Bishop Museum Library/Archives

This internship is perceived to be a richly rewarding experience in the reference (in person and by e-mail) and processing work of a special library. It includes exposure to a variety of finding aids and handling copying requests, numbering, listing, and housing of special collections, and some cataloging of published materials (OCLC and Voyager) if desired. All special library staff do some technical as well as professional work.

Bishop Museum Library/Archives has a worldwide reputation as one of the finest Pacific research facilities. Strengths of the collections include early Pacific voyaging accounts, Pacific island texts, documentary art, photographs, Hawaiian songs, chants and oral histories, moving images, and a large amount of unpublished written material (e.g. of Hawaiian monarchy) documenting the natural and cultural history of Hawaii and the Pacific.

Successful completion of the following courses:

• LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services
• LIS 605 Metadata Creation for Information Organization

• Honesty, cooperativeness
• Interest in reference librarianship
• Possible interest in special and/or Pacific and museum libraries/archives.

Public reference hours are Tues–Fri., 12-4, Sat. 9-noon. The intern should be able to do 6 hours of reference per week for maximized job training and exposure to special collections. Additional hours to be arranged between 8AM and 5PM Mon– Fri (no evenings)

Familiarity with demands of reference duties: student will have hands-on experience. Familiarity with the handling of rare materials: student will be coached in preservation measures. Experience with archival materials: student will learn how different types of materials provide information, and how they are organized for use. Experience with a special library: student will begin to understand the focus of a special library, and the balance between serving the general public and the academic staff. The challenge of a non-profit library: student will see how a small budget impacts the collection growth and work of Bishop Museum Library.

Credit will be given when the 150 hours are completed. We cannot offer to pay the intern.

Monthly meetings will be held to address any concerns and to ensure that the experience is rewarding to the student. The supervising librarian will complete the LIS 690 Evaluation Form at the end of the semester.