Congratulations to Carole Panas, a recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Health Sciences Library Paraprofessional Award
The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association is very happy to announce that the inaugural winner of the MAC Outstanding Health Sciences Library Paraprofessional Award is Carole Panas.
Carole is the Resource Sharing Specialist at Gumberg Library at Duquesne University. She demonstrates enthusiasm, dedication, and willingness to take challenges. She transcends traditional silos to provide the best possible service to students, faculty, staff and to build stronger interdepartmental relationships. When the University was forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carole no longer had access to the journals, books, microfilm, and other “print” materials in the library stacks. She initiated collaboration with the Acquisitions Librarian to purchase electronic books, book chapters, and articles for requests that had previously gone unfilled in the RapidILL, ILLiad, and Docline systems. One of these requests was recognized in the university’s Fall 2020 Academic Affairs in Review newsletter, “Thank you so much for your help in obtaining an electronic copy of this book… Your help is greatly appreciated, especially in times like these when access to library materials is extremely limited.”
Because of her dedication, positivity, patience, and tenacity, Carole is held in high esteem by her library colleagues and valued by the faculty, students, and staff she serves excellently. Carole keeps looking at the big picture of how her work and the library’s services support learning, teaching, and research. She consistently goes the extra mile in her work through ILL. When librarians provide in-class instruction, the course instructors regularly interject to provide unsolicited testimonials about the efficiency and speed of Gumberg’s ILL service. Those testimonials reflect Carole’s reliably outstanding work and consistently excellent service. Her efforts have had a far-reaching impact that benefits all who work in and use the library.
Congratulations, Carole!
