Intern-in-Place: Developing Virtual Internships as a Response to COVID-19

Special Collections internships offer experiential learning opportunities for students wishing to gain knowledge of archival theory and methodology. These internships expose students directly to hands-on work with archival collections in a library setting as part of their program curriculum. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related closures, resulted in a number of on-site internship cancellations and postponements for students. However, the prompt development of virtual opportunities could uniquely benefit both the student and the library. In this poster, a Special Collections librarian will share the opportunities and challenges of adapting on-site internships to the virtual environment. Administrative tasks including implementing daily accountability processes and effective virtual orientations will be discussed as well as designing project-based assignments that could be completed remotely by interns of various competencies.The continued availability of internships throughout the pandemic period allowed Special Collections to maintain its commitment to student interns completing degrees and their faculty supervisors. The availability of valuable intern manpower also greatly benefited Special Collections by allowing the department to address the backlog of digital collections and needed improvements to departmental policy and website pages