The Inside View:
Intern Gets a Crash Course in Public Library Departments

Preface By Beth Mazin, Assistant Director Everybody at Memorial Hall Library was after Joe St. Germain! Thanks to his library experience at McQuade Library, Merrimack College, North Andover, he was able to jump right into every task we gave him and do it well with minimal instruction. He was a huge help to us in the time he was here, and everyone enjoyed working with him. The original plan was to have Joe intern here for 3 months at 20 hours a week. Because Joe came to us with so many library skills, the crash course in public library departments and tasks was essentially complete in one month. The lesson for us is that for a student with Joe's background, a project-oriented workshop would probably have been more educational. We wish Joe well as he continues his education. If he does decide to become a librarian, we are confident that he will become a great one.

My Internship at Andover's Memorial Hall Library
By: Joseph St. Germain

Libraries have always interested me. Since I was a little boy they have been a favorite destination of mine, because for as long as I can remember I have always loved to read and libraries, with their extensive supply of books, have always provided me with a vast amount of reading material.

My interest in working in a library, however, did not begin until after I enrolled at Merrimack College and began working at the library on campus, McQuade Library. At McQuade, I was fortunate enough to find all my work experiences, which began in the Technical Services Department and branched out to include the bindery and circulation, enjoyable. I was also fortunate enough to interact with an enthusiastic and dedicated staff. I soon found my experiences at McQuade, my observation of its staff, and my long time interest in libraries leading me to the conclusion that a career in the library profession would be something I would enjoy and was therefore something that I should pursue.

Then, last spring, as I become very conscious of the fact that my last year of college was quickly approaching, I decided that it was time for me to make certain that being a librarian was truly what I wanted. The best way to determine this, I surmised, was getting a little more experience in the profession. So, I was very excited when I discovered that there was an internship opportunity through NMRLS that would give me the chance to do just that.

I contacted Susan Babb and explained that I was interested in participating in an internship that enabled me to work in various departments of a library, because I wanted to get a clear idea about what departments interested me and which ones didn't. It didn't take Susan long to come up with a match. She informed me that Memorial Hall Library (MHL) was interested in having me as an intern and that she felt this library, with its many departments, would certainly give me the chance to get the kind of experience I was looking for. An interview was set up between Susan, four of MHL's staff, and myself. After an introduction to the library, some discussion about my goals, and an exploration of the possibilities for the internship, it was tentatively agreed that I would begin an internship at MHL on May 17 and that I would work 20 hours a week in a different department each weekday.

Not long after the interview, Beth Mazin, the Assistant Director at MHL, informed me that MHL had accepted me as an intern. I started the internship on May 17 and, as had been discussed in the interview, Beth gave me a schedule that allowed me the opportunity to work in a different department of the library every weekday. She also set me up with my own working area, computer, and e-mail.

For the majority of the Mondays during my internship, I worked in circulation. While working in circulation I did all kinds of things. I checked-in materials, sorted holds, and checked-out patrons. I also learned how to sort the daily printouts of statistics and how to sort and mail notices for books on hold. Additionally, I helped process and shelve magazines.

Every Tuesday, I worked with Beth. She gave me a collection development project that took several weeks to complete. The project involved my looking at a list of book titles from a book about the best books in the subject areas of philosophy and psychology, checking the catalog to identify which titles from the list Andover held, and then checking the condition of those titles that Andover held. I removed titles that were in poor condition from the shelf. After that, I went on to Amazon.com to look up all the titles that were removed from the shelf and to look up all the titles that were on the book list but not in Andover's collection. For those titles that I found on Amazon.com, I printed their ordering information and gave all the printouts to Beth and she ordered most of the titles.

Another project Beth gave me involved assessing the books in the 700s. The project first required that I use a report listing books in the 700s that hadn't circulated in several years and locate and remove those books from the collection. While performing this task, I also straightened up the remaining books on the shelf. Then, I assessed the remaining books and removed those that looked worn and damaged. All the books I collected were placed on a cart, looked over by Beth, and then withdrawn.

On the first Wednesday of my internship, I met with the Head of Reference, Glenda Schaake. She explained how the reference department worked and then took me out to the reference desk. There, she instructed me on the reference collection and the operations of the desk. I then observed her and another reference librarian work on the desk and assist patrons. That same day, I also was instructed about how the Young Adult Room was set up, what its policies were, and how it and its desk were run. The next Wednesday, I worked in the Technical Processing Department (TPD). In TPD, I was instructed about how new materials were processed and I helped out by entering information about new books into an Excel spreadsheet.

Every Thursday, I worked in the Children's Room. In the Children's Room, I got the opportunity to do a variety of things. I worked on the circulation desk and got to increase my circulation experience by getting books ready for transit and giving patrons new library cards. I also got instruction on how the Children's Room processed new books and I got to observe a few books get cataloged. Additionally, I checked-in new books that had just been processed by ensuring they had been processed correctly and then scanning them into the computer. Furthermore, I sat in on a pre-school reading program to see what it entailed. Lastly, I got the chance to do some work with collection development by running a report on books that hadn't circulated in several years and then removing them from the shelf for assessment.

On Fridays, I was originally scheduled to work in ILL, but after some discussion with Susan and Beth, my hours were reduced to 12 hours a week Monday thru Thursday as opposed to 20 hours a week Monday thru Friday. As a result, my time in ILL was changed from Friday to Wednesday. On two Fridays and the remainder of Wednesdays, I worked in ILL by helping to file completed ILL requests, calculate the postage costs owed by each library, and withdraw from the catalog some books and audio tapes that were part of Andover's supplementary collection.

After almost a month in Andover, I began to realize that my goal had already been accomplished. Indeed, in the amount of time I had spent in all five areas of the library, I had discovered that the area of the library I favored best was the reference area and that was where I wanted to work. In addition, I increasingly found that the tasks I was performing in the internship were ones that I had already done at McQuade. I explained my realization to Susan and Beth. Beth arranged for a meeting between her, Jim Sutton, who is the Library Director at MHL, and myself. At the meeting, both Beth and Jim were very interested in hearing about my experience in the internship and in discussing what ways, if any, they could make the internship work better for me. I explained that my interest was now largely in the reference area, but Beth later informed me that given the limited time of the internship, the amount of training that would be required to work on the desk, and the fact that it was summer and staff would be taking vacations, it just was not feasible for me to do anything more constructive than what I had already done in reference. It was agreed, then, that I would end my internship on June 17, which would make the internship a complete month.

Looking back on the month that I spent at MHL, I can honestly say it was a wonderful experience. It provided me with a lot of insight into the various job positions and departments in libraries by giving me a very specific idea about each department. Moreover, it provided me with a clear understanding of the differences between public and academic libraries. Furthermore, it also taught me a lot about life by giving me the opportunity to participate in my first formal interview and requiring me to speak up and talk things through when they weren't working for me. I know these skills will prove priceless in the future. I am very thankful for all the time and effort that the staff at MHL put into the internship as well as for their understanding when things weren't working out for me.

I consider this internship to have been a success, because I accomplished my goal. As a result of my experience, I now feel ready and confident to go on and pursue the career I have chosen once my final year of college is complete. I am very grateful for the opportunity provided by the internship and encourage other students interested in the profession to participate in the internship program.