Welcome Intern Number Two!

As mentioned in a blog post earlier this month, the Darling Library offers an internship to masters students in Library and Information Science at the San Jose State University School of Information. We normally have one intern at a time but now we have two!

Katie Zeeb has just five classes to complete the MLIS degree. When she is done, she wants to work as a Young Adult Librarian in a Public Library. For now, she is helping us with the Reference Collection.

Reference books such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and directories, are generally referred to for bits of factual information and are not usually intended to be read cover to cover. With the transition of reference works to digital formats, it is often worth asking why we continue to have print books.

This is one thing that Katie will help us determine. After painstakingly reading the shelves for accuracy - making sure the books all there and in order on the shelves - then she will evaluate them one title at a time to find out which ones are available online, through means and for what cost. She will employ what she has learned in her Collection Management course about assessment of print and electronic collections.

This is one of the best things about having library science interns. We seasoned veteran librarians get the benefit of learning from these developing professionals what is being taught today and get a fresh look at the latest thinking in information management.

Welcome and thank you, Katie!

(Fun fact: Katie's grandfather, Joe Watson, is our cataloger!)