My Internship Experience
Michelle Hamilton, Graduate Student
iSchool, Kent State University, Kent, OH
OVERVIEW
Background and Internship Placement
My name is Michelle Hamilton and I am a
Graduate Student in the Library and
Information Science program. My focus in this
program is teen librarianship .
For my Fall 2018 semester, I chose to complete a practicum experience at
Rocky River Public Library in Rocky River, OH. This is an independent library
system that focuses on serving the small community of Rocky River. Here, I
learned about teen librarianship from RRPL’s Teen Librarian, Megan Alabaugh.
Internship Objectives
My internship objectives were created based on certain information that I
wanted to learn more about by actually working, as a librarian, at a public
library.
1. Improve reader’s advisory skills: A lot of my classes mention the importance
of readers advisory and being able to connect a patron to a book that meets all
their needs. Gaining experience with readers advisory, and its associated tools,
is something that I definitely have to do to become a successful librarian.
2. Gain experience with reference transactions and user-oriented customer
requests: Being familiar with conducting a successful reference interview, and
assisting patrons with meeting their information needs, is very important for my
career path. This is a skill that is also emphasized in various class lectures and
articles.
3. Assist with planning and hosting various teen programs while learning
about the process of program development and evaluation: While I had
experience planning a program in two of my classes, I wanted to experience
running a program at an actual library.
4. Learn about the collection development process of a public library.
Specifically, how materials are ordered and processed while also observing
how the collection is maintained: While I have some past experience with
weeding, I wanted to experience the various aspects a librarian has to consider
when weeding and adding materials to their library’s collection.
5. Learn how to create and establish outreach relationships with outside
institutions: Hearing about successful outreach relationships in my classes and
at my job made me wonder about how a librarian actually goes about
developing these connections with outside institutions and what they can do
for a specific library.
6. Gain experience organizing and setting up eye catching displays: The lively
and creative displays at my job inspired me to get experience with promoting
teen materials and services.
MY WORK
Sample Projects
To improve my reader’s advisory skills, I
created bookmarks with suggested teen
reads. This project allowed me to gain
experience accessing helpful reader’s
advisory sites and utilizing them to find
similar reads based on a specific book or
author.
My various shifts at the reference desk gave
me experience interacting with patrons and
assisting them with meeting their information
needs.
I gained experience planning, budgeting,
and running my own program. I chose to
do an anime program because it’s a
popular subject and has a decent
following at RRPL.
When learning about collection development, I was
able to gain experience with choosing materials to
order for the collection and weeding those materials
that needed to be removed.
To learn more about the public library and
outreach services, I interviewed the adult
outreach librarian at RRPL and the manager of
the children’s department. These two ladies
were able to give me more information about
the purpose and maintenance of outreach
services.
During my internship, I was given the
responsibility of creating all of the displays
for the teen area.
CONCLUSION
My practicum at Rocky River Public Library in Rocky River, OH was a very useful and
educating experience. By creating a list of objectives, Megan was able to take these into
account and use them to provide me with a well-rounded experience of what it's like to work in
a public library. Throughout my internship I was able to gain experience working at a reference
desk, helping patrons meet their information needs, creating and running my own program,
and fulfilling all my other objectives. However, while all my objectives were met because of the
various activities I performed at RRPL, I believe that I could use more knowledge and
experience when it comes to cataloging and processing library materials. Also, as I've learned in
most of my classes, my readers advisory skills will improve over time as I gain experience in the
library field and interact with various colleagues and patrons.
There were many connections between my online curriculum and my experiences at RRPL.
The core classes I took (LIS 60030 and 60040), via Kent State iSchool, gave me knowledge of
what to expect while working in a public library. During LIS 60630 and 60601, I learned about
how a library collection is maintained. The criteria for weeding, as discussed in these classes,
was the exact criteria Megan utilized when making decisions about certain materials. For
example, many books were weeded from the collection because of low circulation and
appearance. However, some of the books marked for weeding ended up being saved by Megan
because she knew that they were summer reading books and would be in high demand next
summer. According to Megan and my classes, the knowledge used to save those books is
something that you gain throughout your career as a librarian and as you become more familiar
with the community you serve. My classes also taught me that knowing the community you
serve helps when you are planning a library event. Megan encouraged me to plan and run my
own teen program. The experience I gained in creating a library program from LIS 60626 and
LIS 60608 was invaluable during my planning process. These classes taught me all the elements
needed to thoroughly plan, budget, and advertise for a library event.
In, Evaluating Teen Services and Programs, from my class LIS 60626, Sarah Flowers (2012)
implies that you can get a feel for how much a library values its teen patrons by observing the
amount of teen programming offered and the size of the library’s designated teen space.
Throughout my practicum, I felt that RRPL truly valued their teen patrons and wanted to
encourage them to come to the library. This practicum taught me that I must be an advocate
for teen patrons and make sure that they always have a voice in their library. Their opinions are
important to the future of library service and we need to provide them with various outlets to
meet their information needs. Also, I was surprised at how far in the future the librarians of
RRPL had to plan their budgets, programs, and social media promotion strategies. So, I learned
that I will have to be more organized and improve my time management skills when I become a
librarian.
Overall, I really loved my practicum experience at RRPL and I learned a lot about my future
career. Working with Megan, and seeing her enthusiasm for the profession, was very
motivational. She taught me a great deal about programming with her wonderful ideas and
partnership with RRPL Middle School. Also, the wonderful relationships she has with her
patrons and co-workers are very inspirational. Megan Alabaugh is an exemplary teen librarian
and I am truly grateful for the advice and instruction I received as her practicum student.
REFERENCES
Flowers, S. (2012). Evaluating Teen Services and Programs. Chicago, IL: Neal-
Schuman Publishers.
RRPL Website: www.rrpl.org