Swarthmore Libraries Internship

Welcome!

Librarianship is a career often reached through a circuitous journey, the decision to become an information professional happening after other paths have been explored. The goal of the Swarthmore Libraries Internship are to introduce undergraduate students to the field of library and information science through weekly seminar-style meetings, discussions with professionals, and field trips. Together we explore connections between librarianship, career options, and pressing social issues.

Our ever-evolving curriculum, informed by current events and social justice issues, explores how librarians and archivists are often key stakeholders in these movements.  Interns will have the opportunity to research a library or librarian engaged in critical librarianship or social justice issues and present what they learned to the class in the form of a mini-lesson. They may also opt to do an independent project which will provide hands-on experience in some aspect of librarianship. 

Over the course of the spring semester we will explore various aspects of the profession, from its history and evolution to cataloging to digital scholarship, as you can see in the sample syllabus below. We meet on Friday afternoons from 1-4pm, though field trip days may be a bit longer. Interns are paid for their time in class as well as the time spent preparing for it. Applications for the Spring 2025 Internship will be accepted in November 2024. Please apply for 'Library Intern' in JobX. 

Syllabus & Field Trips (example from 2019)
February 2 | Introductions + history
February 9 | Collection development, acquisitions + cataloging
     Guests: Amy McColl, Assistant Director for Collections;
                  Donna Fournier, Performing Arts Librarian
February 16 |  Digital scholarship
     Guests: Nabil Kashyap, Digital Initiatives and Scholarship Librarian;
                  Roberto Vargas, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies Librarian
February 23 | Information ethics
     Guest: Simon Elichko, Social Sciences Librarian
March 2 |  Paleography + letterlocking​
March 9 | Artists’ Books
     Guests: Amy McColl, Head of Collections;
                  Susan Dreher, Visual Resources & Initiatives Librarian
          - - - Spring Break - - -
March 23 |  Friends Historical Library + Peace Collection
     Guests: Celia Caust-Ellenbogen, Archive Associate;
                   Wendy Chmielewski, Peace Collection Curator
March 30 | FIELD TRIP
     U. Penn’s Kislak Center, Fisher Fine Arts Library, and Penn Museum
April 6 | Scholarly communications + Research & Instruction
April 13 | Secret spaces tour + #critlib
     Guests: Amy McColl; Alison Masterpasqua, Access & Lending Supervisor;
                  Simon Elichko
April 20 | FIELD TRIP
     Philly Soapbox
April 27 | Graduate school + career panel
     Guest: Maria Aghazarian, Scholarly Communications Specialist;
                Sara Powell, Research Library, Beinecke Library, Yale University
May 4 | Rare Book Room + End-of-Term Celebration

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