Harrison County Public Library

Kathy Fisher, Head of Genealogy, is HCPL’s  June winner for Who’s Awesome! There were 11 nominations for the honor this month.

Library Director Alisa Burch, nominated Kathy stating, “Kathy worked HCPL’s pop-up library at the Corydon Pride Fest June 21. She braved the heat to share information on library’s services and programs. Kathy is awesome! ”

Teresa Douglass, genealogy specialist, had this to say about Kathy last July, “Kathy is an awesome person to work with. She is incredibly knowledgeable in her field, and I have learned a tremendous amount about genealogy from her. She is my “go to” person when I just can’t seem to find a solution. Even if I think I’ve tried every possible angle, she never fails to come up with an additional resource to try or a different research route to consider. Kathy knows her stuff! Also, Kathy has always been very understanding and accommodating with my schedule.  She’s always willing to work work around appointments, or needing time to take care of mom, or working around (often short-notice) visits with my son, etc., which is VERY MUCH appreciated. Lastly, but certainly not least, Kathy has been an amazing trooper during her own personal battles over the past year. She never once brought her troubles or issues into work with her, but remained unbelievably positive and professional throughout. Can’t get more awesome than that!“

Kathy joined HCPL’s staff 20 years ago splitting her work week between the reference department and genealogy. She went full-time as head of the genealogy department when Jim Burnside retired in 2005.  Kathy oversees the center and staff. She answers patron requests, handles monetary and artifact donations and conducts  programming. She was nominated by Burch several times for her programming ideas including this nomination from September of 2023. “Kathy plans fun activities to “spotlight” the offerings of the Frederick Porter Griffin Center several times during the year. This September she has focused the Saturday Spotlights on Indiana Archaeology Month. Kathy uses humor to make the activities more appealing and bring awareness to the physical and digital records the FPGC offers including photos, files, newspapers, yearbooks, donated materials, artifacts, Ancestry.com and Fold3. For September she has planned a scavenger hunt to “Find Indiana” where she has hidden images of Indiana Jones throughout the collection and a “Not My Job!” quiz to test knowledge of antiquated occupations. Kathy is awesome!”

Each month a winner is selected by random drawing. Other staff members nominated in June include: Amanda Applegate, Amanda Embrey, Connie Gresham, Megan Grindle, JoBeth Mathes, Trevor Smith, Jessica Stroud, Tiffany Thieneman, Savannah Wallace, and Heather Wyss.

Article by Alisa Burch, Director

Shawnda Mosson, Palmyra Library Assistant, is HCPL’s May winner for Who’s Awesome! There were eight nominations for the honor this month.

Megan Grindle, also a member of the Palmyra Branch staff, nominated Shawnda stating, “Shawnda is so polite and nice to staff and patrons, always going above and beyond to be helpful. I always appreciate working with her as she finds solutions to any inquiry or issue. You can’t help but smile when around her because she is usually laughing about something and her happy demeanor is contagious.”

Library Director Alisa Burch had this to say about Shawnda, “Shawnda offers great readers’ advisory at the Palmyra Branch. I have witnessed her helping patrons find books that they will enjoy. She has broad knowledge of the collection and shares that daily. Shawnda also created fun decorations for the summer reading challenge Adventure Begins at Your Library. She is a practical joker and full of fun. Shawnda is awesome!”

Shawnda interned with HCPL before joining the staff in March of 2010. She has worked at the Palmyra Branch for more than 14 years. In addition to providing great readers’ advisory and customer service, she does youth storytime, hosts the monthly “Not Your Mother’s Book Club,” and leads teen and family painting classes.

Nikki Esarey, the Palmyra lead circ associate and Shawnda’s immediate supervisor, nominated Shawnda in March of 2024 writing, “Shawnda has been so much help with the escape room. Escape room week can be crazy, but she has been amazing at multitasking—along with circulation, shelving, weeding and customer service, she has been making reminder calls, resetting the escape room, repairing props, hosting programs, and handing out eclipse glasses. She is so awesome!” Nikki also nominated Shawnda a year ago saying, “I really appreciate that Shawnda takes time every work day to shelf read and straighten. Her self-motivated efforts create a more welcoming environment for our patrons. She is awesome!”

Each month a winner is selected by random drawing. Other staff members nominated in May include: Amanda Applegate, Sandy Harbeson, Eden Randsell, Steven Schifcar, Jennifer Schroering, Debi Strubler and Heather Wyss.

Article by Alisa Burch, Director

Bethany Banet, head of technical services/cataloging, is HCPL’s April winner for Who’s Awesome! There were 18 nominations for the honor this month.

Diana Lasky, administrative assistant, nominated Bethany stating, “Bethany was extremely helpful to collaborate with Debbie (McClanahan) and me to help sort out cataloging options for the new Leadership Harrison County PICKS. We were able to present what we hoped to accomplish and she was able to implement the cataloging required to make it easy for customers to find the books in the catalog as well as a solution for the circulation staff. In addition, when carpooling was arranged for the regional conference, Bethany was flexible to make multiple changes, and did so with an upbeat attitude. Bethany, you’re awesome! ”

Bethany began volunteering for the library in 2002 and joined the staff in December of that year as HCPL’s cataloger. As the library grew she became head of the technical services department.

In February, Alisa Burch, library director, nominated Bethany writing, “Bethany very quickly supplied the numbers I needed for the State Board of Accounts Annual Financial Report to record the costs of weeded books in the capital assets section as soon as I requested them. Later when I discovered I needed information from previous years as well she was able to get what I needed in a very short amount of time. I appreciate her thoroughness and quick response time. Bethany is awesome!”

Last summer Bethany was nominated by Eden Ransdell, youth services manager, and again by Diana Lasky.  Eden wrote, “Bethany is very thoughtful and a great person to brainstorm with!” And Diana said, “As Lanesville is weeding heavily in anticipation of construction, the weeded materials have been piling up. When new space was needed for more, Bethany not only offered to store the books until the Friends could look through them, but helped move 30 boxes and offered to prep the boxes with the labels for shipment. It cut my work load in half.“

Each month a winner is selected by random drawing. Other staff members nominated in April include, Corinne Burton, Amanda Embrey, Nikki Esarey, Megan Grindle, John Kunsman, Diana Lasky, Debbie McClanahan, Pam Nemeth, Steven Schifcar, Trevor Smith, Leo Stiner, Jessica Stroud, Debi Strubler, Kaitlyn Taylor and Tiffany Thieneman.

Article by Alisa Burch, Director

Teresa Douglass, genealogy specialist at the library’s Frederick Porter Griffin Center for Local History and Genealogy, is HCPL’s  March winner for Who’s Awesome! There were 19 nominations for the honor this month.

Kathy Fisher, genealogy head, nominated Teresa stating, “This month, Teresa was “accidentally awesome” in addition to her being overall awesome. She directly influenced two of the March Mania programs. I had forgotten that Roots Tech was going on until I noticed Teresa watching it. Boom! The Livestream Spotlight event was tacked on to the Mania last minute. She also thought ahead and had created a Women’s History Month document about some of the county’s influential ladies who had not previously been profiled. I used her work to create a PowerPoint presentation for that Spotlight. And both of those great ideas can be reused for future programming!”

Teresa joined HCPL’s staff in June of 2010 as a part-time assistant in the youth services department at Corydon. She transitioned to full-time genealogy specialist in June of 2016 where she can utilize her Masters in History to help visitors find information on their ancestors, share historical facts about early Harrison County and digitize important historical artifacts.

Teresa received two nominations this month. The second nomination read, “Teresa is a great asset to the FPGC. She is knowledgeable and has a great interest in the history of Harrison County. She has taken on the responsibility of digitizing the library’s historical records. In addition, Teresa is a caring individual volunteering with the community’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. She is attentive and professional. Visitors to the genealogy center have reached out to say Teresa has offered them excellent service. Teresa is awesome!”

Each month a winner is selected by random drawing. Other staff members nominated in March include, Ann Allen, the Corydon Circulation Department, Amanda Embrey, Nikki Esarey, Kathy Fisher, Connie Gresham, Lisa Griffith, Eve Kopsalias, John Kunsman, Diana Lasky, Shawnda Mosson, Bob Ohlrich, Leo Stiner, Debi Strubler, Ellie Tucker-Brown and Heather Wyss.

Article by Alisa Burch, Director