McDermott Library’s chief curator and a multimedia service manager were honored as the recipients of the 2011 Ethel Ward-McLemore Awards for Library Excellence.

Paul Oelkrug  and Michelle Sancen accepted their awards from Dr. Ellen Safley, director of UT Dallas Libraries, at a recent banquet.

Oelkrug is the head of McDermott Library’s Special Collections, which houses the History of Aviation Collection, the Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library, and the Belsterling Botanical Collection. In recent years he has guided the department in widely publicized events such as the CIA symposium about Air America and the televised 9/11 panels of pilots and air traffic controllers who provided first-hand accounts of Sept. 11, 2001. He came to UT Dallas in 2002 as a volunteer project archivist and became curator in 2003. He was named head of Special Collections in 2007.

Sancen came to McDermott Library in 2005 as an entry-level library assistant. In 2006 she became multimedia service manager and stacks maintenance supervisor. She serves on the university’s Staff Council and that group’s communications committee. She also conducts Spanish language tours for incoming freshmen.

The late Ethel McLemore worked in geophysics and conducted research in the Geological Information Library from an office in McDermott Library. Impressed by the professionalism, knowledge and concern of the library staff, she created an endowment in 1989 for the awards presented in her name.

The 2011 McLemore Awards committee consisted of Jach Ross, Susan Fisher, Susie Kutchi, Jennifer Gordon and Shanelle Frye.