The MIT Libraries celebrated the exceptional contributions of its employees June 2 with the 2026 Infinite Mile Awards. As part of the community celebration in the Sala de Puerto Rico, library staff contributed to a plant and seed swap, a mystery book exchange, and a collaborative Spotify playlist.
Awardees were nominated by their library colleagues in the categories listed below; individuals and team recipients are listed along with excerpts from the award presentations.
Bringing out the Best
Delivery Operations and Barker Stacks Manager Donald Long was recognized for consistently demonstrating care, kindness, and excellent judgement. For large-scale projects, he offers logistical expertise as well as considerable knowledge of collections and the library management system. On top of this behind-the-scenes work, Long also provides exemplary public service, helping patrons both in person at Hayden and online, approaching it “with kindness and vast knowledge built over years of service.”
User Service and Support
The Open Access (OA) Update Team of Laura Hanscom, Katie Zimmerman, and Katharine Dunn was praised for their proactive, flexible, and collaborative approach to working with academic departments and library colleagues. For example, when the NIH and federal government changed OA policy requirements for publishers, this team proactively presented potential barriers and workarounds for OS publishing. The team also developed a webpage and written guides about OA policies and processes for faculty throughout MIT, ensuring their support reached the widest possible audience.
Tough Questions/Critical Thinkers
Director of Copyright Strategy Katie Zimmerman is described by colleagues as an insightful, inquisitive thinker who pushes the Libraries not only to espouse values but to enact them. She is a calm presence through thorny rights and access issues, making materials accessible within a legal and ethical framework. Zimmerman is instrumental in furthering the Libraries’ open access goals, using her broad expertise and critical thinking skills to ensure library materials have as vast a reach as possible.
Results, Outcome, and Productivity
The DSpace CRIS Implementation Team of De Lee, Sadie Roosa, Carl Jones, and Cynthia Schwarz was recognized for their work on a complex logistical project whose goal is to increase access to information and accelerate discovery and use of DSpace@MIT repository materials. This work involved critically examining internal and shared workflows with MIT community collaborators, developing new workflows with community input, and improving the infrastructure of the institutional repository through enhancements to metadata, system integration, and user experience.
Unsung Heroes
The IDLA evening team of Caitlin Canfield, Christopher Tam, and Lucy Oster provides excellent customer service while facilitating access to collections and solving problems that arise at times when students and faculty often need help the most. Described by nominators as “amazing humans and colleagues,” this group responds to situations in the evenings and over the weekend, when few library staff are on campus. Whether assisting an event organizer with a last-minute need, helping a faculty member look for an urgently needed book five minutes before closing, or mitigating space issues before they become emergencies, this group consistently rises to the challenge.
Innovation, Creativity, and Problem Solving
Unified Search aims to improve how MIT Libraries users discover, access, and make sense of information across systems and collections. The project team behind the new search displayed innovation by overlapping initiatives into one coordinated effort, made creative use of shared staff capacity across multiple teams, and kept work moving through shifting scope, technical uncertainty, evolving priorities, and tight timelines. The project team includes Darcy Duke, Caitlin Robles, Jeremy Prevost, Graham Hukill, Eric Hanson, Jonavelle Cuervo, Dave Janelle, Isra Jazairi, Matt Bernhardt, Melissa Feiden, and Dhruti Bhagat-Conway
Collaboration and Inclusion
Phoebe Ayers, Librarian for EECS, IDSS, and Mathematics, demonstrates confident, steady, and gentle collegiality through instruction, data management consultations, reference support, and enthusiastic presence at community events. Colleagues note that they have learned so much just by observing her teaching or using her teaching materials, which she openly shares. Ayers’ wealth of institutional knowledge makes her a great campus tour guide and a valued contributor to several key library committees.
Community Building and Engagement
Jana Dambrogio and Ariana Rutledge Begin of the Wunsch Conservation Lab have regularly opened their doors to staff, students, and faculty, facilitating joyful and informative class visits, lectures, and workshops for the whole community and making important connections with campus partners. In addition to their stellar conservation work for special collections, the team also provided invaluable support and care for many other collections vital to our users and helped mount beautiful exhibitions. With their unique blend of art and craft, mind and hand, the inclusive environment they have created is quintessentially MIT.
Christine Moulen “Good Citizen” Award
This award remembers Christine Moulen ‘94, an MIT Libraries colleague of more than 20 years, and is presented every year to staff who exhibit some of her remarkable qualities, such as generosity, willingness to support others, and sharing expertise to improve effectiveness. Administrative Assistant Aya Fujita Ross was lauded for her leadership, generosity with her time and expertise, willingness to help teammates, and her intelligence. Whether organizing an international symposium, supporting the Distinctive Collections’ public services team, or working behind-the-scenes to make MIT Reads possible, Ross always goes above and beyond to assist her colleagues and support the MIT community. One colleague commented, “Aya is the flap of the butterfly wing that radiates goodness, effects change, and makes working at the Libraries an engaging and positive experience for us all.”
