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Library Awards Program Policy and Procedures

1. Awards Subcommittee

Membership
The Awards Subcommittee (which reports to the Esprit de Corps Committee) is responsible for administering all aspects of this policy and its procedures, including the selection of award recipients from those nominated. The subcommittee consists of one library administrator, one member of the Libraries Professional Council, and one member of the support staff of the libraries. The Dean of University Libraries serves as an ex-officio member of the subcommittee.

Responsibilities
The chair is responsible for receiving nominations, distributing them to other subcommittee members, and deciding upon a review schedule appropriate to the quantity of nominations. The subcommittee issues a call for nominations at least once each year.

2. Excellence Awards

Excellence Awards are presented to Carnegie Mellon library employees to recognize EXCELLENCE in customer satisfaction, productivity, citizenship, reference and instruction, or innovation. Specific details about the categories are given below.

The awards are presented annually by the Dean of University Libraries. They shall consist of a letter of commendation signed by the Dean of University Libraries, a copy of the recommendation to the committee (which shall also be placed in the recipient's personnel file), an announcement to the University community, a monetary award, and a framed certificate.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an Excellence Award, an employee shall have completed one year of employment in the Carnegie Mellon Libraries and be employed when the award is given. An employee is eligible for one of these awards, either as an individual or as part of a team, once every five years. In the rare instances when one person may be awarded twice within a five-year period (due to participation in team projects), that person will be eligible for only one monetary award, but may receive the certificate for other award(s). Senior administrators (Dean and Associate Dean of University Libraries) are ineligible for awards. Members of the subcommittee are ineligible for awards, with the exception of group awards.

Previous Excellence Award Winners Winners within the past 5 years are ineligible for nomination.

Nominations

Nominations may be made by any member of the Carnegie Mellon community, including a library employee who may wish to nominate himself or herself. At the time the nomination is made, the nominator shall provide the subcommittee with supporting documentation based on the criteria (below). The names of those submitting nominations are kept confidential. All aspects of nominations that do not result in awards are kept confidential.

Nominations are provided in writing to the chair of the Awards Subcommittee. Please submit on the Nomination for Excellence Award form. Nominations contain the name(s) of the person(s) to be recognized, a description of the idea and its implementation, and an explanation of the resulting accomplishment. Normally, a nomination is no longer than two pages.

Criteria for Awards

All nominees shall be evaluated by the following criteria:

• Efficiency in operations
• Appreciable cost savings
• Achievement on the job
• Superior job performance
• Stellar service to the Libraries

Categories for Awards

• Excellence in satisfying customers. Individual or team. Improve customer service. Exceptional communications, cooperation, or collaboration. Advance the library vision, mission, and values by better satisfying customers.
  
  
• Excellence in increased productivity. Individual or team. Improve work process or system. Efficiency of an operation or unit. Improvement and production, reduce costs, increase revenues or resources, eliminate wastefulness, rework/reduce errors. Advance the library vision.
  
  
• Excellence in library citizenship. Individual award. Individual contributions to key library concerns through exemplary citizenship in support of the mission of libraries and library organizations.
  
  
• Excellence in forwarding the instructional and research mission of the library. Individual or team. Advance the library mission and values by efforts such as instruction in information skills and by offering better access to information resources, or by conducting research which adds to the knowledge of the field or provides operational data for decision making.
  
  
• Excellence in innovation. Individual or team. Recognizes good thinking that results in a change in procedures, a change in policies, a completed project, a new initiative, or any other distinct activity that results in improved services or increased efficiency.

Award Frequency

Award(s) are presented by the Dean of University Libraries at the Library Appreciation Party in early summer. The subcommittee may choose not to confer an award in a year in which the nominations received are judged to be of insufficient merit. Likewise, the subcommittee may confer multiple awards when warranted, subject to budget limitations and eligibility requirements.

Award Budget

• Individual: $250
• Team: $1,000 divided equally among team members, no more than $250 each
• Framed Certificate
  

Current Nominations must be received by May 27, 2008

Nominations must be provided on the Nomination for Excellence Award form and submitted to Kim Sestili, Hunt Library, Acquisitions.

If you have questions about filling out the form, you may request assistance from any Awards Subcommittee member:

Isabelle Eula, ieula@qatar.cmu.edu
Denise Novak, dn22@andrew.cmu.edu
Kim Sestili, ke26@andrew.cmu.edu
Gloriana St. Clair, gstclair@andrew.cmu.edu (ex officio)

The Awards Subcommittee recognizes library employees for their years of dedicated service to the Libraries with mementos on certain anniversary dates. These gifts are presented at the annual Library Appreciation Party. Employees are eligible to receive recognition for their years of service if they have reached any of the appropriate anniversary dates before the date of the Library Appreciation Party.

Anniversary Dates Recognized

• End of the first year
• End of the fifth year
• End of the tenth year
• End of the fifteenth year
• End of the twentieth year
• End of the twenty-fifth year

4. Library Appreciation Party

The annual Library Appreciation Party is held after spring semester. Food and beverages are provided. In addition to the Excellence Awards and recognition for years of service, the Libraries provide a gift (such as a T-shirt or mug) to all Libraries' employees. Menus and budgets from previous years' parties are available in the files of the Awards Subcommittee.

2008 Awards Subcommittee

Isabelle Eula
Denise Novak
Kim Sestili
Gloriana St. Clair (ex officio)