In the five years he's been at San Bernardino Valley College, Ron Hastings has transformed the school's library into a place accessible for all students and staff members. 
  
As director of library and learning support services, Hastings has gone above and beyond to make improvements to this educational hub. He has devoted himself to this career — before coming to SBVC, Hastings, who grew up in Perris and lives near Devore, was a library director at a boarding school for 15 years. 
  
The SBVC library was completed in 2003, and Hastings has helped modernize it, bringing in new furniture and carpeting and rearranging tens of thousands of books and materials to create spaces for students to study and meet. He also filled two classified positions that were open for a decade, easing the work load of library staff and making more people available to help users.  
  
"Our mission is to create sophisticated, discriminating consumers of information — a skill that is ever more critical today," he says. 
  
His dedication to the library and can-do spirit was rewarded last spring, when Hastings received SBVC's Academic Success and Learning Achievement Award. He doesn't work hard for the accolades, though — he does it for the campus community. 
  
"My favorite part of the job is seeing students, so many of whom are first-generation college students, excited about pursuing higher education," Hastings says.