Rocio Franklin, as Washington Talking Book & Braille Library’s Receptionist, has one of the most important jobs at the library. Her smiling face and voice greet our volunteers, visitors and patrons when they enter the library and her cheerful voice welcomes all incoming calls to WTBBL’s main phone line.  “Rocio is like a ball of sunshine. She brings a special warmth, kindness, and humor to WTBBL,” says Danielle Miller, WTBBL’s Program Manager. This perfectly describes Rocio and why she is such a treasure to the library. When Rocio’s colleagues are asked to describe her, her willingness to take on new tasks and projects is repeatedly mentioned.  Rocio’s tireless dedication, optimistic spirit and never-ending creativity have made her one of the most celebrated members of the WTBBL team.

While Rocio’s title is Receptionist, she takes on many administrative and clerical tasks to assist the patrons of the library. Since she moved from the position of Custodian to Receptionist in 2009, Rocio has become the point person working with OSOS purchasing to keep WTBBL stocked with supplies, assisted with two summer reading programs and has become a major part of the team that processes donations for WTBBL.

Rocio, a native Spanish speaker, has also become the library’s translator and a lifesaver for our Spanish speaking patrons. “She has made it a special mission to reach out to our Spanish speaking patrons, welcoming them and ensuring their library service is muy bueno!,” adds Danielle Miller. She has since become a de facto reader’s advisor for this important group of patrons, who in many cases did not fully benefit from the service before her efforts.

Rocio translates all of our print material into Spanish and took the initiative to call the parents of our young Spanish language patrons to ensure the parents received materials to remain a part of their child’s reading life. In April of 2012, Rocio suggested and spearheaded WTBBL’s first celebration of Dia de los Niños/Dia de los Libros, which included packets of her personal story from her childhood experiences of Dia de los Niños in Mexico.  Every WTBBL child received the packet and Rocio created a marvelous display to capture the celebration for visitors to the library.

Tyler Kaye, WTBBL’s Patron Registrar, says it best: “Working at the front desk is often like being an air-traffic controller. You’ve got to efficiently direct telephone calls, visitors, and volunteers to where they need to be. It can be a pretty stressful task, but Rocio always handles it with grace.” Rocio’s graceful handling of all patrons and volunteers and her motivation to assist in all areas of the library has made Rocio an irreplaceable member of the WTBBL, WSL and OSOS team.

This week’s staff spotlight comes to you from our Public Services team. As the designated lead on virtual/digital reference and government information, Crystal ensures that all reference transactions comply with quality standards, and she mentors and oversees the reference desk staff. She also serves as a specialist in Washington and federal government, law and legislative history, statistics, demographics, and current events, providing specialized reference and consultation services in these areas.

According to Lori Thornton, program manager, Crystal assumed a natural leadership position within the Public Services Program from the very beginning of her employment with the Library in 2002. “She exemplifies public service and is a credit to the library profession.  She always goes the second, third, fourth, and fifth miles for customers.  She is a consummate librarian.  I receive numerous genuine, sincere customer responses each year to Crystal’s exemplary service.”

Our patrons’ words say it best… “I just want to commend Crystal Lentz on the excellent customer service she gave me.  What a pleasure it is to have someone who cares enough about the people they work with to follow through over and above what would be expected.  I am grateful you have people who follow a high standard of commitment to their job.”

Thanks for representing us so well, Crystal!