Welcome to theCoSA Member WebinarApril 24, 2014

Let us know who you are, where you’re from, and who is participating with you today

Use the chat box on the right of the screen to type your name, state, and the names of those watching the webinar with you.

You can connect to the audio portion of today’s webinar only through your phone line. VOIP is not available today due to technical difficulties.

A COLLABORATION AMONG FACULTY, SUPERVISORS, AND STUDENTS

Creating Successful Internships

Who We Are

Donna Webber – the faculty

Jennifer Pelose – the supervisor

Abigail Cramer – the intern

Types of Internships

Internships come in all shapes and sizes, including:

PaidUnpaidFor academic credit

Today we’ll focus on internships for academic credit.

Simmons College archives program

At Simmons College we’ve administered internships for academic credit for more than 30 years.

As the academic program changed and developed over the years, so did the internships.

We have introductory and advanced internships.

Despite successful, long-term relationships with many sites in New England, managing a large program presents challenges!

Understanding internships

So we wrote a book to figure it out:

Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students (2006). By Jeannette Bastian and Donna Webber

We consulted with faculty, supervisors and students, and used what we learned to shape the Simmons internship program, which places more than 200 students yearly in introductory and advanced internships.

Archival internships at Simmons

Our criteria: An archives engaged in current practice

A professional archivist to supervise

“Doable” projects with products students can show to faculty or potential supervisors

Effective collaboration among the faculty, supervisor, and student

Matching students and sites

Matching the right students with the right sites:

Developing relationships with sites and supervisors

Knowing what students bring, and what they want

Bringing the two together both in the onsite and online programs

Providing orientation for students – and keeping in touch

The Supervisor

Jennifer Pelose, Harvard University Archives

Repository hosts 4-5 interns each year

Oversight of internship program written into job description

Completed four internships as student at Simmons

Gained supervisory experience by overseeing internship projects early in career

The key elements for the supervisor

Project planning – “shovel-ready” project

Committing adequate supervisor time

Managing the project both day to day and long term

Creating a professional experience

Project planning

Critical to project success

Win/win project for student and repository Consider repository goals Small and discrete, or large with flexibility to be broken into

chunks

Consider deliverables Tangible, something to “hand in” Portfolio or professional purposes

Be sure the project is “shovel-ready” on day one

Committing adequate supervisor time

Accessible and available to interns While interns are in the repository While interns are away

We’re busy! Team approach or “back up” supervisor helpful Allow a rising professional to supervise the intern and

project

Managing the project

Clearly identified project deliverables and activities

Frequent check-ins

Be flexible Things happen, be ready to adjust deliverables as

needed Communicate!

Creating a professional experience

Set expectations and treat intern as employee from first meeting

Review syllabus to be familiar with coursework and to provide tangible examples

Tailor project to intern’s professional interests (if possible)

Include in meetings, social activities

Learn from them!

The Intern

Abigail Cramer, Historic New England

Preparation

Expectations

Lessons learned

Success strategies

Obstacles

Preparation

Planning Applying for an internship Logistics

Setting goals Skills Networking

Initial meeting between intern and site Comparing and reconciling goals

Expectations

Professional atmosphere

Responsibility

Gaining skills and experience

My expectations: way off base! Meeting with site helped to clarify Speaking with faculty advisor reassured me

Lessons learned

Archival standards DACS MARC

Software OCLC Connexion Evergreen DSpace

Skills Project management Instruction Policy/procedure

development

Exposure to environment Workplace dynamic Other projects Hiring Professionalism Mentoring

Networking New England Archivists Current job

Success strategies

Active, engaged supervisor

Responsibility Challenging project

Valued input Creativity

Communication

Inclusion in institution

Understanding impact of project Stakeholders Visible outcome

Problem solving Setbacks Solutions

Obstacles to success

Inadequate supervision

Space and technological issues

Lack of structure

Lack of outcomes

Unrealistic goals

When things aren’t working

Communicate with intern

Increase check-ins

Adjust deliverables

Consult with faculty contact

Meeting challenges

Collaborate!

Contact information

Donna Webber Associate Professor of Practice, Simmons College

Graduate School of Library and Information Science donna.webber@simmons.edu

Jennifer Pelose Processing Archivist/Project Manager, Harvard

University Archives jennifer_pelose@harvard.edu

Abigail Cramer Librarian/Archivist, Historic New England acramer@historicnewegland.org

QUESTIONS & COMMENTS

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WEBINAR EVALUATION

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We really do appreciate your feedback!

After you exit the webinar, you will automatically be taken to an

online webinar evaluation. Please take a couple minutes to

complete the survey and help us plan future webinars.

COSA UPDATE MayDay 2014

CoSA Awards Program Deadline Extended to May 16th!

Calls to the States Coming Your Way

2014 Dues Invoices

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PROGRAM COMMITTEENow seeking volunteers to join the CoSA Program Committee!

Chelle Somsen, South Dakota Debbie Bahn, Washington John Martinez, New Mexico Susan Lugo, Virgin Islands Matt Veatch, ex officio, Kansas

Anne Ackerson, CoSA Staff Becky Julson, CoSA Staff Mary Doehla, CoSA Staff

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS May 16, 2014

CoSA Awards Program Nomination Deadline

August 12-13, 2014PERTTS Portal Workshop – Washington, DC

August 13-16, 2014Joint Annual Meeting – Washington, DC

October 20-24, 2014SERI Advanced Electronic Records Institute – Salt Lake City, UT

November 19-21, 2014Best Practices Exchange, Alabama State Archives

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UPCOMING WEBINARS Tuesday, May 13, 2014: SERI Webinar

Email Preservation Tools

Thursday, May 22, 2014: CoSA WebinarPhotographic Storage on a Budget

Tuesday, June 10, 2014: SERI WebinarElectronic Records Inventory

Thursday, June 26, 2014: CoSA WebinarWho’s Next? Succession Planning Without the Drama

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SPONSORS & FUNDERS

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CoSA Thanks our 2014 Corporate Sponsors:

And our Federal Funders:

COSA IS TWEETING!

CoSA Twitter Handle:@StateArchivists

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STAY CONNECTED & INFORMEDCoSA Website:

http://www.statearchivists.org

CoSA Resource Center:http://rc.statearchivists.org

CoSA Blog:http://statearchivists.wordpress.com

CoSA Twitter Handle:@StateArchivists

CoSA Facebook Page:www.facebook.com/CouncilOfStateArchivists

SERI Facebook Page:www.facebook.com/SERIproject

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