Normally, summers see a big drop off in student activity on campus, but the University of Rochester Libraries (URL) remain vibrant thanks to a new batch of student interns.
For the second year in a row, URL has welcomed a cohort of summer interns to work in various departments and units across the library.
“We really aim to have the students apply specialized disciplinary skills to an internship assignment so that they can use all of that knowledge they’re gaining from the classroom and natural talents to bring into the work that we’re doing here at the library,” said Kimberly Hoffman, assistant dean of Engaged Learning & Research at the River Campus Libraries, and intern coordinator.
URL’s summer intern program – supported by trustee Barbara J. Burger, David ‘83 and Joanne Rodgers, and Dean Kevin Garewal – began last year with seven students and has grown to 10 this year.
The interns spent the last week of May orienting themselves to the libraries with a welcome breakfast, 12 open houses, and a pizza luncheon. Through the summer they’ll also tour Sibley Library, the URL Annex, and the University of Rochester Press offices. In addition to their assigned duties, they’ll also interview with someone from their desired profession, go through the process of applying for a related job, and deliver a final presentation of their work.
“We don’t want them to think of this as library work because the assignments are really a smattering of real world careers,” Hoffman said. “We’ll be trying to translate that for them.”
The 2024 URL Summer Interns are:
- Maggie Beer (Event Programming and Experiential Marketing)
- Libby Braun (Studio X Learning Design)
- Alex Chatterjee (DiscoverUR UX)
- MJ Keller (Online Learning Design)
- Joy Lu (Sibley Social Media)
- Marwaan Maxamuud (Miner AI Health Literacy)
- Natalie Opdahl (UR Press)
- Aabha Pandit (Core 10 Data Collection)
- Megan Wu (iZone Curriculum Design)
- Jodie Zeng (Digital scholarship product development and systems migration)
Added Hoffman: “This is a fantastic group of students, so bright, so personable, and we’re super excited to work with them.”
