Photo By Karlheinz Wedhorn | Joyce Greene, the 2012 Federal Librarian of the Year, stands in the research library...... read more read more
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GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – The 2012 Library of Congress Federal Librarian of the Year is an employee of the Defense Department’s George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
Joyce Greene, a Warren, Mich., native who has been at the Marshall Center since 2009 and federal employee for more than 15 years, learned of the award from the Library of Congress in April. Marcy Hampton, Greene’s supervisor and director of the Marshall Center Research Library, said the honor is well-earned.
“Joyce is the most impressive librarian I have worked with in my 35-plus years of federal service,” Hampton said. “Joyce has spearheaded many projects designed to resolve ongoing problems within the library and the center as a whole. Joyce has positioned herself to be of maximal use to both, providing visionary leadership and innovative solutions.”
According to its web site, the Library of Congress had three criteria for the award: “active and innovative leadership,” “promotion and development of library and information services” and “exceptional professional competency in three of the professional competencies for federal librarians.” In her nomination package, Hampton noted that Greene helped establish the center’s content management office and brought a series of digital collections online, actions that “promoted library and information services” within the organization.
In 2011, the Marshall Center radically transformed its internal processes, shifting operations and changing levels of supervision, altering how the faculty managed course materials. That transformation led to the creation of a content management office.
The office handles myriad issues, including ensuring copyrights are upheld, translations are performed, readings are archived, and course materials are provided to the webmaster for timely posting. Greene spearheaded the development of the new office and, using her Lean Six Sigma training, mapped the flow of content across organizational divisions from beginning to end. The new office is now a vital cog in Marshall Center operations, centrally positioning the library, as a part of information support, in the workflow.
“Joyce recognized the importance of managing content processing as a way to facilitate successful organizational transformation, allowing the Marshall Center to increase its level of service, even while facing budget cutbacks,” Hampton said.
John Crawford, a reference librarian and colleague, said Greene’s involvement in a number of center working groups showed leadership on behalf of the nine-person library staff. Her innovation manifested itself in the creation of the Marshall Center digital library. Now in its early stages, the digital library will eventually house unique historical materials reflecting the Marshall Center’s legacy, student theses and reports, course e-reserves, and more. Much of this information has been stored in basement rooms, burned to compact discs and shelved, and saved to multiple folders on the center’s servers, making it inaccessible for study and re-use.
“Her awareness of the potential value in the development of a digital library motivated Joyce to dig in and build on. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know how; she simply sought the necessary training and proceeded to create what is now a library with six unique collections,” Crawford said. “Joyce has helped ensure that the library remains a capable and valued part of the center.”
Greene also played an instrumental role in retooling the research library’s integrated library system. The library’s current system is more than 10 years old and based on old generation technology. After extensive research, Joyce found a modern delivery system capable of managing the library’s multilingual materials—plus much more.
“None of this would have been possible without Joyce’s clear vision and strategic planning in the effort to best serve our patrons,” Crawford said.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, director of the Marshall Center, said Greene’s accomplishment is significant and reflects well upon the staff and faculty of the center.
“Joyce is indicative of the future of the Marshall Center and the effort all our employees are giving to continue to make this place relevant and efficient going forward,” Dayton said. “We’ll need more people like her with innovation, drive and vision. This award is representative of all those things. I’m proud to have her on my team. We simply would not be as effective without her.”
Greene called the award a “pat on the back” for the work she did throughout 2012, but gave much of the credit to her coworkers and supervisors.
“I’m very grateful to my boss and the people I work with. I wouldn’t be here without them,” she said.
She was more philosophical about the future of librarians in the digital age.
“There’s a lot of angst in the library community about ‘What is the future? Where are we going?’” she said. Her answer is to, “keep learning. Keep growing with the changes. Find a place where you are needed and speak up.”
The Marshall Center is one of five security studies institutes run by the Department of Defense via the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The center is responsible for a region that includes Europe, Russia and much of Eurasia. The library is no stranger to these awards. In 2006, it was named the federal library of the year; and in 2007, one of its employees was named library technician of the year.
Greene is scheduled to receive the award May 22 at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2013 05:37 |
| Story ID: | 106992 |
| Location: | GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, BAYERN, DE |
| Hometown: | WARREN, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 255 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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