Janelle Gurnsey tends to work behind the scenes in her role as Outreach and Communications Coordinator at Brookens library, but those fortunate enough to work with her can attest to her charm, work ethic, and talent. Her supervisor describes her as having an "infectious vitality." Janelle has been selected as the University of Illinois Springfield December Employee of the Month.
Janelle's dedication to her work is well illustrated by a story her nominator shared. On the evening before an event, it was discovered that one of the event documents was missing a page. "Janelle worked over night to print the page and correct a couple hundred booklets one at a time, completely on her own," the nominator writes. "Acts like this are not the exception for Janelle, they are the norm."
This year, Janelle was part of the team handling the annual One Book, One UIS author event, and many of the details of this year's program were left to her. She worked diligently to overcome any obstacles that popped up while planning the event, she ensured publicity was created, and she designed all the materials to brand the event.
Her supervisor says Janelle does whatever it takes to get the job done. "She is a unit of one, occasionally having a student assistant," her supervisor writes. "I am amazed at the amount of quality of work that she produces throughout the year!"
"She takes pride in her work and believes in doing her part to create a supportive work environment," writes her nominator. "In many ways she is the heart and soul of the library."
