Library Worklife

Volume 2, No. 11 • November 2005

Recruitment

Internships As Powerful Tools for Library Recruitment

By Casey Schacher

As many librarians are reaching retirement, recruitment is becoming an increasingly important topic. Library and Information Science programs face heavy competition from other educational programs. Often promising less pay than other careers, librarianship is overshadowed by more financially rewarding, better funded and highly advertised professions. Yet those in the field know the personal and professional rewards of library work. Because of this, current librarians and library staff offer the greatest potential for recruiting future librarians. In fact, their expertise and willingness to share knowledge make them perfect for the job.

So how can librarians come in contact with students to facilitate interest in librarianship? Perhaps one of the most beneficial methods of promotion is hosting internships. Internships expose students to the library community and can powerfully impact their career directions. Often students, at the high school and college level, do not know about librarianship as a possible career choice. Internships offer opportunities for these students to learn about and become connected with the profession.

My personal experience as an intern provides evidence of the potential power to create interest in librarianship through internships. After completing an internship with the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), I have now entered my first year of an MLIS program. Once an English major aspiring to be a—star reporter? great American novelist? deliciously moody poet?—I have since decided to pursue a library career. Prior to the internship, I knew nothing about the occupation. In fact, I did not even know that librarians needed masters’ degrees. Nor did I know how librarians benefit the general population, or how librarianship offers endless opportunities to become involved and proactive. During my experience at ALA-APA, I learned more than enough to realize that librarianship is a noble and rewarding field that directly impacts the world.

Several methods can be employed to ensure successful and mutually beneficial internship experiences that help to recruit future librarians. There were key elements to my internship that eventually led to my pursuit of an MLIS. By incorporating these techniques, librarians and library workers will improve the quality of an intern’s experience.

Internships should offer students an opportunity to accomplish valuable work.

Providing meaningful work is the best way to create interest in the field and impress students. The Galt Global Review notes that interns prefer challenge and exposure to new things. "Students want to feel that they are a part of the organization and contributing something of value during the time that they are working," states Linda Gully, Assistant Director of the BCom Careers and Co-op at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.¹ Assigning fundamental responsibilities to interns also helps to ensure that they take both their internships as well as their future professions seriously.

My internship allowed me to explore the field of librarianship through hands-on involvement in important tasks. Writing newsletter articles that reached a national audience, assisting with a public outreach campaign, interviewing library leaders and conducting vital research to help inform several organizational projects were only a few of my daily activities at ALA-APA. Never once did I feel like 'just an intern’, meaning that I was always treated as an important team member rather than an expendable, temporary resource. Having already felt the satisfaction of making valuable contributions to the organization, I plan to be involved in ALA and ALA-APA activities throughout my career.
Those who work directly with interns should foster open communication by relating their work experiences and by listening to students as they investigate ideas and anxieties.

"We encourage employers to spend time sharing with students various life lessons and wisdom they have gained from their years of working," says Gully. "Students really appreciate when people in the organization take time to talk with them and share their insights and expertise."¹ By spending time communicating with interns, librarians and library staff help stimulate and inform interns as they inevitably consider the direction of their careers.

The director of ALA-APA, Jenifer Grady, took an honest interest in my professional goals and was available to answer my questions and offer advice as the idea of becoming a librarian developed. She encouraged my interest in librarianship and asked questions intended to make me take a thoughtful look at my budding aspirations. "Why do you want to be a librarian?" she asked shortly after I announced my decision. It was a good question to which I had no ready answer. Why did I want to become a librarian? Weeks later, I realized that I wanted to be a librarian to help ensure public access to information and to nurture the missions of institutions that make information freely available. As a result of her pointed questioning, I came to the conclusion that librarianship was in-line with my personal values and that I had something to offer the field. By maintaining communication, Grady helped me to make an informed, secure decision.
Internships should utilize students’ pre-existing skills and interests, thereby helping them discover how they, and their unique talents, can benefit the library community.

Skilled at writing, I am valuable to libraries. This realization came during my internship as I was given assignments that made use of my writing abilities and showed me that I can use those skills to accomplish significant tasks and valuable projects. This article, as well as articles previously published in ALA-APA’s newsletter, Library Worklife, is one of those assignments. In addition, Grady made sure I had numerous opportunities to research other librarians who write professionally, both about the profession as well as other subjects. Librarianship is a wonderfully diverse profession that employs people of all backgrounds, even writers. If not for my internship and the opportunity to write professionally for the field, I may not have ever known that. She also pushed me to improve my writing and research techniques.

Internships are valuable not only as tools to recruit librarians, but also as important resources for libraries:

Internships bring a pipeline of potential job candidates who are known to the employer and familiar with the company.
Interns are ideally suited to help with projects so that more experienced employees need not be taken away from their ongoing work.
Interns who have enjoyed their experience with the company make excellent on-campus ambassadors for the employer (and the field).
Internships help increase diversity.
Interns may be better prepared, more productive (and faster), and stay longer when they become permanent employees.
Internships can involve volunteerism, especially among nonprofits that can’t afford added staff. Internships provide opportunities for newcomers and help for the organization.
Internships provide organizations the opportunity to connect to higher education and help shape young professionals in their fields.
Staffing with college students can help meet deadlines and other short-term workforce goals.
Internship can facilitate better hiring decisions. Having the chance to try out future workers can save on expensive hiring mistakes.³

Internships can be undeniably advantageous to students, libraries and the field of librarianship. They help expose future professionals to a career in libraries that might not have been considered otherwise. My experiences as an intern at ALA-APA introduced a professional choice that has dramatically impacted my life, leading me to continue my education in order to obtain a MLIS degree. For this I am forever grateful. I gained invaluable experience, insight, a sense of accomplishment and pride, and a mentor and friend. While Grady may not have initially thought to recruit me into librarianship (or maybe so), she provided an environment rich with opportunity to learn about and become involved in the profession and encouraged me as I expressed a growing interest. I can be a reporter, author, and poet—all while practicing librarianship.

References

Fay Mallett,"Internships: Benefits for the Employer," The Galt Global Review (Mar. 2, 2005). Accessed Aug. 25, 2005, www.galtglobalreview.com/careers/internship_benefit.html.
Ibid.
"Plan for the Most Effective Internship Programs," HRFocus (Sept. 2005): 7.

Casey Schacher is a student at the University of Missouri–Columbia's School of Information Science and Learning Technologies.

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