"The PROMISE program is a ten-week paid internship which provides opportunities in state, local government agencies, and university programs for Oregon State University undergraduate students, with particular emphasis on providing pathways for historically underrepresented students to professional careers. Historically underrepresented students may include, but is not limited to: first generation college student, low-income, LGBTQ+, students of color, veterans, transfer students, students with disabilities, etc."
Training day with two of my internship mentors
My internship with PROMISE during summer of 2016 gave me the opportunity to be an OSU Libraries and Press intern. My main project was to create, implement, and introduce a marketing plan for the upcoming Diversity Scholars Program at Oregon State University. The Diversity Scholars Program at Oregon State aims to actively participate in creating a more diverse and inclusive Library Sciences field internationally and transnationally by providing a wider variety of students career opportunities in academic and research libraries and archives. The passionate and dedicated DSP committee works to provide extensive support and mentorship through a master of library and information science (MLIS) education while additionally providing paid, hands-on experience within the profession to broaden opportunities postgraduate. That said, my internship experience was meant to be a trial run of what Diversity Scholars would participate in at the library.
Some of the work I engaged in during my time as a library intern included: Informational interviews and job shadowing of various departments, trips to other OSU libraries around the state, completion of department mini-projects, attending conferences, curating physical and digital displays from the university archives, creating websites, organizing a sister-library visit, and working with the Diversity Scholars Committee to craft suggestions for the library to make the necessary internal steps to become a more inclusive and equitable environment.
To view a more in-depth representation of my time as a 2016 PROMISE intern, you can view my final library presentation below. Additionally, a slideshow of my internship and some of the work I completed along the way is also showcased below.