The UWM Libraries celebrated the 2022 recipients of the Janet and Carl Moebius Outstanding Staff Achievement Awards at a reception with Provost Scott Gronert on January 18, 2023 in the Golda Meir Library. Those honored for their exceptional service in 2022 were Ling Meng, Vince Ciatti, and Teddy Lepley III. The award winners were nominated and selected by Libraries staff.
Ling Meng, Digital Collections Librarian, recipient of the academic staff award.
Ling is responsible for the lion’s share of the digital assets that have been created in the UWM Libraries’ Digital Collections & Initiatives department during the last ten years, and his attention to detail, exceptional work ethic, and high standards for imaging work have made the Libraries’ digital collections some of the best in the country. He oversees scanning and camera work, post-processing, and supervision of students involved in scanning and photography, and ensures that projects–large and small–are well managed with consistent file naming and responsible digital asset management. His dedication to service is extraordinary. When the Golda Meir Library building was closed during the earliest period of the pandemic, Ling was in the digitization lab all day, every day, digitizing materials—thousands of pages—from Archives and Special Collections so that students could access them online.
Vince Ciatti, Acquisitions Assistant, recipient of the university staff award.
Vince, a valuable member of the Collection and Resource Management division for over 20 years, is in charge of purchasing and receiving monographs and invoicing all formats–tasks that are vital to the Libraries’ mission of providing exceptional collections to the university community. Working with the business office and other collections staff, Vince juggles everything from collecting US tax forms to negotiating payment options to making 7:30 a.m. phone calls to overseas vendors. In addition to invoicing, he is also the first point of contact for most book purchase requests, going above and beyond to determine if the requests from instructors can be fulfilled. As a result of his diligence, he has developed excellent working relationships with faculty and staff, and is often praised by them.
Teddy Lepley III, Graduate Intern in Special Collections, recipient of the student employee award.
Teddy has been employed in Special Collections since June 2021 while working toward an MFA in Print and Narrative Forms. He was hired specifically as an exhibitions intern, quickly learning the skills and techniques of curation and exhibition design, production, and installation. During his internship he has curated two major exhibits—“UWM Creates” and “Livre d’Artiste”—and several smaller ones, all at a professional level. He has also been enthusiastic about taking on other responsibilities: working the Special Collections front desk and providing able reference and patron services; assisting with instruction sessions and workshops; and researching and writing two insightful social media posts each week.