Excellence-in-Service Recognized
College Library is delighted to announce the recipients of the Spring 2026 Excellence-in-Service Awards. These awards honor student assistants who have demonstrated outstanding customer service, exemplary working relationships, high productivity, creativity, initiative, and have helped create a welcoming learning and research environment at the library.
This semester, we are proud to recognize Sidney Jensen-Schaffner and Megan Walters for their outstanding contributions to the Access Services and End-User Computing departments in College Library.
As a member of College Library’s student leadership team, Sidney Jensen-Schaffer has distinguished herself through her exceptional service to library patrons, her work as an Overnight Student Supervisor, her valuable contributions as a member of our Circulation Student Assistant Hiring Committee, and her ground breaking work developing an oral history project at College Library. According to her nomination letter, Sidney consistently displays genuine care for College Library, a fact which benefits “coworkers and patrons alike through her conscientious approach to each situation. Sidney is dependable, thoughtful, and a pleasure to work with.” She is described as a “shining example of a student worker who consistently advances College Library’s mission.” In addition to her work on the circulation desk, especially in the overnight hours, Sidney has distinguished herself as someone involved in the hiring process of fellow student assistants. She has reviewed applications, discussed candidates, and helped conduct interviews. Her nominator reported that Sidney consistently provides “valuable insights, articulates a well considered hiring philosophy, enthusiastically takes on extra responsibilities (she helped conduct more interviews than any other member of the team in this last round of hiring!), and has had an integral role in building the excellent circulation team we have working for us today.”
Last year the Access Services department created the new student position of Overnight Student Supervisor and Sidney was an obvious candidate for this role. She “worked diligently to learn everything required to supervise her fellow student workers and assist patrons with any question they come to the library with. This role entails enforcing security protocols and managing the work and break times of her fellow student workers … Sidney displayed professionalism as she enforced the rules for peers and patrons alike.” Presented with the idea of interviewing fellow student workers to preserve their stories, Sidney has taken initiative to get the project off the ground. Sidney made time in her busy schedule to meet with Oral Historian Troy Reeves, ask questions, and develop her interviewing techniques. While collaborating with another member of the student leadership team, Sidney took an active role, scheduling interviews and learning the technical side of recording the interviews. Sidney’s work is a notable contribution towards College Library telling its story. By documenting and amplifying the voices of her peers, Sidney engages with the library’s mission at a broader level. She is truly deserving of this recognition.
Megan Walters has made enormous contributions to the End-User Computing team in the Library Technology Group (LTG) in her time working at College Library. One of her nominations began with the words, “Megan is the best of the best at everything she does. No problem is too big or too small. She ensures that each patron or fellow staff member gets her full attention when she is helping them.” This theme was carried through all of the nomination letters which also tout her exceptional customer service skills, her ability to troubleshoot technical issues, and her advocacy for improving systems to ensure both patron access and privacy. Or, as another wrote, “To put it simply, Megan exemplifies the core values of all libraries in every interaction, and encourages everyone around her to do the same.” Megan takes the time to consider the impact new initiatives and policies will have on staff and patrons, and is a vocal advocate for patron rights and experience. According to one nomination letter, “In many lead meetings, she’s challenged us all to think differently about a problem at hand with a well-phrased question or correction, all with the goal of ensuring a welcoming, inclusive environment for patrons. She’s brought forward equity issues in policy and practice that show up in a light we hadn’t considered before in well-sourced and clear emails and discussions.”
Megan’s value was also recognized by member of the Access Services team who wrote, “Megan has been a bright spot of my time working more closely with EUC students in the computer lab. Anytime I come into the computer lab, Megan is always been a kind and welcoming presence. If she is engaged helping a patron I can see how patient and helpful she is, and if she isn’t in the midst of work she is always ready to say hi, and welcome me into their space. In addition to providing excellent public service to our patrons, she has always been willing and ready to help me with any technical issues I may have myself.”
Both Megan and Sidney are graduating from UW-Madison this semester and we congratulate them and thank all of our student assistants for their many contributions in making College Library a destination for UW-Madison staff and students. We could not do this without them!
