Creative Collaborations between Librarians and Professors: A New Take on an Old Idea Produces Unique, Transformative Library Internships for Grad Students

The declining job market for tenure-track academic positions and increasing competition for other professional positions are challenging graduate students. They need opportunities for exposure to alternative careers and opportunities to gain work experience and skills. The Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program fills this void in an innovative way and transforms the library into a career laboratory and professional learning space. The Internship Program maximizes benefits for graduate students, libraries, and teaching department collaborators. Internships are proposed in collaboration between librarians and academic faculty. Awards are made via a competitive process. Benefits: Graduate student: career skills, increased opportunities, work experience, living wage, and professional development Libraries: new partnerships with academic units, worthwhile projects with defined deliverables, transformative collaboration, and opportunities for recruiting diverse experts into libraries Librarian: professional experience, accomplishments, and/or scholarship. Teaching faculty and departments: impactful collaborations, and opportunities to grow and connect constellations of communities of practice focused on graduate education The very successful program saw over $30,000 in paid internships awarded in the first year, which was made possible by the large community of practice, including several groups focused on diversity in academia and diversity in libraries. This presentation will review the internship program’s goals and design as they relate to increasing learning and career prospects for graduate students, and promoting the diversity of expertise for unique and impactful library projects and programs. A study assessing the interns’ and other stakeholders’ experiences and outcomes will be included. Please see http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/interns/resources for formation on the varied and exciting internships