The library will be upgrading ILLiad, our interlibrary loan service, this morning. The upgrade should be complete by Noon and we will update this post if that time should change. Please contact us with any questions.

Summer hours begin today and the library is ready to help you get through the term. In case you forgot, we have a host of new computers set up with some new software available, 3D printing is now available, and we’re available to help you with pretty much anything during business hours. Faculty, let us know if our top-flight instruction team can help out with an instruction session or module, contact us if you need to set up course reserves, or let us know if we might help with anything else. One last note: as regulars know, the temperature in the library is less than compliant with the seasons, so you might want to bring an extra layer in case the A/C is too much to handle.
See you soon!

Summer Hours:
Mondays – Thursdays: 7:45 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Fridays: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturdays: CLOSED
Sundays: 1:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Image Credit: flickr user LOLren (CC BY 2.0)

Have you ever wondered to yourself: Why hasn’t the library ever burned down? What prevents librarians from curling into balls of mania beneath their desks? How is the library not a teeming mass of disorganization? When was it first apparent that librarians cannot function without a magnanimous figurehead? In fact – who secretly runs the library?

The easy answer is that there’s only one answer, and that’s to invoke the inimitable Anna Lane:

Her Highness Anna

Who is Anna, you might ask? If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her, Anna’s official title is Assistant to the Dean. This title doesn’t begin to convey the thousandfold implication of her duties, though. Simply put – Anna is why the library doesn’t resemble a post-apocalyptic landscape on any given day of the week.

Which is to say – we think she’s pretty awesome, and she was recently recognized for all which makes her Anna and us her mere subjects.

At the end of April, the Tennessee Library Association held its annual conference in Chattanooga. A handful of awards were given to individuals who exemplify the field we’ve all given our lives to. One of those was the Library Support Staff Award, now in its 7th year. Sponsored by the TLA Honors and Awards Committee, the award recognizes an outstanding performance in four areas of librarian support:

a) Ability to demonstrate superior and/or creative knowledge and skills in a staff support position;
b) May have assumed duties formerly performed by a Librarian;
c) Promotes the Library with a positive attitude;
d) Performs above and beyond the call of duty in the role of support staff when assisting a Librarian in serving the needs of the Library.

When the numbers were tallied and the dust settled, only one regal individual was left standing and that was Anna. In addition to a plaque, Anna was conferred a tiara. We also feel she’s entitled to additional honorifics, but we’ll have to run those by university HR. Post-conference, we asked Anna a few questions about the award and her time here at the library:

1. How long have you worked at the Library?
I transferred to the Library in 2003 but I have worked at UTC since 1999.

2. What’s an unexpected joy about working here?
I am a “people person” so I really enjoy getting to know my colleagues and being able to share a laugh (and sometimes a tear) with my work family. I would also say I am excited to move in to our new library after many years of planning.

3. What does winning the award mean to you?
Knowing that colleagues and Dean Liedtka thought enough of my work to nominate me for this award was very gratifying and actually winning the award meant someone outside the Library thought my contributions were worthy of an award. I received many congratulatory e-mails from colleagues when it was announced I was the recipient of the award and those comments made me feel special. I have saved the e-mails so when I am having a particularly challenging day I can re-read them and get a boost. And, of course, how often does one receive a tiara for a job well done?

4. Now that you own a tiara, how would you like to be addressed?
Even without the tiara I wanted to be addressed as Princess or Queen but now with the tiara I am going to insist on Your Highness.

5. What song title best describes your years at the library?
Going strictly by song title and not necessarily lyrics I am going to narrow it to four:  She Works Hard for the Money (Donna Summer), You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones), Working for the Weekend (Loverboy) and Spread Your Wings (Queen).

6. When you aren’t working hard for the money, how do you kick back & relax?
I enjoy watching movies, playing pinball, reading, crocheting and spending time with my dogs. My children are grown and live in Nashville so I like to visit them and try new restaurants. And once a year I go to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo to play with tiger cubs (NOTE: This last part is not a joke. This happens. –Ed.).

The school year is coming to a close and we’d be pretty ungrateful library folks if we didn’t take a minute to say thank you to all of our amazing student workers this year. Our students do all kinds of jobs within the library- they shelve the books you return, check out your laptops, help you print that pesky double-sided brochure, and generally try to make your life easier while you’re here in the library. This year we have over thirty student workers and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for the great job they’ve done throughout the year!