Reference Internships, State Library of Massachusetts, Special Collections Department, Boston MA
Posted January 21, 2014
State Library of Massachusetts-Special Collections Department, Boston, MA
Spring Internship Opportunity – 2014
The Special Collections Department is offering part-time internships to assist with reference and exhibition activities, but also including other special projects. The internships can start in the first weeks of January, with possibility of extension. We request a minimum commitment of eight hours per week, in blocks of four hours, preferably either 9am-1pm, or 1pm-5pm.
The interns will work with staff to cover the information desk (helping on-site patrons, answering telephone and written inquiries). Other duties may include assisting with exhibitions: conduct the research, item and image selection, preservation review, scanning, creation of label text, and panel fabrication for our upcoming exhibitions. Duties may also include processing of small collections, records management and appraisal of the Library’s archival records, inventories and re-housing of historical materials, collection surveys, and digitization.
Since the early nineteenth century, the State Library has collected materials that reflect Massachusetts’ government, culture and history, and continues to maintain the most comprehensive collection of Massachusetts state publications in existence. Its collection has been carefully and thoughtfully gathered for almost 200 years, and it forms a tremendous resource for all areas of Massachusetts research. The Library has an active program to make its collections available through public programs, exhibitions, and digitization.
The State Library’s Special Collections Department includes items that need special care due to their age, fragility, or format. Holdings comprise rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, newspapers, tax valuations, architectural drawings, prints and photographs, scrapbooks, and souvenirs. The collection is particularly strong in nineteenth and twentieth-century city directories, maps, and atlases.
State Library internships are unpaid, but provide students with valuable work experience in a unique library setting. The library is conveniently located in downtown Boston in the Massachusetts State House, one block from the Park Street MBTA station. Our operating hours are Monday through Friday 9-5.
For more information, contact Beth Carroll-Horrocks or Silvia Mejia at the Special Collections Department: [email protected], or 617-727-2595. To apply for this internship, please send a cover letter and resume to [email protected].