopez, Pasco Hernando Community College. Ana was very patient and helped a student learn how to maneuver a database to get scholarly, full-text articles. She kept in close contact with the patron and led the student step by step through the process.

Don’t forget to nominate your best sessions – or your co-workers in the Ask a Librarian Toolbox! The committee is currently looking at December sessions.

October Exemplary Reference Awards Announced

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for October 2008 Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month.  Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat.    Katie Tyler from Winter Park Public Library will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for his 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 Susan Smith, Hodges University on Oct 13. Susan helped the Manatee County Community College student with their databases.

Detailed Exemplary Chat Katie Tyler,  Winter Park Public Library on Oct 30. Helped the user find statistics on how many pets euthanized and cremated.

Teaching Exemplary Chat Susan Livingston, South Florida Community College on October 15. Wonderful coaching on finding article in a database.

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