Priddy Library Internship - Spring 2016

         I began my internship at the Priddy Library in early February and in the time since, I have had the chance to assist on exhibits and take in aspects of a work environment that I will find in any future jobs. On my first day, I immediately learned how influential politics are in developing an exhibit. There are some topics that cannot be directly addressed or addressed at all because of their relevance to local, state, or federal politics. If, for example, a subject like immigration was chosen, it would have to be presented indirectly through another topic that can still provide information on the migration of groups of people from one place to another without explicitly being an exhibit on immigration. Then, like all exhibits, the topic must be presented without any bias. With that in mind, I got to work on the first exhibit scheduled for the semester. The exhibit profiled ten women in science to highlight their contributions to science in celebration of Women’s History month. I gathered research on the ten women and then synthesized that research so it can be presented to the public in a concise and accurate way.

While I did research for the Women’s History Month exhibit, I also helped display two past exhibits in the library. The process of displaying an exhibit requires you to take many elements into consideration. These two exhibits were collections of long posters on the Armenian Genocide and on Evolution. There are three walls in the library on which exhibits are hung. From these three walls, you need to identify which will be seen first when someone walks in the door and which exhibit will be placed there. Once that has been decided, the posters are hung at equal distances from the ceiling and equal distances from each other, keeping in mind what eye-level would be comfortable for the viewer. I have also been able to experience something I know I will find no matter where I work in the future - meetings. In the first month or so of my internship, I have only been to a handful of meetings. Generally, the meetings discussed the work in progress or prepared for the work in the future. To be able to sit in on these meetings has been helpful in that it helps prepare me for future work experiences. One month in and this internship has allowed me to gain valuable experience in tasks that may be specific to careers related to my major but also to general aspects of work life that I am bound to come across.