Library Journal (LJ) today announced recipients of the 2024 Movers & Shakers awards. Over the past 22 years, Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers awards have offered a compelling snapshot of what’s up and coming in the library world, as well as how it has changed. The 2024 Movers & Shakers winners represent library ambassadors who are innovative, proactive, and support the vital work of libraries; they are imaginative and kind and brave in a world that very much needs those qualities and the results they produce.
Helen Plum Library’s Technology and Metadata Service Manager Alex Vancina has been recognized as an Innovator. When Vancina joined the Helen Plum Library administration in 2017, plans to build a new $30 million facility had been temporarily put on hold owing to issues with the property’s location. Vancina used this as an opportunity to initiate a total revamp of the library’s IT and technical services departments, merging them to form the Technology and Metadata Services Department—streamlining processes, reducing redundancies, and providing significant budget reductions. He collaborated with the Marketing Department to relaunch Helen Plum’s new website and migrated the online catalog to open-source Aspen Discovery.
When the library secured new property and began building the facility in 2020, Vancina collaborated with the executive construction team, meeting weekly with architects and contractors to review progress until its completion in April 2023. He then led the IT team in overseeing the decommissioning of all technology at the old facility and the full tech installation in the new building. His expertise eliminated the need for HPL to hire an outside consulting firm, saving tens of thousands of dollars.
“Alex is an original thinker and a master troubleshooter,” says Sue Wilsey, Helen Plum Library’s Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications, adding that the cry “Call Alex!” can be heard nearly every day from staff or managers seeking help with the new library’s technology.
“My team and I get to solve problems,” says Vancina. “Even though I’m not always at a public service desk, I know the work that me and my team do improves the experience of every staff member and patron in the library, every day.”
In addition to his technology contributions, Vancina is also a community leader, serving as the Board President at his hometown of New Lenox’s Public Library District. He also was elected as President of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) as part of a team who work on issues affecting the long-term future of the organization of approximately 1,300 member libraries. When not wearing his library hat, Vancina volunteers with the Forest Preserve District of Will County, IL, maintaining and restoring natural prairie and woodlands.