2008 Tracy Luna

 Tracy Luna, Lending Supervisor at the University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville, was the recipient of the 2008 Tennessee Resource Sharing Award.

A “veteran” of UT’s interlibrary loan department, Tracy has been key in making One-Step Access To Library Materials, one of Tenn-Share’s TEL Phase II initiatives, closer to a reality.

David Atkins, Head of Resource Sharing and Document Delivery Services at UTK, had this to say about Tracy in his nomination:

"While UT has long served the state as a library lender, Tracy was not content with how things were done. In 2003, to better connect public libraries with our collections, Tracy initiated the Tennessee Public Library Registration project. Working with Tennessee State Library and Archive’s Jack Stacy, Tracy created over 300 web-based borrowing accounts for each of the state’s public libraries.  With these accounts, any interlibrary loan department in the state could request loans and copies from our collections via the web. Gone were the days of faxes, phone calls and email requests. Then, Tracy supported the state’s librarians with on-site training and congenial telephone conversations.  For first-time users, Tracy would walk each librarian step-by-step through this new method for ordering loans. The result?  Borrowing and lending became easier for everyone involved in resource sharing.

Between 2005 and 2006, the project really took off. We migrated from our UT-hosted system to the state’s AutoGraphics public library system. This move made it even easier for public libraries to borrow from UT. UT’s Tennessee lending volume and therefore Tracy’s Tennessee workload increased over 30% in the first year. A new system also meant that Tracy re-instructed many state libraries on how to borrow from UT. Building on the success of this implementation, Tracy made UT’s participation in a new project, InfoToGo, possible. InfoToGo does for Knox County School Libraries what AutoGraphics did for the state’s public libraries.  During FY07 UT partnered with Knox Co. Public Libraries and the State Library to launch interlibrary lending for Knox County Schools. In the first year, Tracy and her staff processed 199 loans to Knox County School students, teachers, and administrators. In September 2008, we’ve started our third year with InfoToGo. With every step we take to improve our state’s resource sharing operations, Tracy Luna always provides critical, enthusiastic, and animated support.  Even when the workload increases, Tracy’s there.  As Jack Stacy attests: “Tracy has been incredibly supportive to libraries involved in the Hodges Library/Tennessee Public Library/Knox County Schools resource sharing project.  Even though this project has increased her workload, she maintains an affable and enthusiastic manner when dealing with her new group of interlibrary loan customers."