Special Collections Assistant Internship - Iowa City

Job Description

This is a non-paid intern position with the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. 

Intern will work with professional librarians and archivists to develop and maintain historical collections used by the public, thus gaining skills and practice as cultural workers and help SHSI protect and make available many valuable resources about Iowa’s past.

The intern will work in Special Collections under the direction of the senior cataloger, who will assign duties which match the intern’s skills and interests. Intern may prepare brief descriptive records for collection items, research or seek information as needed for cataloging, prepare shelf cards and file in shelf list catalog, check or verify holdings information, review and label boxes for microfilm, prepare spine and cover labels for newly processed materials, and help reshelf or organize collections for public use. The intern will also gain experience with the day-to-day operations of the Library and Archives in Iowa City and be exposed to the collections and patrons who utilize them. They will gain some knowledge of other DCA programs and services.

Requires attention to detail and striving for accuracy, patience when completing repetitive or tedious tasks, typing and basic computer skills, familiarity with relational database development, and ability to work well with others in a team environment. This type of work requires good eyesight, some hand skills, working knowledge of the English language, and ability to adapt.

Interactions with experienced librarians, archivists, and historians will expand the intern’s understanding of our work, they will be exposed to the professional literature and MARC cataloging standards guiding our work, and one-on-one mentoring will be ongoing. History or Library Science background desirable.

DCA/SHSI/Iowa City: Mary Bennett, Special Collections Coordinator & Allison Johnson, Cataloger

Applicants for positions in this class must be currently enrolled students in a degree program at an accredited educational institution, as determined by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services – Human Resources Enterprise.