LAUC-LA 2003 Librarian of the Year Award

Valerie Bross

UCLA Faculty Center

May 15, 2003

Left to right: Valerie Bross and Jan Goldsmith, Co-chair 

2002-2003 LAUC-LA Committee on Distinguished Librarian

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year award was established in 1993/1994 to honor excellence in librarianship and extraordinary contributions to the teaching and research missions of UCLA.  Six excellent candidates were nominated this year, all of whom showed remarkable talents and achievements.  We are delighted to announce that this year's award goes to Valerie Bross.

As Serials Cataloger and Digital Resources Cataloging Coordinator for the Charles Young Research Library, Valerie has been a key player in helping to usher UCLA’s library system into the digital age.  She has made it a priority to provide the UCLA community with the best cataloging records available, working tirelessly to make UCLA’s records more accurate, streamlined and effective.  As one letter of nomination put it, Valerie deserves recognition for her “selfless devotion to helping the UCLA Library System ‘get it right’ with respect to developing and …maintaining access to the Library’s digital resources and serials.”  Although most of her work is behind the scenes, Valerie’s concern with how records will display to the public and the ease with which patrons may access information has had a hugely positive impact on the way the UCLA library system is viewed by the University and the public in general.

A true librarian in every sense of the word, Valerie has shown exceptional dedication to helping both patrons and her fellow librarians.  She looks beyond the scope of her department to anticipate and respond to the needs of her colleagues.  In the past year in particular, she has created avenues by which public services staff may immediately contact her if a question arises about access to electronic resources.  Her willingness to make herself available at short notice has helped foster a new spirit of collaboration between Technical Processing and Public Services at YRL.  In addition, she has reached out to other cataloging centers on campus by facilitating a URL checking program for Orion2 records, a program which has greatly eased the burden of this laborious task on other libraries.

One outstanding example of Valerie’s dedication to the Library’s research mission is illustrated by her willingness to learn Arabic in order to eliminate the backlog in Arabic and Persian language serials.  In recent years she and her staff have worked extremely hard to add websites to bibliographic records for Middle Eastern periodicals, an accomplishment which has facilitated access to an important area of scholarship that might otherwise not be available to the UCLA community.  Thanks in part to Valerie’s initiative and perseverance, these materials are now available for the benefit of scholars and researchers throughout the world.

Valerie’s reputation as a cataloguer has earned her a high level of respect in her field.  She has “been a prominent figure in the national serials cataloging scene…particularly for her efforts on behalf of the Library of Congress’ International Cooperative Serials Cataloging Program.”  She has also been involved with the California State Documents Shared Cataloging Project, helping advance the cataloging standards in the area of electronic resources. Such involvement greatly benefits the UCLA library system as Valerie takes the time to consult with her own and other cataloging departments on campus to consider their input when reporting to national committees on which she serves.

In recognition of her leadership, dedication, innovation, and invaluable contributions to the research mission of the UCLA Library, we are very pleased to name Valerie Bross the 2003 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

At the request of the LAUC membership, Valerie will also receive an extra $250 in professional development funds for the next fiscal year.

The 2002-2003 LAUC-LA Committee on Distinguished Librarian

Jan Goldsmith, Co-Chair

Jennifer Lentz, Co Chair

Marsha Kmec

Bruce Whiteman

Arthur Rosett, Faculty Representative