Julie Deardorff, Director of Collection Services, and a group of current and former Centennial Library interns presented “Today’s Undergraduates…Tomorrow’s Library Directors!” at the Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) annual conference in Columbus on Friday, November 20, 2015.
The presentation outlined the library’s unique career development program for students considering the library science field and was selected through a blind review process. The Centennial Library’s program includes internship and independent study courses, less formal Career Explorations, the Library Careers Dinner, a scholarship award, other forms of mentoring, and participation in campus career fairs.
The presentation was highly rated by attendees who evaluated it as exceeding their expectations. Comments included, “so nice to hear from student participants in the program-excellent content and presentation”, “great program!” and “awesome idea! It got me excited to try this!”
A former participant in the program who attended the conference tweeted, “I am so happy the Cedarville Centennial Library took the time to share their amazing programs for mentoring and preparing future librarians for grad school and the professional world. Your support still helps me daily in my classes and my job. #alao2015” A librarian in the audience tweeted: “#alao2015 Critical and creative thinking is part of multi-faceted internship @Cedarville. Building relationships for future development, too.”
Julie serves as the coordinator of the Library Careers Program and teaches the internship course. Kirsten Setzkorn, Digital Services Specialist and a 2013 alumnus who majored in History, was a 2012 intern and is enrolled in the Kent State master of library and information science program. Fall 2015 interns Austin Becton and Allison Jensen are English majors; Rebekkah Reisner is a Nursing major.
In addition to giving their presentation, the interns were able to attend other sessions of their choice, hear a keynote speaker from the Columbus Museum of Art, and interact with librarians from other universities and library related vendors. To the best of our knowledge, Austin, Allison and Rebekkah are the first undergraduates to present at the ALAO conference.
Tags: cedarville, events, library internship
Posted in: ALAO, cedarville, events, library internship, presentations