The following is a report from CLRC’s Fall intern Nicole Potter. We’re extremely grateful to Nicole for all of the work she’s done, and to our three members who hosted her! Stay tuned for information on future internship opportunities from CLRC!
The Central New York Library Resources Council (CLRC) internship program is a wonderfully diverse learning experience that I would recommend to anyone interested in the world of libraries and information science. As the CLRC intern for Fall 2016, I had the opportunity to work with three CLRC member libraries on three separate projects.
My first project was at SUNY ESF’s Moon Library, where I worked to develop an understanding of the usability of their online resources and used that understanding to provide suggestions to improve usability. Over the course of five weeks, I developed user personas for the ESF community, created and distributed several surveys, developed a usability test, and held six testing sessions. At the end of the project, I presented my research and usability suggestions to the staff of Moon Library.
My second project was at the MidYork Library System, where I created and updated programing for their member libraries. The first part of my project was to introduce member libraries in the MidYork Library System to coding kits for kids, specifically LittleBits and Kano kits. To do this, I worked with the kits, researched available programming, created unique activities, developed a guide to available resources, and budgeted a purchasing strategy. The second part of my project was to refresh several of the MidYork Library System’s book kits. I updated five kits, providing 20+ book recommendations, 5 activities, and 3 “item” recommendations for each. At the end of my five weeks, I presented my work to librarians from several member libraries and members of the MidYork Library System staff.
My third project was at the Crouse Hospital Library and Archives, where I added to their metadata records on New York Heritage and also helped to create a digital version of their finding aid.. The first part of my project was to update and create metadata records for the Crouse Hospital materials on New York Heritage. Over the course of two weeks, I updated roughly twenty records and created thirty. The second part of my project was to create a digital version of the Crouse Hospital Library Archives finding aid, which I did using EADitor. EADitor is a form-fill tool that presents its user with a DACS-informed template that automates production of well-formed EAD documents, it was created by the Empire Archival Discovery Cooperative under the Empire State Library Network.
The CLRC internship is a unique learning opportunity which allows the participant to collaborate with various libraries on a myriad of projects. I am thrilled that I was chosen to be a part of this distinctive internship, it was a wonderful experience.