Emily is very serious about doing her job well and exemplifies service by making everyone she interacts with feel valued and appreciated. She can brighten the darkest day and is always willing to help anyone in need. She knows what questions to ask and uses the information to find solutions to difficult problems. Her cheery demeanor is an added perk to recruiting her expertise in resolving a problem. She doesn’t shy away from trying new things or taking on responsibilities that many would find overwhelming.
Emily is a calming voice in stressful situations. Despite the stress of competing wants and expectations by library employees at all levels, Emily handles it with grace and equanimity, finding a balance that keeps everyone happy. Emily sees the big picture and makes others feel accomplished when they contribute in even the smallest way. She rarely takes credit for anything if she can find a way to give it to someone else. She is a true team player.
Emily is a whiz at organizing dozens of faculty, staff, and students and hundreds of thousands of books and media as librarians evaluate the library's total collection. She works closely with subject librarians to make sure library materials that are not needed in the general stacks are stored in a way that makes them easily retrievable for patrons. She can quickly answer any question regarding materials and available space in any area of the library.
Even though her department is tucked away from public view, Emily welcomes visitors and reaches out to be part of the library’s outreach programs. She recently spearheaded an interactive tour of AuxStor for 150 sixth graders who were touring the library. She also volunteers to help with other library events, such as being a hostess at our recent Día de la Muertos display and being a judge for the annual College of Life Science Poster Competition.
While identifying serials for AuxStor, Emily has a critical eye for finding problems with bibliographical records. Serials are complicated, with frequent changes throughout the years, and Emily does a great job of recognizing the issues and doing the background work before sending them off to the correct department be fixed. Emily effortlessly keeps projects running smoothly while simultaneously encouraging her staff to brainstorm and implement better and more efficient ways to accomplish their work. She exemplifies excellence in all that she does.
A few years ago, several collections were moved to Auxiliary Storage (AuxStor). Emily championed this move by keeping everyone informed each step of the way, reaching out regularly to the dozens of people involved in selecting, moving, storing, and withdrawing these materials. The completion of the withdraw project allowed for additional, innovative library services to be added and more collaborative spaces to be available for the BYU community. Because of Emily’s excellent organization and communication skills, everyone knew what they need to do to keep this huge project running smoothly. She not only navigated the process with precision and expertise, but she somehow managed to work with all the various department members during this drawn-out project and kept everyone informed and happy with the results. It wasn't a miracle. It was Emily.