Spotlight on Staff: Kathleen Roland
Faster than a speeding book truck .
Strong enough to move mountains of newspapers.
Able to scale tall shelving in a single bound.
Look! —Working in the Stacks.
It’s a whirlwind.
It’s a library paraprofessional.
It’s Kathleen Roland, aka, “The Page”!
After years of conquering reference, circulation, and stacks maintenance challenges in public and academic library settings, Kathleen brought her superpowers to the WSL in 1997. Since then she has honed her skills by working in all of WSL’s off-line collections, supervising staff in Stacks Maintenance, Preservation, and Paging, and supporting staff specialists on projects that have improved customer access to materials.
When Kathleen’s staff of 4 and the program they worked in was eliminated in 2010 due to budget cuts, she grabbed a walkie-talkie, threw on her cape and running shoes, and moved to Public Services as the sole Library Page. Today, she performs many of the duties her staff once did, such as pulling materials for customers, shelving, and maintaining order in collections. She also fills obituary requests and assists with newspaper microfilming projects.
“Kathleen is a super hero,” says her supervisor, reference librarian Crystal Lentz. “She regularly does what once was the work of a team of staff with a positive attitude and she is always looking for ways to improve processes and provide better service to our customers. She is a wonderful addition to Public Services.”
So, when you need:
– rare maps, state publications or any one of the 1+ million collection items housed by the WSL;
– an obituary from Washington State newspapers;
– a place for collection items, and every item in its place,
you can count on Kathleen to deliver top notch service with a smile!
After all, going the extra mile is all in a day’s work for “The Page”.
“You can’t be around Kathleen for very long and not feel better about yourself and about your day” Rand Simmons
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