GOA9: Progress Report
2 days ago
Monday, August 18, 2008
Practicum Student (Amended)
Starting next month, I will be having a practicum student working with me on Tuesdays. I have come up with a list of tasks for her to do, which of course mirror my own. She should also have a project. One of the things that I have been meaning to do since I started last October is to rearrange the library (collection, not furniture) to make it more accessible for users. I'm thinking this might be a nice project for a LIS student. What projects have you given your practicum students/interns? Any advice/tips you would like to share on managing students/interns?
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10 comments:
Brilliant idea. Give them as many trivial tasks as possible so that they can get used to the "hard work".
How about doing an inventory based off of a shelf list?
All good ideas (rearranging the library, inventory based on shelf list, etc.), although my advice would be to not bore the intern TOO much. I think my intern wasn't overly excited about some of the tasks I had him work on. He wanted experience with reference, and didn't feel like he got much of that at Rasmussen.
Overall, I would encourage you to balance the mundane/trivial tasks with those that will give your intern some valueable, pracical, and much-needed experience.
How about pairing them with an instructor who needs a workshop and then overseeing the intern as he/she coordinates with the insructor and then gives the workshop?
I plan on having her do reference, IM, workshops, cataloging, etc. I want her to get a well rounded experience while she is here, not bore her. I am just trying to come up with a project for her - which is a part of the practicum. Maybe she and I can come up with something together when we discuss her learning objectives.
I have an Intern who is working on her MLIS, and she is great. When she started I met with her and discussed her goals for the internship. Christina's main goal was just to gain experience in performing certain librarian tasks. Antecendent to this internship, she never had the opportunity to do reference interviews in a library setting, she had ZERO experience cataloguing, and she wanted to learn more about collection development.
I try to give Christina lotsa variety. I don't want her to get bored, rather I want her to gain an appreciation for the profession. She excels beyond my expectations in designing displays, which was something I forgot to mention in our 1st meeting. I'm amazed at the creativity she displays and how she makes do with very little (using paper box lids as posterboards, etc.).
It shouldn't take long to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your intern. Knowing what they are interested in is also very important, so don't be afraid to ask. Throughout the week I'll come across tasks I think would be a good learning experience for her or things she should learn to do as a librarian.
Chandra has a great idea about having your intern pair up with faculty. Christina has traveled all over and speaks several languages. I wanted her to do a workshop where she felt comfortable. We decided that visiting a geography class and talking about the time she spent studying in China would be a great fit.
Cynthia, is your library organized with the dot system? That's a big project! Also, if your intern is interested in collection development you may want to see if he or she has a special intrest in any topics related to Rasmussen's disciplines. It would probably be very empowering for him/her to develop some collection lists and follow the acquisitions process all the way to completion.
Dan, I love that you are playing on her strengths! Having her go to a Geography class is a GREAT idea.
I am just trying to come up with a project for her - which is a part of the practicum. Maybe she and I can come up with something together when we discuss her learning objectives.
As an intern, I think this is the best idea when it comes to a big project if this is one of the requirements of the practicum. Rearranging the library isn't necessarily a bad project to take on but I certainly wouldn't make it the major project unless "library as a place" is of great interest to her. My guess is that she is going to do have to do some reflection about this final project and it'll help her if she can relate it to things she has studied already.
Does the project have to be determined on the first day? Maybe after she experiences working at the library and you have conversations, you will both have a better idea of what that project could be.
So unless you can sell her on the invaluable experience of rearranging a library, I'd think of one or two more potential options.
-Krista
I know when I did my practicum at Lake Elmo I had progress forms to turn in and a proposal form that Emily and I completed. I had several large projects to work on smaller jobs that seemed to pop up from time to time. I like Krista's idea of spending some time at the job before coming up with several big projects. From my experience you need to be flexible and participate in as much as you can.
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