Main Body
3 Supervision and Mentorship
Interns and supervisors meet weekly with additional check-ins as needed. The Shain Library staff is committed to fostering a work environment where interns are respected and feel free to ask questions and make suggestions.
Intern Viewpoint
Intern Viewpoint
“Before I began my internship, I told my internship supervisor that I’d love the opportunity to experience as much as I could of the academic library environment. As someone who’s only prior experience was working in a public library, I was excited to try to learn a little bit of everything! Everyone I worked with was absolutely amazing at letting me try something new, whenever the opportunity arose. I was able to dabble in archival work, book conservation, LibGuide making, cataloguing, and more. I’m so grateful that I was given the chance to explore during my time at Shain.” – Hana Tanabe, intern fall 2022
Intern Viewpoint
“My internship supervisor brilliantly helped me to learn more about the library by including me in faculty and staff workshop sessions. I was pulled into the exciting prospect of how academic librarians work with faculty to provide students with foundational knowledge and research support. It feels incredibly impactful to have been given a seat at the table as an emerging LIS professional in conversations about research, writing, teaching, and learning.” – Elizabeth Rannenberg, intern summer 2023
Although the internship is primarily supported by the Research Support team, interns are given the opportunity to work in Special Collections & Archives and to speak with librarians who work in other areas of the library such as Access Services or Collections Management.
The intern is encouraged to browse job sites and take time during shifts to apply to positions. Librarians will edit resumes and help draft cover letters.
The intern participates in a mock interview in the final week of the internship in order to prepare for upcoming job searches.
Mock Interview Questions
- What interests you in working in this library?
- Describe a time when you had to complete a project on a team. What were the challenges to success and how did you overcome them?
- What is your experience with social media? As a librarian providing service to our community, how might you use social media in your work?
- How has working on digitization projects shaped your views around providing access to and preserving library collections?
- Can you talk about ethical and/or privacy issues with digital preservation? What factors would you take into consideration when deciding to make something accessible?
- Share an experience where you applied a best practice in digital preservation. How did that help the project?
- Specific technology skills are not necessary for this position, but a willingness to learn new tools such as Adobe or WordPress will be required for some projects. Please describe a new technology tool you have learned recently and what was the experience like for you?
- Please share with us what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you and why they’re important.
