New (and not so new) librarians often struggle with outreach and community engagement. Even when it’s taught in LIS programs, it does not always come with real, hands-on experience developing and maintaining partnerships. This isn’t surprising since building relationships in communities takes time and trust and can’t be rushed to fit a fifteen week semester. Through their own research and practice, LIS faculty can build a network of community connections for students to tap into during their time in graduate school. LIS faculty may have existing partnerships with schools, including day cares and Head Start programs, museums and cultural institutions, afterschool and recreation providers, and clinics and social services agencies, all possible sites for experiential learning.
One way to help graduate LIS students engage with community-based library services is through an internship. For the fall 2024 semester, Queens College GSLIS student Gena Mizzi and her faculty mentor Dr. Vikki Terrile designed and implemented a youth services outreach internship focusing on literacy programming with four family homeless shelters, building on connections Dr. Terrile had through her own research and practice.
We asked Gena about her experiences and advice for others.
Why did you want to create this internship?
Honest answer? I did not want to write another term paper about a topic I only sort of cared about. I wanted to become a librarian because of the library outreach efforts I saw during the pandemic. I wanted to be an outreach librarian before I knew that job existed. Because I had worked at a library before and during my MLIS program, I already knew a lot of the information I was taught. I really wanted to learn more about outreach; something I wasn’t already doing at work. I wanted to find a way to learn more and really understand outreach. I knew having two part-time jobs and a full school schedule the only way to do outreach was if it counted for credit.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during your internship?
A lack of confidence. From the very first email I sent out all the way through presenting my work, I felt like I did not have enough knowledge, experience or whatever it was to feel competent. One clear case of this was during a two-day shelter library revamp event. The shelter had a library space but no organization in place to run it; I wanted to create a system so the library space could fully function. However somewhere during my drive home on night one I decided I was NEVER going to finish the project and would ultimately harm the shelter library more than help. Luckily I was able to get enough sleep and caffeine in my system to return for day two to see the shelter staff member in charge had brought me pastries. She was thankful to have my insight in organizing a library. The entire staff listened to my advice, valuing the knowledge I had. That confidence boost the staff gave me propelled me to finish the project–ahead of schedule!
How is the internship helping you in your library work?
I was recently hired full-time at the library I have worked at as a trainee during my entire MLIS program. So the library director and department head already knew me, my interests and my work relatively well. I guess I didn’t talk about my internship enough at work because the director was fascinated by it during my interview. The library is interested in expanding outreach efforts and I think this internship helped demonstrate my dedication to outreach in a unique way. It’s one thing to talk about papers I’ve written for school and my passion for outreach and another to actually have experience. I was able to go into my first real job interview with a skill that many librarians do not have.
What advice would you give to other LIS students interested in gaining experience in outreach and community engagement?
In my limited experience I have found that outreach work is the most dissimilar to how I learned about it in classes. So my first piece of advice is to go for it–outreach can only be learned in a hands-on way. My second piece of advice would be to go in with an open mind and have a very clear line of communication with your mentors. I was surprised by how many assumptions I had to challenge and nuances I had to learn. At one point during the internship, I began to question the very purpose of library programming in any setting. I remember getting relatively frustrated and confused about outreach work; without my mentor I probably still would be. Be ready to ask a LOT of questions, especially the ones that make you uncomfortable. If you have always had the privilege of housing security, be ready to feel naive and interrogate some serious bias. I was grateful to have an understanding mentor who gave me space to discuss everything. If you felt drawn to the library profession to help people, outreach work does that. The personal and professional satisfaction I earned through outreach work far surpassed any challenges I faced.
The post Engaging Grad Students in Community Work appeared first on ALSC Blog.
New (and not so new) librarians often struggle with outreach and community engagement. Even when it’s taught in LIS programs, it does not always come with real, hands-on experience developing and maintaining partnerships. This isn’t surprising since building relationships in communities takes time and trust and can’t be rushed to fit a fifteen week semester. Through their own research and practice, LIS faculty can build a network of community connections for students to tap into during their time in graduate school. LIS faculty may have existing partnerships with schools, including day cares and Head Start programs, museums and cultural institutions, afterschool and recreation providers, and clinics and social services agencies, all possible sites for experiential learning. One way to help graduate LIS students engage with community-based library services is through an internship. For the fall 2024 semester, Queens College GSLIS student Gena Mizzi and her faculty mentor Dr. Vikki Terrile…
The post Engaging Grad Students in Community Work appeared first on ALSC Blog. Read More
ALSC Blog
Original article: View source
Discover more from DrWeb's Domain
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
