Internships
Real World Experience
Posted July 2, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
When I was looking at grad schools and deciding where to apply, the things I was really looking at were the program’s requirements: GPA, recommendations, essays, etc. I didn’t delve too far into what the different programs actually offered in the way of classes, since before I started library school and understood a lot of the skills and terminology, the course descriptions and requirements meant next to nothing to me. Still, one of the things that really stuck out for me about the Simmons GSLIS program was the emphasis on internships. Most of the programs that I looked at didn’t require any sort of internship or real world experience, but Simmons requires two – two! – internships to graduate. To be perfectly honest, that seemed like a nightmare. All I wanted to do was go to class, do the work, eventually graduate and then start worrying about getting professional work in actual archives. I didn’t want to have to attempt to work in archives before I even had my degree. Once I got in to…
Corporate Archive
Posted January 30, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
I work in a corporate archive. When I took LIS438 (Introduction to Archival Methods and Services) last spring, one of the questions someone asked me was what the main difference is between a corporate archive and a historical archive, besides the obvious fact that the corporate archive only hosts documents pertaining to the institution I work for. The one I can think of, off the top of my head, is that our legal department gets to determine how documents should come to the archive, and what shape they should be in when they get there. One of the first things I learned while I was doing my first archival internship at the Worcester Historical Museum was just how much I should appreciate the lovely uniformity of the records that I got every day in the corporate archive – everything organized and arranged just so before they even got to me. Of course, at the historical archive there was always the excitement of opening a box and having only the vaguest of ideas what might be…
Not Your Typical Reference Librarian – Or How I Found My Career
Posted January 15, 2014 by Carolyn Lucas
2014 just started – and I already feel like we’re in the middle of the year! This time of the year is always so busy, because you’re turning over a new leaf, trying to develop all of these habits – and also attempting to remember to re-vaccinate the dog, to take the car in to be inspected, and so much more. But the biggest thing that I am excited about for 2014 is that I am now fully employed – in an amazing position that I am so excited about. I have spoken in this blog before about the traditional library position, and how I just don’t seem to fit that mold. In several of the classes there is talk about other types of libraries that one could make a career out of, including law libraries and medical libraries. For me, the records management class consisted primarily of talking about small local-government records management – but all of these subsets really only scratch the surface of the types of jobs that exist. For me, I…
Internship Time
Posted October 6, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
Tomorrow afternoon, I start my internship requirement for LIS 438, Introduction to Archival Methods and Services. For those of you who don’t know, each student enrolled in LIS 438 needs to complete a 60 hour internship project. While the list of potential internship sites was numerous, each student was told to select just three potential locations and from there, one of the three would eventually be chosen. Well, after waiting anxiously, two weeks ago I was finally given my placement; the Cambridge Historical Commission. As someone very interested in history, I couldn’t be more happy with my placement. Tucked away in Cambridge, the Commission is an institution concerned with preserving and chronicling the development of the city. Although on the smaller side, the Commission is filled with photographs, registries of those who have lived in the city, and other items related to the city’s history. As for the people who work there, they seemed super excited to have another Simmons student working with them for the semester. Fortunately for me, I couldn’t have shown up at…
Learning Outside the Classroom
Posted July 13, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
This summer has been hot, rainy, and is going by fast. And did I mention busy? Yeah, it’s been busy. This summer, as I’ve mentioned in a few previous blog posts, I’m doing a records management internship for Biogen Idec, a biopharmaceutical company located in Kendall Square in Cambridge. And I can already say, just because I’m not taking official classes this summer does not mean the learning has stopped… I find myself every now and again marveling at how I ended up here. When I initially applied to library school, I never thought I would have the opportunity to work in a place like Biogen. It’s one of the aspects that we don’t cover too much on the archives track -archives includes records management, and records management isn’t just for city planning or traditional libraries. Corporations (especially since the Enron debacle) have been tightening the leash on records management. And in this case, more regulations just so happens to equal more jobs. Two of my lovely new co-workers are actually Simmons alumni, which not…
The Fairbanks House
Posted July 10, 2013 by Katie Olivo
This summer, in addition to working a full-time job, I’m working as an intern at the Fairbanks House on Fridays and Saturdays. I’m not taking this internship for credit – I decided not to take any classes this summer as I meant to devote more time to beginning my thesis, but I wanted to make sure my archival skills stayed fresh and if I could land an internship, it would look great on my resume. Well, not only will this experience look great on my resume, but it is quickly turning into something I look forward to each week. I worried that working longer hours Monday through Thursday and then going to an internship on Friday and Saturday would leave me worn out and wishing for more free summer days. This is definitely not the case. Going to the Fairbanks House does not feel like work – I’m having fun, and I’m finding that perhaps working at a historic house is more along the lines of what I want to do with my career. Why?…
Site Visit
Posted July 1, 2013 by lazylibrarian
I went on my first site visit on Friday. A site visit is a visit to a prospective archives donor to see the size/condition/subject matter of a collection to see if it’s appropriate for the archives before accepting the responsibility to move the entire collection. This visit was half site visit, half social call since the Cambridge History Room had already accepted the collection from this donor and we were only going down to pick up two more boxes she had found. We were to meet the donor at her house in Marshfield, about a 2 hour ride from Cambridge. Once we got off the highway into the little cape towns, it was gorgeous! All those trees! Boston is a lot greener than some cities I’ve been in but you forget the amount of foliage that lies undisturbed right beyond its borders. We saw old farm houses, little town markets, and even a few horses. Our directions, written by the donor (who is an author), told us to take such and such a road “winding…
Busy, busy, busy!
Posted June 20, 2013 by lazylibrarian
You’d think summer would be less stressful….but no. I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off. New job, new internship, new apartment, new bank account, even a new boyfriend. Breathe in, breathe out. But my internship is so much fun! I’m in the midst of planning two exhibits, both based on the same collection. Today, I worked on the second one which is going to trace how a children’s book is published since we have all the steps represented in the collection. Notes, contracts, illustrations, mock-ups, royalty checks! So cool! But I also got to see some other sides of the archives today. Wednesday is our “late” day. The archive is open from 5-9 instead of the regular earlier time frame so that people who work full-time can have a chance to stop by. That makes it a little more busy than usual. Today we had three patrons in the room at the same time! That might not sound too amazing, but the manuscript portion of the collection is very small since…
Designing the Ultimate Exhibit
Posted June 7, 2013 by lazylibrarian
It’s the age old question….how do you design an exhibit on a budget that appeals to both adults and children while educating them about a subject? Well I’m having my first go at answering it. At my current internship at the Cambridge History Room in the Cambridge Public Library, I am taking the materials and knowledge I have gathered from my processing of the John Langstaff collection and trying to turn it into something that will interest and engage the public. The biggest issue is that most of Langstaff’s collection is paperwork (largely unreadable paperwork I might add) and his greatest contribution to the area is in theater and music, both things that are difficult to showcase in the middle of a library on a budget. But considering that I did a conference presentation on integrating archives in museums via technology, I am not ready to give up yet. I have been able to create QR codes to link to some wonderful video clips of Langstaff and his performances. However, not everyone has a smart…
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Posted May 29, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
The summer is always a great time to capitalize on opportunities that escape during the cold, hard, rainy winter season. For me, I ended up getting a summer internship in an aspect of GSLIS that I had never before considered – records management. While I am super excited just to have an internship – and a paying one at that – I am even more excited to try out what is the “hors d’oeuvre” of the meal of one’s career (sorry, this metaphor is kind of falling apart…). I’m pretty excited to be trying out this new career path, and I have super high hopes (expectations) that this will end up being THE NEW CAREER FOR ME. I have very little expectation that this career won’t work out. But it is the last in a long line of internships that I have tried in my still juvenile career – I have worked in financial planning, in support and administration, in publishing. I have worked at Harley Davidson Motor Company, law firms, and for various academic…