By Joanne Quinn

Calling it a “reaffirmation of my love of Villanova and my work,” Research Support Librarian Susan Ottignon received the Facultas Award for spring 2012. Amid the clamor of the University’s annual faculty and staff community picnic on May 22, a “flabbergasted” Ottignon accepted the biannual honor from the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, ’75 A&S, University President, and Thomas Way, PhD, Computing Sciences professor and co-chairperson of the Awards subcommittee of the Committee on Faculty.

The Facultas Award was created in 1995 to focus attention on the “vital, yet often unnoticed, services essential to the smooth and efficient functioning of the Villanova community, especially the academic faculty.”

A Falvey librarian since 1992, Ottignon works closely with the Romance Languages and Literatures faculty, recommending books of interest, soliciting  requests, working with foreign language vendors and building a strong collection that supports the graduate and undergraduate curricula.

Ottignon also loves being the ‘good places to start’ librarian, as featured on the Library’s Subject Guide pages. As a generalist, she relishes the thrill of the hunt and theorizes that “students are the true specialists – they know what they are looking for – I just lead them to the water.”

University Librarian Joe Lucia says the award is a fitting tribute to Ottignon’s service to faculty over many years at the Library: “Sue is the consummate library professional who is always committed to going the extra mile in supporting students and faculty in their learning and research endeavors.”

When asked what she said to Father Peter that elicited such a large laugh from the University President while he was presenting her plaque and gift certificate, Ottignon laughed: “I have no inkling what I said!  But it was a joyful, sweet moment!”

Ottignon, a Hackensack, N.J., native, received her master’s degree in library science from Drexel University and holds a graduate degree in history and an undergraduate degree in Spanish language and literature. She credits the support of the library staff, particularly the Interlibrary Loan and Resource Management departments, for her success.

She enjoys reading light Christian romance novels and historical biographies – in English – after a long day of multilingual academic rigor.

Sue Ottignon shares a proud legacy of service with other Falvey Facultas recipients, which include the late Therese Dougherty (1996), Bente Polites (2004), Phylis Wright (2006), Domenick Liberato (2007) and Barbara Quintiliano (2008).

Also contributing: Alice Bampton, Gerald Dierkes, Judy Olsen; photography by Paola Nogueras