UW Libraries Blog

May 9, 2023

Celebrating Our Amazing UW Librarians and Staff

UW Libraries

Annual UW Awards Honor Excellence Across UW Libraries

UW Libraries’ 300+ employees represent a vital team across all UW campuses that together, provide essential services, programs and resources that benefit our university community and beyond. Their collective contributions bring forth new ideas, change and improvements that directly contribute to UW excellence.  Each year, UW honors outstanding achievement through the Awards of Excellence program. In 2023 we are excited to recognize the amazing Librarians and staff in each category. 

Distinguished Librarian Award:

Jackie Belanger – Director, Libraries Assessment and Planning

The award recognizes excellence in librarianship, especially as it benefits the academic community through innovative approaches to professional practice, research, and/or teaching and learning. Additional factors include creativity, leadership, service, scholarship, and demonstration of the University of Washington values of integrity, diversity, excellence, collaboration, innovation and respect.

Starting in her position as Research & Instruction/Arts & Humanities Librarian at UW Bothell and Cascadia College Library and throughout her 11-year involvement in library assessment, Jackie has been essential to the library’s cultural shift towards centering library users in our discussions, policies, and practices. Jackie has played key roles in the collaborative and evidence-based development of library initiatives. Currently, Jackie directs the University of Washington tri-campus Libraries assessment and strategy program, developing goals, policies, procedures, and best practices that evolved from a user-centered approach to her more recent and groundbreaking work in critical library assessment. Within the UW Libraries, Jackie leads many initiatives, but perhaps her broadest reach and impact is made through her role leadership of the strategic planning process. Jackie’s generosity and support of others, through formal and informal mentorship, teaching future librarians, and her active role in equity, diversity, and inclusion discussions within the Libraries make her a valued colleague.  Jackie’s work exemplifies this award through wide-ranging, positive, sustained, and long-lasting impact. 

Additional 2023 Distinguished Librarian Award nominees:

  • Caitlin Maloy, Nursing and Research Services Librarian, Health Sciences Library Caitlin exemplifies her nomination through her creativity in teaching, research and collegiality. Her work with the School of Nursing faculty, staff and students shows her compassion and in-depth subject knowledge. Caitlin is a truly delightful colleague both within the libraries and beyond! Learn more about Caitlin’s work.
  • Je Salvador, Computer Science / Research and Instruction Librarian, UW Bothell / Cascadia College Library Je served as the President-Elect and President of the Association of Librarians of the University of Washington (ALUW). They also were an integral member of the UWB/CC Library Anti-Racist Audit Team that supported and facilitated the audit preparation, process, and post-work with the library staff. Nationally, Je has established a solid record of service and leadership through their involvement with ACRL’s EDI Committee, which they also currently chair. Learn more about Je’s work.
  • Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Books Curator, Distinctive and Special Collections –  will embark on her 55th year with UW Libraries in June. A previous recipient of the UW’s Distinguished Staff Award, Sandra’s extensive knowledge and expertise in her field is a treasure, especially for those students who have the pleasure of working with her in the classroom, as illustrated in this most recent 2023 feature on her work with UW’s Textual Studies Program. Learn more about Sandra’s work.

Learn more about the significant contributions of all 2023 nominees: Read full profiles.

Distinguished Staff Award

UW Libraries had a number of staff nominated for both individual and team honors that exemplify excellence across four categories: Collaboration, Innovation Impact, Career Achievement and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The 2023 nominees:

The following staff acknowledgements represent excerpts and summaries of quotes from nominating parties and/or supervisors.

Innovation

  • Individual category:  Denise Hattwig, Head, of, Digital, Scholarship;  UW, Bothell, and, Cascadia, College, Library. Denise’s work both on the Washington Prison History Project and others across campus is indeed that of great distinction: innovative and collaborative, rigorous and generative, equitable and accessible.
  • Team category: Alan Michelson, Head, Built Environments Library, University Libraries. Alan provided essential analytical expertise to support the development of the College of Built Environments (CBE) Faculty Publications Portal, helping to identify academic best practices and tools to improve systems and automation for capturing faculty publications.

Impact

  • Individual category: Tan Nguyen, Library Specialist I, Central Circulation & Library Account Services. Tan took on a lot of responsibility and extra work to ensure our department continued to run smoothly during a challenging time when we were particularly understaffed. He devised and implemented creative solutions to workflow problems and other areas for improvement, turning this challenge into an opportunity to streamline processes and hone his own skills. Throughout this time, Tan helped maintain a high level of service for the university community. Our whole team felt the impact of his contributions that we will remember for a very long time.
  • Individual category: Marcia Monroe, Access Services Supervisor, UW Tacoma Library: Access Services Marcia’s impact is widely felt at UW Tacoma. She provides outstanding service, working hard to ensure that every person that enters the UWT Library feels welcome and supported.

Career Achievement: Individual category: Marcia Monroe, Access Services Supervisor, UW Tacoma Library: Access Services Marcia has been an essential part of the UWT Library since the Tacoma campus was brand new. She has been integral to the Library getting the highest ranking from students for service quality year after year. She is well-known and respected across campus for her many contributions.

Collaboration: Individual category: Marissa Rydzewski, Library Specialist I – Supervisor, LAW: Law Library – Circulation. Every time Marissa has been offered an opportunity to learn new skills or take on new projects, she has said yes. She has taken on the implementation of the ideas generated by users, employees, and administrators. Marissa’s contributions have impacted the UW Law community at every level.

Congratulations to all of the award nominees. The awards ceremony is held in June. Please join us in celebrating all of their important work by sharing this story!

###