My Internship Experience So Far at USG's Priddy Library

  

My name is Ethan Falk and I am currently an intern at the Universities at Shady Grove Priddy Library. I began working at the library in early February. I report directly to my supervisor Nickolas Falk (no relation) and also to his supervisor Irene Munster. So far, my duties as the Priddy Library intern include creating exhibits, uploading and maintaining the exhibits and collections on the Omeka and Neatline programs, as well as, being involved in meetings for various events.

 My first task as the intern at Priddy Library was to put together an exhibit for March, which is Women’s History Month. I incorrectly assumed that one month was plenty of time to think of, put together, print, and hang the exhibit, however, it took the entirety of the month and the finished exhibit was hung March 1. My initial step was to brainstorm an idea for the exhibit. Nickolas wanted me to avoid repeating past Women’s History Month exhibits, such as, Women in Science or Literature. I came up with the idea of showing women that are depicted on currencies. I was inspired after I realized that the United States only ever had Martha Washington on a banknote (this is not including coins, like the Sacagawea or Susan B. Anthony golden dollars or the special edition Hellen Keller quarter dollar). With the help and creative input of Eileen Harrington and Antoinette Negro, I decided to name the exhibit “Women on the Money.”

I began researching different countries central banks to find women who were depicted on banknotes. Once I found women from countries representing every continent, I began research on the women and searched for images of the banknote within the public domain. Finding public domain pictures proved to be difficult and I had to reach out to private companies and central banks of countries to gain access to copy write restricted images. The Central Bank of Paraguay was extremely cooperative and not only granted me permission, but supplied a better image of the requested banknote. Aside from seeking non-copy write images, the research had to be presented in a nonbiased and informational style since the exhibit was being published by the institution.

 

"Women on the Money" Exhibit on display at the Priddy Library

Merely producing the exhibit does not include the entire scope of the project. After compiling the exhibit into a finished project, the information and images need to be uploaded onto Omeka and Neatline. These are two programs that not only backup the information, but allow the information to be shared with cooperating institutions and students. Although Omeka and Neatline have relatively user friendly interfaces, the large and repetitive amount of metadata to be entered can be somewhat daunting. On top of entering the data for the exhibit I created, “Women on the Money,” I was also tasked with cross-referencing information on previous exhibits with the Priddy Library Archived Events site, Omeka’s data, Neatline’s data, and a Microsoft Excel sheet with the backup data. All of them need to match up with each other in order for information to be shared and published on a medium accessible to the public.

Once the work on the “Women on the Money” exhibit was complete, I began preliminary research on the next event. At some point this semester, the Priddy Library will be hosting a screening of a documentary on Julius Rosenwald, aptly titled, Rosenwald, by acclaimed American filmmaker Aviva Kempner. The Priddy Library plans on displaying an exhibit to highlight the importance Julius Rosenwald has had on the educational experience of African Americans in southern states during segregation. Meeting with Irene, Nickolas, and Leah Rufus, I created an outline for the prospective exhibit and started to compile images and information about Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools.

           

Another aspect of my internship that has been an educational experience has been the ability to sit in on meetings. It has shown me the complexity and invaluable resource of interdepartmental cooperation. Last year, Nickolas worked with Rachel Carstens, Coordinator from the Center for Academic Success (CAS) on an award winning event, “Keep Calm and Color.” The recognition that the event got encouraged the Priddy Library and CAS to hold the event again and I was able to sit in on the meeting discussing the parameters for relaunching the event this semester.