Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Employee award winners are named

William Fuerst, center, the alumnus who created the Outstanding Library Student Employee Awards, talks with award winner Alison Hofmann, left, and Ross Atkinson, deputy university librarian, at a reception for the awards in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room, March 3. Charles Harrington/University Photography

Five undergraduates have been selected to receive the 1998 Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Employee Awards. The awards, funded by an endowment from alumnus William F. Fuerst Jr. '39, recognize undergraduate library student workers for their exceptional performance, leadership and service to the campus.

Three seniors and two juniors received this year's awards at a reception March 3 in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall: junior Alan Enos, bar-coding operations assistant, Olin-Kroch-Uris Libraries; senior Morna Hilderbrand, student supervisor, Management Library; senior Alison Hofmann, technical services assistant, Mann Library; senior Adam Kantor, computer assistant, Law Library; and junior Jesse Sherman, technical processing and acquisitions assistant, Hotel School Library.

With more than 600 student employees in its 18 campus units, Cornell Library is the university's second largest employer of students. Nominations for the Fuerst awards are made by library supervisors, and five winners are selected each year by a committee of representatives from throughout the Cornell Library system. Accompanied by a cash gift of $500 each, the Fuerst Awards are the most financially generous student-worker awards on campus.

In presenting the awards, Ross Atkinson, deputy university librarian, lauded all the library's student workers, saying: "Our student employees are outstanding workers who add a great deal of energy, expertise and enjoyment to library operations. They are a joy to work with, and their presence reminds us constantly of our reason for being."

A graduate of Cornell's College of Agriculture, Fuerst created the Outstanding Library Student Employee Awards in 1995. In addition to his many gifts to the Cornell Library, he is a devoted supporter of Big Red athletics and Cornell Plantations. He is a member of the University Council and was named a Foremost Benefactor of Cornell in 1989. Most of his volunteer efforts have been dedicated to programs and activities that improve the Cornell experience for undergraduates.