NCompass Live: Intentional Design: A Mutually Beneficial Internship Program in a University Archives

Recorded on February 2, 2022

In early 2020, archivists in higher education rushed to modify and create digital projects that would sustain them and their student employees and interns, during an unknown stretch of working from home. As the pandemic settled in and working from home expectations changed, students continued to need work and learning opportunities.

In this panel, the presenters will address planning for remote, in-person, and hybrid projects in outreach, digital initiatives, and processing for student workers. The presenters will discuss the implementation of different student projects and consider lessons learned. The presenters will ideate a more formalized internship design and workflow, looking to increase remote collaboration with students even as they return to full time in-person work. Through this work, the presenters plan to create student projects that are mutually beneficial and leave the students with a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and support they can carry with them to their classes and their future employment.

Presenters: Wendy Guerra, Digital Initiatives Archivist; Claire Du Laney, Outreach Archivist; Lori Schwartz, Hagel Archivist; Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska at Omaha.