Congratulations to Taranjit (Taran) Singh Dhillon, Public Services & Collections Management Assistant at UBC Asian Library, on receiving a 2024 President’s Service Award for Excellence. The President’s Service Awards for Excellence are presented each year to up to five outstanding staff members across the university. The PSAE acknowledges staff who have made outstanding contributions to UBC, and who excel in their personal achievements.
In his role at the Asian Library, Taran is often the first point of contact for branch visitors.
“Working at the Asian Library allows me to serve and connect with students, faculty, staff and community members from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. My daily interactions with them makes each day rewarding. Our library truly serves as a bridge between the Eastern and Western languages and cultures, and I feel blessed every day to be a part of this vibrant environment,” says Taran.
For Taran, working at the Asian Library has been both an enjoyable and fulfilling experience: “I have been encouraged to experiment with ideas and creativity, and participate in various projects, all while being motivated to continuously learn and share knowledge.”
Among his many notable contributions, Taran participates in coordinating university cultural events such as Diwali and community events such as Kids Take Over UBC. He spends considerable time learning about other cultures and generously shares his knowledge to make UBC a more inclusive and respectful place of learning, teaching and work.
“What I enjoy most about working at UBC Asian Library is its people and location. Over the past five years, it has been a pleasure to work under the exceptional leadership of Shirin Eshghi Furuzawa, alongside talented and very supportive librarians Jing Liu, Sarbjit Randhawa, Tomoko Kitayama Yen and Saeyong Kim, and dedicated and exceptional colleagues, Shaun Wang and Phoebe Chow. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the staff and faculty members of the Asian Studies department for their unwavering support of the library, which has been instrumental in fostering a nurturing academic environment,” says Taran, who calls UBC Asian Library one of the most beautiful buildings on UBC’s Vancouver campus.
“We are so pleased to hear of Taran receiving this reward! We are very happy to see how much our users appreciate the efforts and contributions of an amazing team member,” says Shirin Eshghi Furuzawa, Head of Asian Library.
In 2023, Taran was also recognized as a recipient of the UBC Library Innovation Award, which celebrates library staff who have demonstrated new ways of performing existing processes or who have introduced new beneficial library services or programs.
Learn more about the 2024 President’s Service Awards for Excellence recipients.