The Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) is proud to announce the selection of our 2012 Employee of the Year and Team of the Year recipients.
Our Employee of the Year is Mary Ann Collignon, Young Adult Librarian at Kapolei Public Library. Collignon, who has an incredible, upbeat attitude and positive personality, has worked for HSPLS for 23 years on the Bookmobile, as a Young Adult Librarian and as Branch Manager at Ewa Beach Public and School Library for two years.
She has coordinated the Teen’s Top Ten Lists and the Best Fiction for Young Adults for many years, is a long-time member of the Young Adult Statewide Selection Committee, and currently coordinates the teen volunteers for Kapolei Public Library’s Children’s and Teen Summer Reading Programs (50 volunteers this summer). Collignon has recently retired.
The Library Development Services Section (LDSS) is the recipient of the 2012 HSPLS Team of the Year Award. Team members include: Susan Nakata, Section Head; Paul H. Mark, Information Specialist III; Edwin Kamikawa, Illustrator/Photographer; Laurence Cabanting, Library Technician V; Susan Nakagawa, Library Assistant IV; Reynold Tamayei, Office Assistant III; and Tom Mato, Offset Press Operator II (recently retired).
With a remarkably small budget and staff, the Library Development Services Section, under the exemplary leadership of Susan Nakata, has an impressive list of accomplishments, especially in the past year. LDSS works with many groups and individuals to present a wide variety of programming opportunities for our patrons, including programs for Teen Read Week, National Library Week, tours for two Honolulu Theater for Youth performances, a selection of fall programs, and our Summer Reading Programs, which set records again this year for both participants and books read.
LDSS staff also created and presented publicity campaigns for all our new programs and services, including the HSPLS HI Tech Academy, the availability of ADA accessible workstations with JAWS and ZoomText software in all our libraries, email notifications, online renewals, live streaming legislative webcasts, wireless Internet access in all our libraries, and the “HSPLS Year in Review”: http://vimeo.com/34686676.
Irene Pavao, Library Assistant III of Hana Public and School Library, is the 2012 Sustained Superior Performance Award winner. Pavao has served for more than 20 years at the Library, including several years as branch manager.
The HSPLS Employee of the Year (Collignon) and HSPLS Team of the Year (Library Development Services Section) were honored along with other departmental award winners at the Governor’s Awards Ceremony in the State Capitol Auditorium on September 28.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. Employee of the Year MaryAnn Collignon is honored by State Librarian Richard Burns (l) and Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
2. Library Development Services Section Team members (l-r): Paul H. Mark, Edwin Kamikawa, Susan Nakata, Reynold Tamayei, Susan Nakagawa, Laurence Cabanting and Tom Mato. Photo courtesy of George Kodama
3. Irene Pavao