1. Library Internships
with a Brooklyn Accent:
A Variety of Hosts,
a Diversity of Participants,
and Opportunities for Collaboration
Beth Evans
Brooklyn College Library
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, CUNY
2. Abstract
Libraries in Brooklyn, New York may represent the perfect coming together of what the New York
Times has described as a profession for hipsters,1 in what the New York Observer has called the
hippest borough in NYC. 2 Not only is Brooklyn a hotbed for rising talent in the arts and music, but it
has provided a training ground for librarian-hopefuls and others considering working in a library.
One of the advantages for a library of being in the New York City metropolitan area is access to a
diverse population of potential interns, coming from library schools and from other sources. For
interns, the variety of possible library work sites in the City can’t be beat. Brooklyn libraries of all
types -- academic, public, special and school-- have welcomed interns into their organizations.
Internships have provided both an opportunity for those not in the profession to learn about the
work of libraries and for the hosts to benefit from the energy and creativity of newcomers who look
at libraries with fresh eyes and new ideas. Moreover, opportunities for collaboration abound in a
city where major cultural and educational institutions are a subway ride away. Discover some of
the library internship programs in New York City’s most populous borough. Listen as they speak to
you with a “Brooklyn accent.”
• 1http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxn
nlx=1351803669-MTpXnVAalgGVsa+jgrrtWA
• 2http://observer.com/2012/07/mta-may-give-hipsters-a-bus-to-traverse-over-williamsburg-bridge/
3. Problem Statement
What does a library need to consider in order
to run a successful internship program, with
any accent?
4. Steps to Success
• Get organized
• Recruit
• Get down to business
• Finish up
• Stay in touch
5. Get Organized
• Plan the scope, length, number of interns you are
willing to host at a time
• Consider a collaboration
• Seek funding (IMLS)
• Design an orientation
• Create a syllabus
• Recruit & screen applicants
• Keep track with a spreadsheet
• Pass on responsibilities to the interns themselves
6. Recruit
• Outreach to library schools
– Five library schools are sources in the New York City area (Queens College, CUNY, St. John’s U,
Palmer School, LIU, Pratt Institute, Rutgers U)
– Consider reaching beyond the local library schools
• students studying elsewhere home for summer break (SUNY Albany)
• students living locally but studying through a distance learning program (Clarion U,
Syracuse U)
– Contact listservs targeting students
– Ask library schools to hang your flyer
• Outreach at events (conferences, meetings, etc.)
• Build a library and they will find you
– Interns find you on the Internet or through other means (UWI, Stuttgart, Shanghai)
– Interns tell others about their experience
• Consider non-library school students
– Internship program at your larger institution
– High school students (on campus; schools with internship programs)
– Career changers
• Consider post-degree professionals
7. Get Down to Business
• Public Services
– Reference desk shadowing
– Chat reference staffing
– Class instruction: observation and leadership
• Technical Services
– Digitization
• Unit visits
• Meetings – department, institution, partner institutions, library
organizations
• Special projects – short term and long term
• Mentorships & pairing with subject specialists – within and outside
the institution
• Professional activities (e.g., attending and or presenting at
conferences, publishing)
8. The Four Sites
Brooklyn College Library
Madison High School Library
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Museum Library
9. Brooklyn College Library Internship Program
• 1994 - No history of internship program before my employment as an intern
• 1996 – Library school of the University of the West Indies, Mona, approaches
Brooklyn College Library to host students doing a required practicum
• 1998 - The internship program in the Brooklyn College Library goes local hosting a
single library school student
• 1999 – First high school student employed as an intern
• 2001 – First hosting of intern doing practicum for degree from
Universitätsbibliothek Stuttgart
• 2003 – Three month hosting of visiting librarian from Shanghai Jiao Tong University
(runs concurrent with one week hosting of visiting Russian librarians as part of the
Open World Leadership Program )
• 2006 – Multi-intern cohort reaches new high of three interns simultaneously
employed
• 2009 – Intern cohort of seven (peak) employed in a single semester
• 2012 – Six interns currently employed
10. Brooklyn College Library Internship Syllabus, p 1-2
Brooklyn College Library Internship Spreadsheet
11. Special Projects
• Myspace/Facebook development
• Organizing the philosophy department
library
• Reference collection weeding
• Multi-lingual information literacy modules
• MLK Literacy Project
• Children’s book author talk for School of
Education
• E-book carousels and web page
enhancements
• Mobile web services development
• Pre-medical student online workbook
• Government Documents training
• Disability services training for librarians
• Random Act of Culture production
12. Madison High School
Internship Program
• Student, who had worked as a library monitor,
initiated internship
• Had finished all of her Madison High School
credits early and wanted to do an internship as
her senior year work
• Attended City-as-School to take advantage of
internship opportunities and the formal program
• Asked Madison HS to arrange for a joint
internship with Brooklyn College Library and
Madison HS, since Madison HS librarian had a
contact at BC
13. Brooklyn Public Library
Multicultural Internship Program (MIP)
• Began in 2009
• BPL received a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services
• Reflects the commitment of the library to serving the needs of the
diverse people of Brooklyn and to providing a quality learning
experiences for young people
• High school students from throughout New York City
• Students complete 30-50 hours of training, visit research libraries
throughout the city, and spend time with mentors in branches
throughout the borough assisting with programming, public
service, electronic databases, community outreach, archives and
special collections.
• For more on the MIP, visit the program blog at
http://misc.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/mipmap/
14. Brooklyn Museum Internship Program
• The Brooklyn Museum has a robust internship program in many departments of the institution that have included students
in high school through graduate school
• The museum library, through Diedre Lawrence, has collaborated with Pratt through an IMLS grant, but has also hosted post-
MLS interns and retirees
• The library internship application process is competitive (usually two out of five are chosen each year) for a full year
internship
• Most library interns have an undergraduate degree in art history
• The museum library looks to see that the interns have the pre-requisite course work to do library work such as digital
scanning, inventorying, processing, copyright, but their individual interests of the interns are also taken into account
• Pratt negotiates the credits granted and provides a stipend
• Not all interns are planning on working in art libraries; some want to work in academic libraries, whereas others have wound
up working for art collectors, in a fashion archive and other non-traditional positions.
• Lawrence would like to broaden the collaborations beyond Pratt
18. The Interns
Post-MLS
Undergraduates
Career Changers
19. Conclusion: Benefits for All!
• Interns
– Gain broad experience (in contrast to student
workers with more limited responsibilities and
opportunities to learn)
– Build a resume
– Get a sense of desired career direction
– In cohorts, gain from peers and mentor others
– Acquire life-long mentors
– Balance ideals of theory with the realities of
practice
20. Benefits for the Library
• Libraries
– Interns are eager employees, eager to learn and eager to work
– Interns bring new ideas, fresh from school
– Interns are not constrained by job descriptions
– Interns may provide the extra needed employees for short-term
projects
– Interns may take on projects that can be passed on from one
group to another
– Interns may diversify the workplace
– Libraries contribute to the profession by offering individuals
before, during and after undergoing a formal library science
education a unique opportunity to appreciate and participate in
a real library work experience
