Bowman, McGraw Recognized at HSL’s 20th Annual Awards Ceremony

The Health Sciences Library recognized the commitment and service of two staff members at its 20th annual awards ceremony and reception on April 21, 2017. Max Bowman earned the Award for Excellence, which recognizes an exceptional contribution made in the award year. Kate McGraw earned the Award for Dedicated Service, which recognizes consistently high quality of work ethic over a period of time. The ceremony featured remarks from Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives Carol Tresolini, School of Nursing professor Carol Durham, Interim University Librarian Carol Hunter, and HSL Director Nandita Mani.

Max Bowman and Kate McGraw

Bowman is a Serials and Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Specialist. She began working at the HSL in April 2008 as a Serials Specialist (doing check-in and binding of print journals), and in March 2016 transitioned to working in HSL’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) unit, initially half-time and then full-time. In March 2016, Bowman greatly increased her responsibilities in ILL.

“Max has done a phenomenal job with the transition to ILL,” one staff member said in their nomination of Bowman. “She has faced challenges with grace and resolve. She has worked to improve the workflow, and she goes all out for the users and provides them with the highest quality of service. She is user-focused and wants to provide the best experience possible.”

In 2016, Bowman also received her Master of Library and Information Studies degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Previous to UNC, Bowman worked at Hollins University in user services and interlibrary loan. She recently accepted a position at Radford University as their Resource Sharing librarian. We will miss her!

McGraw is Assistant Department Head, User Services and the HSL liaison librarian to the School of Dentistry. McGraw began at HSL in 1999 as a User Services Librarian. She progressively took on additional responsibilities, first as Information Services Coordinator and then as Assistant Department Head. She has had extensive experience co-authoring and partnering on systematic reviews, many in dentistry and public health. She has also made contributions to improving the user’s experience through teams focused on collections, the catalog, scholarly communications, distance education and other service areas.

One nomination for McGraw noted her mentoring abilities and said, “Kate is not just a supervisor but also a mentor to those who report to her. She is able to find their strengths and weaknesses and advises them on what steps to take to become better librarians and to share their talents. Her door is always open with a friendly smile and ready to listen to concerns, good news, or just to chat. The department, library, and UNC are all enriched by her distinguished and dedicated service.”