2024 Sastavickas Scholarship:

Joseph and Viola Sastavickas and their children used the library for many years. An endowment in their honor makes possible an annual scholarship, Learn about the 2024 recipient below.

Current open position: Part time Circulation Assistant

• Part-time Circulation Assistant job posting. View the full job description.

Title: Circulation Assistant
Hours: FLSA Non-Exempt, Part-Time, various part time hours including nights, weekends, and filling in as needed
Salary: FY23 $18.36 – $20.00 hourly

General Summary:

The purpose of this position is to perform responsible work in providing circulation desk coverage and assistance; ensures that library patrons receive positive, efficient and pleasant service; all other related work as required. The Circulation Assistant is responsible for maintaining and improving upon the efficiency and effectiveness of all areas under their direction and control.

Essential Job Functions:

• Regularly in charge of public service at the Circulation Desk.
• Performs circulation responsibilities according to approved procedures e.g. registering patrons for library cards, checking in and out library materials, processing reserves and other requests, processing interlibrary loans, routing items in from and out to network libraries, calculating and collecting fines for lost/damaged materials, and processing overdue notice.
• Assists circulation department head in coordination and communication of library procedures within the Minuteman Library Network.
• Communicates library policies
• Maintains an accurate patron database with associated information and status records.
• Completes library patron registration in Minuteman Library Network database.
• Maintains paper records as necessary.
• Keeps newspapers organized and current in wing. Assists in local and network patron requests received through automated network, telephone and in person.
• Performs similar or related work as required, directed or as situation dictates.

Minimum Entrance Requirements:

• High School diploma required. Associates degree or higher education is preferred.
• Excellent public relations skills, customer service and technology skills.
• Knowledge of standard office procedures, practices, forms, and equipment.
• Familiarity with automated library systems and related applications.
• Ability to communicate effectively with people of all ages, including children, young adults, caregivers, and seniors.
• Excellent ability to communicate orally and in writing in English required. Proficiencies in other languages strongly preferred, especially Spanish, other Indo-European languages, and Asian and Pacific Island languages

*This posting is not meant to be exhaustive of all duties and requirements. Complete job description is available online.

2024 Viola Sastavickas Scholarship Awarded to: Elizabeth Coughlin

Elizabeth (center) is pictured with Library Director, Clayton Cheever (far left), and 2024–2027 Chair of the Library Trustees, George Michalec; and at right with Library Trustee Donna Montgomery, and Kate Tigue, Head of Children’s Services and Chapter Chair of the AFSCME Library Unit at the Morrill Memorial Library.

Joseph and Viola Sastavickas and their children used the library for many years. In the last years before Viola’s death they received service in their home from the Homebound Deliveries Department of the library. When Mrs. Sastavickas passed away in 2006, her children made a generous donation to the library to endow a perpetual $500 scholarship in memory of their mother. Additional familial support has raised the annual scholarship to $1,000. According to her daughter, Kathy Sastavickas, the scholarship is "a fitting tribute to our beautiful mother and to the library and staff which treated her with great respect and affection."

This year a committee reviewed the applications submitted and selected Elizabeth Coughlin to receive the Viola Sastavickas Scholarship for its eighteenth year. This committee included the 2023-2024 Chairman of the Library Board of Trustees, Donna Montgomery; the Chapter Chair of the AFSCME Library Unit, Kate Tigue; and Library Director, Clayton Cheever.

Director Cheever noted, "Elizabeth is an inspiring third-year student at Harvard Law School. A lover of books and justice, they have distinguished themself academically, graduating magna cum laude from Boston College, demonstrated their commitment to service with an urban education fellowship with Americorps, and dedicated their life to create a fair and just world."

This scholarship will help offset the expenses Elizabeth is incurring in their academic journey. As a volunteer at the Morrill Memorial Library, Elizabeth commenced their public service experience, and they frequent the library when they return to Norwood to visit their parents. Clayton Cheever enthusiastically supported them, "Elizabeth is a perfect candidate for this award and will put it to great use in their studies."