Woods Selected as UW Employee of Second Quarter

Extensive knowledge of campus materials and resources, and extremely conscious of her office workflow and department efficiency are some of the qualities attributed to Janet Woods, the University of Wyoming Staff Employee of the Second Quarter.

Woods is supervisor of library services in Technical Services, a position she has held for 35 years. She has been at UW for 39 years, holding three other positions before joining UW Libraries.

Her Staff Employee of the Second Quarter reception is Monday, July 30, at 11 a.m. in Room 506 of Coe Library.

The Technical Services group is part of the Information Resource Management Division, which is responsible for all print and other physical format materials that are ordered, received and described for the UW Libraries collections. Staff also orders and receives single title electronic books and journals that are not included in a package.

“For the past year, we have been responsible for all donated materials that come into the libraries,” Woods says of her area. “We also evaluate damaged materials and determine if they will be repaired in-house, sent out for treatment or replaced.”

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Woods’ nominators all agree on one thing, saying, “Her quality of work is always outstanding.”

“Janet has extensive preservation training so that, when it comes to repairing fragile and rare materials, she does an excellent job,” a colleague says. “She takes care of anything that comes across her desk and always does an outstanding job of taking care of it as quickly as possible. Her quality of work extends to the way she trains her employees.”

Another co-worker says Woods is “literally doing the work of three people.”

“Though Janet is constantly busy, she always makes time to stop by and check in with her co-workers or answer my questions,” the co-worker says. “If there is an issue at work, she will problem-solve and strive to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

Her leadership has not gone unnoticed. She was named Supervisor of the Year during Staff Recognition Day in 2016. Woods says she was overwhelmed and surprised by her latest award, crediting her colleagues for being able to handle all tasks at a moment’s notice.

“My co-workers are cross-trained in all functions of the department, which allows us to respond to anything that comes our way,” she says. “Each one of them will approach me with their willingness to take over duties and fill gaps when we have a vacancy; I never have to ask.”

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Another co-worker says Woods leads by example.

“She always gives her best and works hard to get done what needs to be done, while also ensuring a proper work/life balance for all her employees, making sure they aren’t overworked,” the nominator says. “With the ever-shrinking staff population, she works incredibly hard to make sure the workflow continues to be fair.”

Another colleague says Woods always initiates the best way to approach any large projects and then distributes the work to the staff with the best ideas for completing the tasks.

“They are all fun to work with, they learn quickly and keep everything running,” Woods says of her staff. “We identify training opportunities to help each staff person grow in their positions. I direct the workflow and try to stay out of their way.”

An Employee of the Quarter nominee can be any UW staff employee, and each must receive three nomination forms from three separate individuals. Nominations must be submitted to the Staff Senate office. The forms are on the web at www.uwyo.edu/staffsenate/employee-of-the-quarter.

For more information, call the Staff Senate office at 766-5300.