‘Stepping UP’ Service: Library Staff Recognized for Stellar Student Experience
MARY ANN MAVRINAC, Chief Librarian

The University of Toronto’s "Stepping UP Recognition Program" recently honoured U of T Mississauga Library staff with three awards. The "Stepping UP" program acknowledges contributions by administrative staff that go above–and–beyond to advance the University’s vision "to be one of the world’s foremost research–intensive universities and an institution that nurtures the creative and analytical capacity of its students at all levels." The program recognizes significant contributions in five strategic areas, including "Enriching the Student Experience" – the category for which the Library earned recognition.

Paul Handley, director of operations, received an individual award for his leadership on the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre project. Under Handley’s leadership, a complex project that balanced the needs of multiple stakeholders and provided U of T Mississauga students and faculty with a state–of–the–art experiential learning facility was delivered ahead of time and under budget.

William Hu and Luke Barber, computer technologists and Nga Foster, secretary, were recognized for their support of the "H.I.T. Squad: Learning Commons Peer Support" program, including hiring, training and mentoring student employees and providing ongoing technological, administrative and payroll support. The H.I.T. Squad is an integral part of the RBC Learning Commons’ integrated approach to learning and a service highly–valued by students.

The "Stepping UP" program also recognized the team that supported the "Laptop Loan Program," a high–impact, labour–intensive, customer–focused service coveted by undergraduate students. Luke Barber and William Hu were acknowledged for their outstanding technical support in keeping the laptops in near flawless working order. Members of the Information & Loans staff — Michelle Alexander, Olha Fihol, Lisa Hodgson–Ford, Doug Lu, Ade Majekodunmi, Lotta Nordfeldt, Laura Patterson, Sally Seim, Dorota Swieton, David West and Waqqas Shams — were acknowledged for facilitating the 24,578 laptop loan transactions (Fall/Winter 2008–09) in response to students’ insatiable demand for this service.

Staff attended a recognition event in September at the residence of U of T President David Naylor to celebrate the accomplishments of award recipients from all three campuses.

Branching Out: Librarians honoured with professional appointments

GIS/Data Librarian Andrew Nicholson is the new president of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries & Archives (ACMLA). Nicholson has spent six years on the ACMLA Executive, serving four years as secretary and two years as second vice–president. As president, Nicholson leads meetings and is responsible for the general management and supervision of the Association’s affairs and operations.  With over 60 members across Canada, ACMLA is the representative professional group for Canadian map & GIS librarians, geospatial library specialists, cartographic archivists and others interested in geographic information in all formats.  http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/assoc/acml/about.html

AstraZeneca Science Liaison Librarian Mindy Thuna was recently appointed co–chair of the Research Committee of the American Library Association (ALA), Science & Technology Section (STS). The Research Committee solicits, evaluates and selects proposals for presentation at the STS Research Forum at the ALA annual meeting, as well as poster proposals to be presented following the forum.

Map & Poster Printing Service: More Options, More Choice
ANDREW NICHOLSON, GIS & Data Librarian

Have you ever needed:

• a map or poster as part of a research meeting or conference presentation?
• your students to make poster presentations in a course?
• a poster or banner for an academic or student event on campus?

The U of T Mississauga Library provides fast, friendly and affordable map and poster printing for U of T students, staff and faculty, as well as for student–related academic projects and even. There is now more choice of paper lengths, plus the addition of three new grades of paper to better meet an array of presentation needs.

Paper Grade	One side can be no longer than: (in inches)	Thickness (milli–inch)	Price (per square foot)
Draft Quality	42	4.6	$3.5
Poster Presentation	42 or 60	7.5	$4.00
Photo Poster	36	9.7	$4.50

The Map/Poster printing service is available in the AstraZeneca Canada Centre for Information & Technological Literacy (Room 360) on Level 3 of the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre. Please contact Andrew Nicholson, GIS/Data Librarian, for more information.

  »