McDermott Library Presents Excellence Awards

A reference expert and a veteran communications pro have earned their colleagues’ praise in  a yearly awards ceremony held recently by McDermott Library.

This year’s winners of the McLemore Awards for Library Excellence are Reference Librarian Carol Oshel and Program Manager and Public Relations Coordinator Tom Koch.

This marked the 20th year for the awards, which were established by the now-deceased Ethel Ward-McLemore, a pioneer for women in the field of geophysics. Ward-McLemore created and funded the employee recognition program out of concern for the well-being of libraries and the library profession.

Two library staff members are honored every year with gold pins and $1,000 awards.

Oshel joined McDermott Library in 2002 as a reference liaison librarian. The native of Oxford, England, earned a bachelor’s in history in 1986 at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.  She received a master’s in library science from Texas Woman’s University in 2001. Before joining McDermott Library she was a reference and periodicals librarian and library science instructor at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas.

Oshel plans and conducts Task Force Video conferences and assists with the UT System Conference and Director’s Award for Distance Learning.

She is also the liaison for the Jonsson School of Computer Science and Engineering.

The awards committee described Oshel as “enthusiastic about seeing the library gain a better position in the campus community.”

Koch came to McDermott Library in 2001 after a career in journalism and public relations. He has been responsible for such library publications as the annual report and newsletter. He arranges speakers for the Library Lecture Series and the Library-UTD Mercury Writers Series along with the Annual UTD Faculty Author Reception sponsored by the Office of Provost and Executive Vice President and the Library. He also works with the elite UT Dallas Chess Program to stage the annual ChessFest series of events in the Library.

He also assists Special Collections in organizing such events as the Doolittle Raiders Reunion, TEXPEX philatelic show, and Jalonick Memorial Lecture.

“His hard work has often gone unrecognized because he makes it look so easy,” said Dean of Libraries Larry Sall. “He is often asked to assist other campus departments with their projects.”