Quantum² : InfoStars : Michelle A. Burylo

Michelle A. Burylo

Air Products and Chemicals Inc.'s Michelle A. Burylo

Michelle Burylo says she is shameless and fearless when it comes to promoting the services Information & Library Services Department (ILS) at Air Products and Chemicals Inc., a supplier of industrial gases and chemicals. Michelle continues to bring the same determined enthusiasm to her work that she did when she joined Air Products in 1975 to establish the company's Corporate Business Information Center (CBIC). It's her tenacity in advocating the value of information services that has earned Michelle the title of InfoStar.

"One of my most important roles is to be an advocate for my company's information needs," says Michelle. "I spend a substantial amount of time testing and evaluating new products, providing feedback, communicating desired enhancements and reporting issues to our service providers."

Today, the CBIC is part of the ILS and provides services and solutions for the company's executives and business groups, including reference services, analysis, consulting, information agent support and development of various end-user subject guides for the ILS Web site. Michelle believes it is equally important to have tools that help the ILS staff do their jobs efficiently as it is to provide solutions to help the employees they support. As part of her responsibilities, she coaches the ILS staff in business reference and search techniques and collection development and marketing.

During her 30-year career at Air Products, Michelle has been a leader in promoting information services. Among her achievements, include holding an InfoFair to showcase the tools and services of 18 of our vendor partners, which was attended by 443 employees; creating the template ILS uses to evaluate new sources/services; developing a process ILS uses to conduct focus groups; winning the company's internal equivalent of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; and leading the process for the ILS Gold Nugget Award, given by our department to employees whose creative or effective use of information has resulted in quantifiable business value for the company.