May 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Spotlight

Libraries at your fingertips

Vanessa De La Cruz, right, of the Government Affairs Office discusses some enhancements to a database with Dave Moir of IST Control, Inventory, and Configuration Applications. Photo by Richard Robinson

Ever had to manually look for a long-lost memo, a policy, report, or invoice? Then you know firsthand how time consuming these searches can be. Fortunately for most Laboratory employees, such labor-intensive efforts are a thing of the past.

Finding documents and information on the job is a lot easier now, thanks to information technology and professionals like Dave Moir of IST Control, Inventory, and Configuration Applications and his colleagues in the Information Systems and Technology Division. They create the interface, hooks, links, and paths to the data that are critical to running an organization as large and diverse as Los Alamos.

"My colleagues and I put together and support document management libraries around the Laboratory," said Moir. "This includes developing forms and library structures using off-the-shelf software that we customize to meet the needs of the customer."

Moir's work includes calendar development, document storage, and task control. He and his colleagues also create groupware that helps organizations improve their productivity and better manage their data assets.

Success comes in collaborating with customers to meet their needs, noted Moir. "Probably the most important thing we do is communicate with our customers, and because of that, I believe the most important part of my job is keeping people happy," said Moir.

Chances are most employees have seen the work that Moir and his peers produce. For example, the Laboratory's Policy Page, recently judged a DOE complex best practice, was developed by Moir's team in IST Division.

As with any other library or repository of information, new things always are being added while others that no longer are relevant or applicable are removed. It's a job that keeps Moir and his coworkers busy doing what they do best: helping customers.

"We are a service organization, and the things that keep us in business are the work we do for others," said Moir. "The highlight of my time at the Lab has been working with those customers and the relationships that have grown out of that collaboration. After seven years, I still get a rush when something works."

-Ed Vigil