Archives Intern

University of Rochester • City of Rochester, NY

8d • $18 - $23 • Onsite

About The Position

This semester long internship offers experiential learning within the special collections and archives field. The intern will receive hands-on archival processing experience by arranging and describing a collection from beginning (assessment) to end (finding aid creation in ArchivesSpace), as well as experience in creating a digital collection by curating, digitizing and creating metadata. In addition, the intern will also gain experience with collection promotion activities via social media and external avenues.

Requirements

• High School diploma required
• Equivalent combination of education and experience
• Enrolled in a higher education degree seeking program in a related field (i.e. history, library science, museum studies, art history, etc.) preferred
• Enrolled in a credit-bearing internship/practicum before the internship begins preferred
• Enrolled in a MLIS degree program or equivalent preferred
• Experience arranging and describing archival materials preferred
• Experience with collections management systems, such as ArchivesSpace preferred
• Experience with digitization and metadata creation preferred
• Interest in gaining experience with archival collections and description preferred
• Familiarity with archival descriptive content standards, especially Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) preferred
• Sensitivity to handling fragile materials preferred
• Strong written communication skills preferred
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail preferred
• Ability to work independently and/or with minimal supervision after initial training preferred

Responsibilities

• Process the Visiting Nurses Association of Rochester, NY papers according to national archival standards: rehouse the collection for preservation, arrange and describe the collection, and create a DACS-compliant finding aid in ArchivesSpace.
• Curate a digital collection from History of Medicine’s Atwater American Popular Medicine Collection ephemera to be added to New York Heritage.
• Digitize the curated items according to New York Heritage guidelines.
• Create metadata to describe the digitized material according to New York Heritage guidelines.
• Promote the work done throughout the internship via blog posts and social media, collaborating with Miner Library’s social media team, as well as through archival and library association newsletters and listservs.
• Other archival duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: High school or GED