 |
 |
All, I would like to echo Janice's sentiment. I am also a recent MLIS graduate and the reality of job hunting has led me to many internship postings that nevertheless offered little or no compensation while requiring a significant workload. I think it's too easy to think of an internship as a one-way transaction - the "Well, we're the So and So Gallery of Such and Such, so it would be a real feather in their cap to be able to put a 6 month unpaid internship with us down on their resume" sentiment. The virtue of an intern is to bring someone in with fresh eyes and ask them what they think about a certain project you're developing, to challenge preconceived or assumed notions that you and your immediate colleagues may take for granted, and to suggest new, bold ideas influenced by their time in school. From my own experiences both as a gallery intern and as a library intern, this discussion of ideas is tantamount to really fantastic innovation; but, both sides have to be up for it. An internship for, say, copy cataloging isn't exactly the best use of anyone's time besides maybe the cataloger who's saving 4 or 5 hours a week. I'm also concerned by the idea that an intern is 'paid' in academic credit. This probably doesn't need to be said considering most folks on this list work at higher education institutions, but, registering for an internship credit block still means you pay tuition. Say what you will about tuition dollars going to either facilities management or catering or the salaries/wages of individuals who teach those courses - in the case of an internship, where there is no structured class (usually), that money is essentially facilitating the conferral of 3 or 4 academic credits at the cost of a normal tuition. In these unpaid internships, then, it isn't just that the intern isn't getting paid but rather that there's a greater net less for that student. Of course not every internship is structured in this way, but it's a shame that it's seen as a primary benefit that interns "at least" get academic credit for it. As a sort of happy ending to what ended up [unfortunately, and after many edits] sounding like a whiny email I have secured full-time, post-library school employment -- but not with a library. As Janice mentioned, it's so unfortunate that the opportunities to acquire first-hand experience are seemingly only available to those who don't need to make ends meet. And I still intend to enter into arts librarianship as career, but with the current economic climate being what it is, it's just not feasible to make so little or nothing at all while paying your dues and climbing the library ladder. I want to conclude by saying that I know there isn't some malicious group of established librarians operating their own Legion of Doom in the dungeons of the Library of Congress plotting and scheming to make sure new professionals face these challenges. To change this culture, though, requires a great investment of conscious action by those who can supply these internships. -Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~