U I LL I N S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. nJ4Jniversity of Illinois Library School OCCASIONAL PAPERS Number 37 January 1ii95 Library Internships: History, Purpose, and a Proposal by Esther L. Stallmann Associate Professor, The University of Texas Graduate School of Library Science For thirty years the library profession has toyed with the idea of intern- ships 'but without conviction or enthusiasm. Now while education for librarian- ship is reshaping itself into a new pattern would seem a propitious time to review the idea in the light (a) of the use being made of the internship by other professions and (b) of current trends in library development and in library education. The ultimate objective of the discussion is the presenta- tion of a specific proposal for library internships reached after an enumera- tion of the major obstacles to such a program. The proposal raises and faces the problems and details to be faced by any school that ventures to employ the internship as a method of education, It is offered as a tentative state- ment in the hope that it will be considered, criticized, and improved by library administrators and educators alike. The discussion falls into five parts: (a) Internship in the Development of Library Education, (b) Internship as a Form of Education Used by Other Professions, (c) The Need for Library Internships Today, (d) Major Problems Faced by Any Present-Day Library Internship Plan, and (e) A Proposal for Library Internships, Internship in the Development of Library Education In the days before 1887 the man who wanted to become a librarian might follow one of two courses: (a) he might get himself appointed librarian of some library and there learn by doing, supplemented perhaps by observation in other libraries and by advice from other librarians; or (b) he might per- suade or permit another librarian to hire him and thus learn under the tute- lage of his employer. The latter course should have enabled him to master the essentials in a much shorter space of time if the employer knew how to run a library and was reasonably interested in showing someone else how. If the employer was exceptionally well informed and capable, he might teach more in a few years than his assistant working alone in an isolated one-man library could learn in ia lifetime, This method of learning how to do by working under the direction of some- one who knows how to do is termed, of course, "apprenticeship." Often both parties enter into an agreement--one to teach, the other to work for so long for so much. The apprentice in the course of a day's work does many things that do not teach him anything, but he does them because he has been hired to 2 do themo He comes to the apprenticeship without any special training for the work he is to do and expects when he leaves it to know how to perform the work of a good assistant if not that of a chief librariano After 1887 a third course of action was open to the man who wanted to become a librarian, He could go to library school° Here several librarians would teach him systematically and progressively by means of lectures, assigned readings, problems, and discussions, and thus save even more of his time by teaching him more in one year than he could pick up as an apprentice in twice the timeo The library school did not discard actual library work as a teaching method but added it to lectures, readings, problems, discus- sions, and laboratory work. "Practical work," "field work," and "practicum" were names often given to the actual library work required of the library school student° From 1887 to 1923 library schools continued to require students to work for several weeks of the school year in a library or libraries0 When Charles C. Williamson took a critical look at the administration of field work, he asked some embarrassing questions o(l) What was field work supposed to accom- plish: to test the student's ability, to clinch the classroom instruction, to develop skill, to aid the school in placement, or to give a breather to the faculty? What determined the student's assignment: a desire to correct a deficiency in his preparation, or to strengthen his preparation in the area of his greatest interest, or to send him to the most capable supervisor willing to receive him? Williamson's general conclusion was that a large amount of field prac- tice is open to question, "The primary purpose of the school is to lay a broad basis for skill in some type of professional work, not to develop that skill, and certainly not to impart skill in the routine processes which belong to the clerical grades of library serviceo" (2) The plea that field work should be actual library work under actual library conditions he rejected completely, Field work, he thought, should be planned and super- vised for the benefit of the student and not of the library. He recommended not field work but directed and supervised observation--both extensive and intensiveo After library schools were accredited under the 1933 standards of the American Library Association, the five Type I schools included no field work in the curriculumo The Williamson report had recommended that a year of experience separate the first year of library school education from the second year. It also assigned field work to the second year of preparation instead of the first. Willimason wrote: "The years immediately following the general professional course, together with a second year of specialized study, correspond to the medical student's interneshipo"(3) After field work had been dropped from the curriculum of some library schools and the time devoted to it decreased in other schools, the question of a library internship began to be raised0 At the New York-New England Library Conference in 19355 Wyllis Wright proposed the establishment for a period of five years of one hundred experimental internships for library school graduates to be financed perhaps by some foundation. He argued that "When the schools of medicine and of law had become almost the sole entrances C 1z k 5- to those professions, the advantages which had resided in the apprentice system of education were sorely missed and special methods were developed to supply the lack."(4) In discussing the proposal, Williamson said he was glad to hear someone raise the question "of the need of some more systematic supervision of a minimum period of experience following the first year in the professional school, that is for graduates who have not acquired their experience in one of the other ways .o o he hadj pointed out."(5) He recommended, however, that the internships finance themselves and that no foundation be asked for helpo These were depression years and library school graduates without expe- rience were finding it difficult to get work at any salary however small. It was a favorable time for the publication of the study on internship pre- pared by Francis St, John at the request of the AoLoAo Board of Education for Librarianship,(6) The pamphlet published in 1958 contains, to date, the best discussion of the subjecto It includes: (a) the various ways of using practical work in professional education, (b) the problems the library profession must face in setting up a system of internships, and (c) recom- mendations for a specific experimental internship program for the profession. In line with the Sto John recommendations the ToVoAo in cooperation with the AoLoAo Board of Education for Librarianship set up an internship programo The reports of these ToV.oA internships contain the best available statement of objectives, procedures, details of administration, and values of library internshipso(7-9) Although other internships were being served here and there, they were not reported in print fully and analytically as were the ToVoAo internshipso After World War II began, the importance of the national emergency belittled interest in personal development not connected with the crisis0 In this period interest in the internship--never very strong--seems to have declinedo Since 1940 very few articles have been written on library internships, \The term itself continues to be used loosely for apprenticeship, field work, or any kind of practicumo The objectives of the work have been, apparently, Sonly vaguely understood by some, and as a result internship has been cred- . ited with diverse and contradictory purposes0 M The Sto John study had defined internship as "supervised, planned train- k ing which allows the application of full theoretical training to actual, var- ied practice."(10) A recent article on internship in general offers a .slightly different definition: "o o o a phase of professional education in which a student works for a period of time in the field in order to develop .a capacity to carry professional responsibilities,"(11) A number of related terms will need definition before the objectives and values of the internship Scan be set apart from those of other forms of practical work--terms such as S"apprenticeship," "field work," "temporary employment," "individual problem assignments," "laboratory work," "case studies," "surveys," and "clerkships.(12) 4 In the papers presented at the Conference on Education for Librarianship held at the University of Chicago in 1949, internship was discussed three times. Ralph W. Tyler in his paper "Educational Problems in Other Profes- sions" listed the seventh development in present-day professional education as "that of building a closer and more appropriate connection between theory and practiceo"(13) The discussant following Tyler spent some time describ- ing the practicum used in social work° The third very brief mention of internship was made by Herman Henkle in his talk "Education for Special Librarianshipo" In 1949, the same year as the Chicago conference, something happened that was more important in the development of library internships than its mention in the conference paperso The Medical Library Association set up a plan of national certification for medical librarians and along with it an internship program complete with standards to be met by libraries which offer internships.(14) Under the standards adopted, two libraries have been approved--those at Vanderbilt and Tulane. This development seems to have come from special librarians, not from library educatorso Since 1948 the library educators have been occupied with the new library school standards, the new curricula, and have undoubtedly been too busy with preparations for the new degree program to spend time on side roads leadiL away from it or extending beyond it. Internship as a Form of Education Used by Other Professions Other professions have faced the problem of how best to combine theory and practice in education, how to lead from student life to independent pro- fessional life, how to bridge the gap between knowing theoretically and doing professionally, between working in a laboratory and working in the world0 No other profession is just like librarianship, and for this reason no other profession has reached a solution that will be exactly right for librar- ianship. It should be helpful, nevertheless, to notice the steps by which each profession has arrived at its present phase of internship education and the mechanics by which internship is made to work. Five professions will be considered briefly in turn--edicine, dietetics, clinical psychology, social work, and public administration--and a sixth--education--will be mentioned in conclusiono Medicine In this country hospital internships were started about one hundred and fifty years ago0 Until seventy-five years ago, it was not unusual for the medical student to pay for the privilege of obtaining experience in a hospital. The American Medical Association was established in 1847; the Council on Medical Education was established in 1904, and this was the beginning of defi- nite improvement in medical education. In 1914 the Council on Medical Educa- tion and Hospitals of the American Medical Association instituted a program of internship approval By 1925 about the same number of approved internships were available each year as there were medical school graduates ready to fill them. 5 Standards for hospital accreditation are set up by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals representing the College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the American Hospital Association, and the Canadian Medical Association Only 15 per cent of these accredited hospitals are also approved for internships. (Some not approved for internships are approved for residencies.) Over 11,000 approved internships are offered today to the 8,000 members of the graduating classes of the medical schools. Internships may take one of three forms: straight (in one area alone), mixed (with emphasis in one area but with service in two or more areas), and rotating (in four major areas).(15) It is recommended that no internship should be of less than twelve months duration. The fourth-year clerkship pre- cedes the internship, and the junior residency, either in a special area or in general practice, follows it. Internships--rotating preferably--are recommended for the prospective general practitioner and specialist alike. Very few doctors now fail to serve an internship. Some medical schools, beginning with Minnesota in 1910, do not award the degree until the intern- ship has been completed, but these schools are in the minority. Some states require the completion of an internship before the license is issued and some specify in detail the kind of internship that must have been completed. Dietetics The American Dietetic Association was established in 1917, and active membership in it is restricted to those who (a) hold "a bachelor's or advanced degree from an accredited college or university which has included or been followed by the basic academic work in Foods, Nutrition, or Institu- tional Management," and (b) have completed a satisfactory internship in an institution approved for the purpose by the Executive Board of the associa- tion, or, as an alternative, have acquired three years of acceptable experi- ence where, presumably, in-service training will have supplied the educa- tional equivalent of the internship.(16) An outline of internship training was approved by the association in 1927. Since 1929 actual inspection of institutions that wish to offer intern- ships has been carried out; at present inspection visits are made to each institution every other year by the Educational Director of the association. An institution that wishes to be approved submits an application along with a detailed program showing how it proposes to carry out its educational responsibility to the internso Final approval of an institution is not given until after a class of interns has completed its work.(17) About seven hundred students are now serving internships in over sixty- five institutions. Each student about to graduate from college applies for an internship to three institutions selected from the list of those apprv.d..(1 Notifications of appointment are mailed out on April 15 and November 15. The student is expected to accept or reject appointments within a week. Intern- ships last from nine to twelve months, and the stipend varies from nothing per month to--for those in the Army Medical Service--over $222 plus subsist- ence.(19) When the internship has been completed and the intern has become an active member of the American Dietetic Association, he accepts a position at a salary comparable to those paid to inexperienced library school grad- uates. (20) 6 Clincial Psychology The American Psychological Association was founded in 1892, and its active membership is limited to those who have published acceptable research of a psychological character and have received the PhoDo degree based in part upon "a psychological dissertation0" The association approves doctoral training programs in clinical and in counseling psychology and publishes a list of such programso(21) All programs of study approved by the association require each student to serve a one-year internship which must have been preceded by at least two years of appropriate graduate studyo Notices of impending internship vacan- cies are received at intervals by the Psychology Department and brought to the attention of the students, The stipend varies from $2 000 to $4,000 per year, the latter sum being offered by a federal agency.(22) The student receives six semester hours of credit for the year of work. All supervision is by the field agency, which sends to the department quarterly reports on the studento A committee of the American Psychological Association has worked on the problem of approving institutions for the acceptance of interns and has sum- marized its work thus: "Recommendation of standards for field training in clinical psychology was envisaged by the Board of Directors three years ago, In the interim the Committee has studied the problem and submits the present preliminary report,,o .o It is also thought that the report, with such mod- ifications as further experience dictates, may serve as a basis for the for- mal evaluation of field agencies if this course of action is later approved by the APAo"(23) This preliminary report presents a good analysis of the problems faced by a profession as it begins to set up standards for intern- ship trainingo It discusses the difference between the clerkship, which develops the technician,and the internship, which is concerned with the development of the professional mano Objectives and methods of teaching in practicum centers, administrative details of practicum training, and types and characteristics of agencies in which practicum training may be given are discussed at lengtho Even though the field agencies have not been approved for internships by the A.oPAo, all candidates for the Ph.Do degree in clinical psychology from institutions whose programs are approved by the AoPoAo are serving the one year of internship. Social Work Social work practicu--more often called "field work" or "clinical instruction"--is worthy of review because even though it differs in several details from the internship it undoubtedly fills some of the same needs and faces some of the same problemso Field work is a required course in all schooli of social work; its inclusion in the curriculum is a requirement for the school's accreditation; and its completion, along with other courses, is a reeuirement for membership in "the most comprehensive national association of social workerso" 7 The American Association of Social Workers, organized under another title in 1916, has "terminated admission of persons without professional education and adopted as a membership base the requirement of professional education secured in a member school of the AASSW."(24) This A.A.S.S.W., the American Association of Schools of Social Work, is the organization that accredits schools at the graduate level. In accredited schools "The social work curric- ulum consists of a well-integrated program of classroom instruction, field work . . . , and research culminating in a thesis or degree project undertaken by one or more students."(25) The program endorsed by the association covers two years of academic study at the terminus of which a professional master's degree is awarded. Field work is sometimes presented as part of a work-study program in the belief that practice and theory can best be present concurrently.(26) Elsewhere blocked field work has been scheduled--one semester of field work to follow a semester of study. Where the work-study plan is adopted, only local agencies can conveniently be used for field assignments; and where block field work of one semester is the practice, agencies selected for the work are likely to be located within the state. Public Administration Internships have been set up in both federal and state government, and a kind of practicum has been set up in city government. At the federal level internships have been established by the United States Civil Service Commission and also by the various agencies, including the Library of Congress.(27) They are planned especially for recent college graduates and for federal employees. Appointments are on a competitive basis involving standardized tests, multiple interviews, and "thorough inquiry procedure,"(28) The problems connected with internship seem to have been carefully analyzed and programs, in some agencies at least, carefully worked out.(29) Salaries for the federal internships, compared with other such salaries, are very high. The underlying motive for,the federal internships seems to be recruit- ment and training for the permanent federal service. As one bulletin explains: "If more interns have been trained than can be placed the problem of what to do with them becomes embarrassing. In these cases they tend to find positions in other agencies or leave the Government entirely, and the training has been wasted."(30) Internships in state government may be illustrated by those in New York. Each year twenty-five to thirty young men and women are selected to serve a public administration internship. Candidates for appointment must be college seniors or graduate students and must have completed courses in public admin- istration. If they are not graduate students, they must have had work expe- rience. The selection is usually limited to residents of the state or to studentt wuho have a:ttcnded. colleges in the state. Some state employees are selected to participate in the internship program and they are referred to as "trainees." Selection is competitive on the basis of both written and oral tests. Salaries here too are good--$3,541 for 1953-54. When the year is over the intern may be transferred to a permanent civil service postion.(31) 8 The objective of the program is said to be "the improvement of govern- ment administration through the selection and training each year of a small group of youths who are well qualified for junior executive positions in pub- lic service."(32) Education Some form of practicum has been used by schools and departments of educa- tion for a number of years. Practice teaching and cadet teaching are well- known examples° Internships in education are becoming more common--intern- ships in school administration and in teaching at all levels from elementary grades through college. Details of the administration of internships, and presumably the objectives also, exhibit so much variance that no discussion of them will be attempted, A good many of the characteristics of the intern- ship in education at present differ from the characteristics of internship in professions where the practice has been longer established and where it con- sequently has been regulated more uniformly0 The Need for Library Internships Today The problem of how best to build "a closer and more appropriate connec- tion between theory and practice" has been solved in some measure for some professions by the internship. It is a method by which librarianship too may make for the student the desired connection between theory and practice o Moreover there are other reasons--or perhaps only more particular facets of the same need to relate theory and practice--why the internship seems an excellent method by which to round out the education of the prospective librarian Need Created by Current Trends in Library Development Uneven library development, Uneven library development is a fact point- ed out in The Geography of Readi0ngo(33) Bibliographic centers, provisions for book storage, and newly established special libraries seem to increase rather than to dispel the concentration of libraries in the East, in the Mid- west, and on the west coast. Some library schools are not located in library centers; many library school students did not grow up in a library center. Students from schools located outside library centers need to become well acquainted with good examples of types of libraries not found nearby and to acquire first-hand acquaintance with methods of service not offered in the local area. There seems to be a tendency for uneven library development to perpetu- ate itself since it is brought about by indigenous factors, A region that contains few strong library schools, and few research collections, and few outstanding examples of the various types of libraries--public, college, spe- cial, and school--finds it hard to pull abreast of other regions with long- established schools and with many outstanding research collections and excel- lent examples of all types of libraries. Professional leadership and know- how are essential in the first region if comparative gains are to be made. Habit soon dulls the dissatisfaction felt by new employees with conditions enoutered on their first jobs, rather easily it seems, when comparison shows the employing library as good as others in the state or region. The 9 interest and support of the citizens of a state or a region are difficult to stir or shift without determined and convincing professional leadership. The determined, convincing, and well-informed professional leadership would be more likely to develop in an area if many of the new librarians who take posi- tions there could have worked for a time in a community where the best pro- fessional service was offered, public relations were excellent, staff morale was high, cooperation among libraries was well worked out, and professional organizations were professional in programs and work, Demonstrations of library service have been used to convince the public of the values inherent in library service; similar demonstrations for the staff should convince them of the possibilities inherent in library service. The first work after library school is very important in the librarian's development: impressions are likely to cut deep; habits of professional life are being formed. The setting up of goals to shoot at may be of as much value in fashioning the mature librarian as was the diploma, particularly for one who may work in geographical or professional isolation, State library development plans. Many states are attempting to formu- late library development plans. Personnel is one of the most important ele- ments in the picture. If before starting to work in the state young librar- ians could have seen good examples of the type of administration, service, and cooperation being advocated, the plan would be supported more enthusi- astically and convincingly and therefore would stand a better chance of being sold to the public. Increasing specialization. As library specialization increases and library schools remain small, the most certain and effective preparation for service in some types of libraries would seem to be subject specialization plus general library training plus internship in the proper type of library or of work. The Medical Library Association has anticipated this and set up its own standards for internship. Surely some other national library associ- ations would do well at least to consider the same solution. Need Created by Current Trends ih Library Education Immaturity of students in new program. Under the new program which makes it possible for a student to receive a master's degree after from two to four semesters of continuous study, it is not unusual for an immature student without any library experience to set about writing a thesis. With- out some experience for ballast this first piece of research can be unreal and pretty useless, Under the previous degree program a student--if he fol- lowed recommendations--completed one year in school, one year of experience, and after that might return to school to work for his master's degree. Thus the thesis problem was met by a student with at least two semesters of suc- cessful library school work and one year of experience behind him. Little incentive for work beyond the first degree. Now that a student receives his master's degree at the end of the first interval of study, what further professional study is to be offered him if he is not interested in research but in administration, or reference, or technical processes, or adult education, or music librarianship? Although Ralph Munn came to the 10 conclusion that what most librarians need is more liberal education and sub- ject specialization rather than a second year of library science, he agreed that those who are to become administrators and department heads could profit from further professional study.(3$) An internship that is educational offers a second year of training, at a price that can be met by most studentso More theory in the curriculum. Although some insist that library schools are teaching today just what they used to teach, and students insist that they are teaching all of that and more, it is true that more of theory and less of techniques are taught now than were taught twenty-five years ago. The students are correct in one observation: library literature is increasing each year and some of each year's output is important enough for introduction to students. It is difficult to prepare a student in one year or a little more with the information, attitudes, habits of work, and interests the prac- ticing librarians are going to look for.. If preparation could be continued through a year of internship, better subsequent performance could then be expected. Major Problems Faced by Any Present-Day Internship Plan Fifteen years after St. John discussed "the points that must be consid- ered in planning a method of internship training for the library profession," some, if not all, of the major problems may be classified under five headings --five "lacks": (a) lack of understanding of the term, (b) lack of libraries able and willing to accept student interns, (c) lack of machinery for the approval of libraries for internship, (d) lack of a continuing and fairly constant supply of students wishing to serve an internship, and (e) lack of machinery for the selection of interns on a competitive basis0 A summary concludes the section. Lack of Understanding of the Term More than a definition of "library internship" is involved Both the words and the idea need to be understoodo First, some librarians do not understand. the connotations of the word "internship" as it is used in other professions today. Second, all members of the profession are wanting'a pre- cise and full explanation of the idea, for it has not been written, has not even been formulated. There has been no concensus on objectives, needs, methods, or administration of the library internship. Librarians, library schools, and students have not agreed upon what constitutes a satisfactory internship experienceo This second understanding cannot be reached without careful analysis of the subject and wide experimentation, carefully docu- mented. Exploitation of the student--the one danger most dreaded by other professions--is less likely to occur when librarians understand the objec- tives and values of the internship and the experience sought for the intern0 Lack of Libraries Able and Willing to Accept Interns A library's ability to provide appropriate experience for an intern will be determined by (a) staff, (b) resources and services offered the pub- lic, and (c) administrative details0 A library's willingness will be deter- 11 mined by the staffo A library may be able but unwilling, or willing but unable. Many will be both unable and unwilling; a few will be both able and willing. Staff is the first hurdleo Williamson observed that comparatively few librarians "have the time, the desire, the knowledge, or the skill to super- vise" the field work of a student (35) Data on staff presented in recent surveys seem to confirm Williamson's judgment.(36-37) It is, however, common knowledge that some excellent library supervisors are employed, some in equal- ly excellent libraries. A supervisor has to teach; a good supervisor should be able to teach an intern as readily as a permanent staff member, Chances are that some of the ablest supervisors will be willing to supervise an intern. The time the librarian has to give to the intern might be considered either a staff or a resources problem. Time is, patently, an important con- sideration in the assessment of staff ability and willingness to accept an interno The resources and services of the library should be such that the student is given an opportunity to become acquainted with the books, tools, and meth- ods characteristic of the best libraries within the subject field or area of work selected for the internship. Breadth as well as quality should be con- sidered when assessing either resources or services, Administrative difficulties are the ones that first shut the door from the librarian's point of viewo A library under civil service would probably need to reserve an unclassified position for the intern, Since such posi- tions must be accounted for in the budget, there should be a possibility if not a probability of receiving applications from prospective interns at regu- lar intervals It seems that in other professions the most desirable intern- ships are applied for year after year by more students than can be accepted while the less desirable positions may go begging when there are more intern- ships than internso Writers on medical internships have mentioned the dispar- ity that sometimes exists between stipend and experience offered and have said that often the higher the stipend the poorer the experience. Interns seem not to be deceived for long, and the better students seek the hospitals that offer superior experience in spite of the stipend,and as a consequence, it is pointed out, the superior student becomes stronger as his education pro- gresses and the mediocre one becomes less good by comparison. Time and student judgment seem to assure applicants for the internships that offer the best experience0 Probably no school or profession could or should guarantee a continuous supply of interns to any institution. The special library in a nonpublic organization may find it administra- tively impossible to accept an intern. Private organizations accept dietetic interns and accounting interns On the other side of the ledger, stores with staff, resources, and service to offer the internships have sometimes refused to do so unless the interns agree to accept permanent employment with them later, although it is common knowledge that many business concerns offer an excellent training course to new employees only to have some employees resign when the training is completed0 Probably some private organizations would find it possible to accept interns and others would not. Actually it is usually possible to locate a library with a similar book collection in a pub- lic or semipublic institution so that the students need not necessarily suffer. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ,ULINOt 12 Lack of Machinery for the Approval of Libraries for Internships When students may elect to serve an internship anywhere in the United States the approval of libraries by a national organization would be of invaluable assistance to the school, This seems particularly necessary in the special library field. As varied and dissimilar as special libraries have become, it would seem that more competent judgment about their compara- tive merits for an internship could be reached by the national library asso- ciation concerned in cooperation perhaps with a representative from the Association of American Library Schools. Since the Medical Library Associa- tion has approved libraries for internships, it is now a simple matter for a library school to make arrangements for a student to serve an internship in a medical libraryo(14) The plan set up by the Medical Library Association makes possible, incidentally, the control of the number of certified medical librarians Lack of a Constant Supply of Students Wishing to Serve an Internship In some professions this constant supply of students who wish to serve an internship is brought about by pressure--by requirements (a) set up for professional school degrees, or (b) established for state or national certi- fication, or (c) to be met for membership in the national organization con- cernedo Without such requirements, however, the supply of applicants seems likely to increase when the experience can be attested by enough interns who have completed the work, As long as library school enrollments remain small, the total number of interns cannot be large0 Only analysis, experimentation, and time can solve the problemo Lack of Machinery for the Selection of Interns Along with the machinery for the approval of libraries for internships, there should be some machinery--or an agreed upon method--for the selection of interns on a competitive basis0 Competition adds prestige. When the sti- pend is looked upon as an honor, somewhat like a fellowship, students are more likely to want to serve an internship0 It is reasonable, too, for each library to want the best student available for intern rather than the first to applyo It would be possible for the library to require and weigh scbres on standard examinations, multiple interviews, and other evidence of the stu- dent's promise and personality along with his library school record and recommendations in an effort to select from the applicants the most desirable intern The American Dietetic Association has apparently eliminated some of the difficulties encountered in the appointment of medical interns. The associa- tion permits the prospective intern to place only three applications, each of which must be endorsed by the university from which he received his degree, and requires that the notification of appointment of both interns and alternates be mailed by all institutions on the same date twice a year. Prospective interns are then required to accept or reject all offers within a week. The internships, of course, do not all begin on the same date, and they are not all for the same number of weeks0 15 Summary These problems will cease to be problems when the internship idea has been widely accepted and put into operation for a large number of library school graduates each year--or when it has been dropped completely, A large number of interns would necessitate some degree of regulation and uniformity in the selection of libraries and in the selection oi students for the intern- ships, Only national library associations are in a position to bring about such uniformity. Fortunately large numbers of students will not suddenly elect to serve an internship,and in the interval is the time for analysis of the problem, experimentation with the method, and study of the results in the hope of arriving at a clear-cut statement of objectives, an appraisal of methods, and at something better than a guess at the value of the internship, In the meantime these problems do not prevent a library school from set- ting up an internship program for its students, but they add an element of uncertainty to the venture, Given the right student and the right library and staff nothing else is essential to bring about excellent educational expe- rience for the student. Without the right kind of student and without the happiest selection of library and staff, the internship willonot be as reward- ing as it should be regardless of the trappings and red tape that may surround it. Actually most regulations and red tape are only an effort to place the right student in the right library as often as possible--oftener than if the procedure were left to the chance that now determines placement, A Proposal for Library Internships Below is a detailed and specific plan for implementing the intern proposal which could be adopted, with necessary modifications, by any graduate library school. The plan calls for a report or thesis to be written by the student based on his intern experience, The prospective intern referred to in this proposal is presumed to be the holder of a bachelor's degree, and before the internship begins, will have completed all course work for the master's degree except the three-hour thesis, Objectives of the Internship Program For the Intern Objectives for the intern may be stated in abbreviated form as follows: 1. Give him an opportunity to know--as only a professional employee can know--a first-rate library and staff and to see there not only procedures and techniques, administration and service, but also problems, possibilities, and the relation of the library to its public and to society0 2. Give him an opportunity to practice what he learned in library school and, under close supervision, insure the correct interpretation and applica- o tion of his knowledge. 3. Give him an opportunity to adapt himself to the profession. Under close and kindly supervision and under the most favorable circumstances let him set the pattern for the librarian he will become. 14 The three objectives listed above may be elaborated and stated in many different wayso For example, they might read as follows: 1. Permit close acquaintance with a first-rate library-in-action; pro- mote an understanding of its objectives, its functions, its problems; and encourage careful and critical analysis of its procedures and service° 2. Give the intern through his observation of the staff of the library a standard of accomplishment with which he can measure himself in later years. 3o Bring about the use of what was learned in library school and by so doing demonstrate its value and make it more meaningful. 4o Provide an opportunity for the mastery of techniques but not neces- sarily for the development of skillo 5o Emphasize and encourage habits of work, of questioning and investi- gating library problems that will carry over into the professional life of the individual in his later career, 6. Accustom the individual while under supervision to assume responsi- bilityO 7. Emphasize the possibilities of accomplishment in the profession and reinforce professional attitudes and ambitions. For the Participating Library 1. Help make better librarians. Contribute to the development of suc- cessful librarians what no library school can contribute and thus play an important role in the improvement of library personnel. Indirectly each and every library would, in time, profit from any improvement in the preparation of personnel. 2. Introduce a form of in-service training for department heads and assistants that will lead them to rethink their purposes and procedures; that will encourage in them a more chitical attitude toward their work; and through contact with library school students necessitate a rational justifi- cation for their methods and services, 3o Add to the staff the services of a library school student at about half the salary of a library school graduateo The difference in preparation between an intern and a library school graduate is one three-hour course-- the thesis. For the Library School The internship should assist the school in carrying out its major objec- tive, which is, of course, to contribute to the development of librarianship and the improvement of libraries and library service. The education of future librarians is one of the ways by which the school carries otit its objectives. The internship, if properly planned and carried out by a superior staff in a superior library, would contribute greatly to the education of future librarians° 15 To elaborate, the library school's objectives may be expanded as follows: 1. Improve the education of future librarians, broaden their horizons, and facilitate their entry into professional responsibility. 2. Bring the faculty closer to present-day libraries and library prob- lems thereby making their interpretations more alert, their teaching more cogent, and their research more vitalo 3. Provide a more immediate and more certain check on the teaching now being done in the library school--on its scope, its quality, and its practi- cality. Selection of Participating Libraries It is difficult to identify and to define the bases for the selection of institutions in which internships may profitably be served. A committee on medical internships put it this way: "We have boiled down our conclusions as to what type of hospital is appropriate for the internship to a single crite- rion. To quote the Essentials, it is a hospital in which 'the educational benefits to the intern are considered of paramount importance, with the serv- ice benefits to the hospital of secondary significanceo'"(38-39) The commit- tee went on to point out that the hospital's major emphasis on the education of the intern does not result in any weakening of the hospital's proper function--care of the sick: "We do not mean that the hospital which offers outstanding educa- tional opportunity to the intern should receive no service from the intern in return. We do mean that when education is the primary empha- sis, excellent service, as a rule, goes along with it, .o o "In trying to describe the type of hospital appropriate for intern- ship training, we all had a deep feeling that good education and good patient care are by no means contradictory. The highest educational standards can be an enormous boon to both patient and his doctor."(38) If this same criterion were applied to the selection of libraries in which an intern may appropriately serve, the libraries chosen would be those in which the education of the intern was considered of more importance than the serv- ice to be secured from the intern, Although the description of the libraries sought for internships may be boiled down to a single criterion, the criterion must then be elaborated and made more specific if it is to be applied. Educational benefits to the intern cannot, for example, be of paramount importance in a library that is desperately in need of more staff members. 1Nor could the education of an intern be of paramount importance in a "one-man" library, The demands made on a library staff by an internship program were recognized by the Subcoamit- tee on Internship of the Medical Library Association when they set up their standards for libraries that might accept interns: "The establishment and carrying through of an internship program requires much time and effort on the part of the librarian and other staff members of the teaching library, Indeed, it cannot be done without their willingness to sacrifice many of 16 their own desires in order to further this program of training for medical librarianship.~40) Requirements to be made of a library that accepts an intern may conveniently be divided into those that pertain to the staff and those that pertain to the library. Listed in outline form, the following requirements would seem to be basic; that is, would seem to be reasonable standards to be met by any library that accepts an intern Tor training. Minimum Basic Standards for Staff o1 The library should be adequately staffed, 2o The library should be staffed by a minimum of two professional librarians and an adequate number of nonprofessionals. 3. The librarian should have completed a minimum of three years of experience in the same type of library as that in which he is now serving, and a minimum of five years of professional library experience in all. The assistant librarian should have completed a minimum of three years of library experience, one year of which should have been in this same type of library, 4. The chief librarian should have completed a minimum of one year of experience in his present position. 5o Both the librarian and the assistant librarian should meet minimum standards of education established by the national organization of librar- ians from the particular type of library represented or, if such standards have not been set up, should meet standards for similar work set up in the AoL.A. Classification and Pay Plans, o . One or both should have graduated from an accredited library school. 6. The chief librarian and assistant should want to accept the intern and be in sympathy with the idea of internship, The staff should have both the desire and the ability to teach, (This may be the most important single qualification ) 7. The staff should maintain a critical approach to the problems of librarianship and should be aware of the trends in current professional thought. They should be open-minded students themablves, 8, The morale of the staff should be high and staff members should enjoy their work, 9o The staff, of course, should be fully competent and should be rated as above average in performance by superiors and by professional concensus. 10, In case a unit within a large library is under consideration as a place where the internship is to be served, the above staff requirements would apply to the staff of the specific unit concerned, Minimum Basic Standards for the Library I. The library should be well organized and not in process of original organization of of movingo 17 2. An up-to-date staff manual should be maintained. 3. The library should meet the minimum standards set by the profes- sional organization it serves if such standards have been formulated. It should also meet the standards set by the national organization of librar- ians from the particular type of library represented if the latter standards have been formulated. 4o The library's book collection should be large enough to be adequate for the demands made upon it and should be representative of materials in the subject fields covered. 5. Service demands on the library should be heavy enough and broad enough to present a true picture of the possibilities of service realized in the best libraries of this type at the present time. 6. The library should, ideally, be approved for internship by the national association of librarians from the particular type of library repre- sented, or it must be reviewed by at least one member of the faculty of the library schoolo Organization and Conduct of the Internship This section has been written not with a desire to standardize the internship as it may be carried out at various libraries but with a wish to indicate as definitely as possible the type of experience that is sought for the studento It is meant to cover the most essential elements in the organi- zation and conduct of an internship. 1. Supervisor. One professional staff member should be designated by the chief librarian to be responsible for the intern during his entire stay and to be in charge of planning his program of work although other staff members will presumably have a part in his education, 20 Program. The program of work for the intern should be planned before his arrival and not left to chance. Any limitations to be imposed on the par- ticipation of the intern in the work of the library or department should be recognized and enumerated. An outline of the techniques and procedures to be masteredshould be prepared. The amount of time likely to be required on the various projects should be decided on the basis of the student's need for an over-all picture of the library's work. If a statement of the student's responsibilities and duties could be prepared and sent him or given him on his arrival, he might, as a result, be able more promptly to fit himself into the place he is to fill on the staff 3o Orientation, A definite orientation program should be planned for the intern and carried out0 This may include observation, conferences, quizzes, assigned reading of staff manual and other tools. 4. Scope of the work. The area in which the internship is to be offered should be agreed upon before the student is accepted0 For example, the area might encompass the work of the entire library in the case of a special library; it might include two or even three units such as the public service units of a larger library; it could be restricted to a department or possibly to a unit within a department in the very large library0 All phases of the work of the institution or unit should . if possible, be covered by observation, reading, discussion, or participation so that an understanding of the whole may result. Rotation of duties should be provided, If the library is a large depart- mentalized one, assignments of not less than two months are probably advisable in any one unit for actual work but assignments of two weeks, or two days, or two hours for observation, perhaps with some participation to be followed by discussion, may be considered a part of the general orientation plan, Visits to other libraries in the area would be in order; reports and investigations on any subject might be assigned. Reading of current profes- sional literature should be required. Library meetings should be attended by the intern--staff meetings, local library club meetings, and any others that promise to be worth while. The intern may well be required to become familiar with nonlibrary phases of the community or the organization of which the library is a part. Teaching exercises, written reports, and quizzes may well be included in the plan of work, The scope of work offered the student should be decided by the library, of course, and not by the student. Anything the student does on scheduled time--work, observation, attendance at meetings, visits to other libraries-- he does only at the direction of the library and under its supervision. 5. Supervision. Intelligent direction and close supervision must be given the intern during the entire work period. He should attack one problem after another and should be allowed to assume more responsibility only when the supervisor judges him capable of it. Conferences between the intern and his supervisor should be held fre- quently, and conferences with others on the staff should be made a feature of his training. Conferences are for the purpose of guidance, to find out what the intern knows and thinks about what he sees and to correct false im- pressions; they are for the imparting of information; they are for discussion of problems of the library and of the profession. It is realized that the justification for the conference will depend to some extent on the alertness, responsiveness, and interest of the intern, 6, Attitude of the student, The intern's role should be that of staff member. He should not be catered to, nor coddled, nor favored. The intern is as much subject to the direction and professional judgment of the super- visor and chief librarian as is any other member of the staff. The intern is expected to adapt himself to the conditions of the supervising library and to perform any work assigned him to the best of his ability. To learn to work consistently, day after day at whatever task is assigned, whether pleas- ing or annoying, is in itself an initiation into the work of the world, pro- fessional or otherwise. 7, Reords and reportso The intern should keep a daily log of his woXrk assignments for transfer to the director of the library school at the end of his internship. This may be reviewed by the supervisor of the intern at any time. 18 19 The supervisor should keep a record of the quality of performance by the intern. A report on the intern should be made to the school at the end of the first month of work and at the close of the internship period. Sample forms for the reports should be provided by the school before the beginning of the internship period. Letters about the intern written by the librarian to the library school would, of course, be most welcome at all times. Details of the Contract or Understanding Between the Library and the School and Between the Library and the Student The School's Part 1. The school should not send for internship any student it is not willing to vouch for as at least average from the point of view of intelli- gence, preparation, personal qualities, and promise. 2. The school should be frank and honest about the student in all correspondence. 3. The school should supply, or require the student to supply, records, transcripts, applications, and reports requested by the library. 4. The school should give reasonable assurance of the health of the intern, following a physical examination. 5. The library should, therefore, be able to assume that the intern will come with a good background of library education, serious in purpose, eager to work, reliable in performance, willing to learn, cooperative in atti- tude, and adaptable. The Library's Part 1. Length of service. A minimum period of six months should be required by the school, but the library may ask that the internship cover a period of nine or eleven months. Length of service should be agreed upon before the internship is started. The student should be required by the school to finish the internship regardless of offers of permanent employment or other inducements. In the event that the teaching library should offer the intern a regular staff appointment to begin before the internship is ended and the intern accepts, he would promptly sacrifice the time he had completed toward his internship, and experience gained in that position could not be used as the basis for a thesis. The library could, at any time, offer the intern a regu- lar staff position to begin at the close of his internship, and he could accept or reject the offer without detriment to the use of his internship as the basis for his thesis. 2. Salary. Salary or stipend should cover the cost of living for one person in the community. The maximum salary offered should not ordinarily be more than half that offered by the same library to a library school grad- uate without experience. 3, Hours. Hours should be set Iby the library. The schedule should be determined by the library. Hours on duty per week should not ordinarily exceed those for the regular staff. 20 4, Vacations. These should be set by the library. Holidays off should not exceed those granted the regular staff. Except for the legal holidays no actual vacation should be included in the internship period of six months. 5. Illnesso The library should assume no personal or financial respon- sibility for the welfare of the student. Salary should not be paid for absence due to illness when it exceeds one week in a six month internship. Time lost through illness could, however, be worked out at the end of the internship if that were the wish of the library. 6, Outside employment. The library should be entitled to the student's interest and energy,and therefore the student should not be permitted to per- form any outside work for remuneration, bonus, salary, or gift, The teaching library should not pay the intern for overtime, for work on holidays, or for any service other than that covered by the contract. 7, Responsibility of the library for permanent employment for the stu- dent. The library would have no responsibility to offer employment to the student or to aid him in finding employment after the internship is finished. Ideally the student will locate employment in another library rather than in the one in which he serves his internship. 8. Type of work to be performed. This should be decided by the library with the understanding that only incidental manual or clerical work is to be required. It is understood that in an emergency due to absence of regular staff or similar causes the student might be asked to do what any profes- sional librarian would be asked to do--to meet the emergency. (The emergency should, however, seldom extend beyond two weekso) Experience gained should be varied and broad enough to cover the work of one type of library, or--in the case of the large library--of one department--perhaps even one section of the library. 9. Report on the student's worko The library should report to the school on the quality of the student's work at the end of the first month of work, and, in more detail, at the completion of the student's work, The school should send report forms to the library for the purpose before the internship is started, 10. Student's report to the library° If the library wishes to receive from the student a report and evaluation of the internship, it should be free to ask for one to be prepared, presumably on library time and under the librar- ian's supervision. The student should be required to keep a daily log of his work assign- ments for submission to the school at the conclusion of the internship. The librarian would be welcome to examine this log at any time, 11. Requirements and contracts. The library should provide the student, before.he begins his work, with a simple statement of what it expects of him, It should provide him also with any printed orientation material that it may use for its new staff members. The library may wish to enter into a written contract with the student whereby it agrees to supervise his work for a stated period at a given stipend while the student agrees to conditions set forth by the library--including the completion of the internship. 21 12. Separation. The student whose work, conduct, or attitude proves unsatisfactory could be separated from the internship at any time. The school should be notified in writing of all attending circumstances, if pos- sible before the separation, if not, immediately after. The library should be willing to answer any additional questions the school may wish to ask about the decision. Suggested Outline for the Intern's Report (Thesis) The student's thesis would be under the direction of the school, to ful- fill requirements of the school, and should be written after the completion of the internship. It should not be prepared during hours the student is on duty in the library. If the student is asked to prepare a report to the library, this would have nothing to do with his thesis. The school alone would judge the thesis, and, on its evaluation of the thesis, school credit would be granted or withheld for the work. After the degree has been awarded the thesis should, of course, be available for examination by the library. The report probably should cover three things: (a) the library where the work was done, (b) the work itself, and (c) the student. Under each item the logical order of discussion would seem to be: (a) description, (b) anal- ysis, and (c) evaluation. An outline might reasonably include the following: I. The library A. The public--school, company, or community served B. The library proper 1. Resources a. Books b. Personnel c. Money d. Quarters 2. Service 3. Administration and organization 4. Evaluation a. Strong points b. Weak points C. Comparative (and documented) standing or rating of the library II. The work A. Summary schedules or charts of work assignments (to show types of work covered and hours spent on each--to be based on log) B. Summary descriptions of work observed and performed C. Analysis--to cover perhaps: 1. Acquisition of bibliographical information 2. Practice of techniques 3. Understanding of the library as institution or agency a. Purpose and objectives b. Functions and methods c. Standards aimed at and assessment of results 22 4, Orientation into the profession Do Evaluation of experience 1. Strong points 2o Weak points III. The student Ao Analysis--assets, liabilities, needs B. Evaluation Co Purpose or plans for the future FOOTNOTES 1. Williamson, C. C.: Training for Library Service; a Report Prepared for the Carneie Corporation of New York. New York, 1923, pp. 53ý8. 2. Ibid, p. 64. 3. Ibido, p. 65. 4o Wright, Wo E.: Internships in Library Education. Library Journal, 60: 781-784, Octo 15, 1935. 5o Williamson, Co C.: A Cooperative Scheme, Library Journal, 60:798-799, Octo 15, 1935o The "other ways" of acquiring experience that he pointed out were: (a) before library school, (b) voluntary experience during library school, (c) part-time work during library school, and (d) alter- nate periods of work and study. 6. St. John, F. Ro: Internship in the Library Profession, Chicago, Amer- ican Library Association, 1938. 7o Harris, Helen M., et al.: ToV.A. Experiments with Internship. A.L.A. Bulletin, 34:163-169,March 1940. 8. Baker, Elizabeth E.: Internship in the T.V.A. A.L.A. Bulletin, 35: 25-26, Jan. 1941. 9.o Howard, Frances P.: The Intern's Report. A.L.A. Bulletin, 35:26-30, Jan. 1941. 10. St. John, op. cit., p. 8. 11 Newell, C. Ao, and Will, R. F.: What Is an Internship? School and Society, 74:358-360, Dec. 8, 1951. 12. Definitions of most of these terms are included in the article cited in reference 11. 15. Tyler, Ro W.: Educational Problems in Other Professions. In Berelson, Bernard, ed.: Education for Librarianship. Chicago, American Library Association, 1949, ppe 22-58. 14. Report of the Sub-committee on Internship. Medical Library Association u letin,7:3733-36, Oct. 1949. 15. Four areas are: (a) internal medicine, (b) pediatrics, (c) obstetrics and gynecology, and (d) surgery. 16. The American Dietetic Association, Chicago, 1950, pp. 4-5. (pamphlet) 17. Letter from Ruth M Yakel, Executive Secretary, American Dietetic Asso- ciatioi, Dec. 10, 1953. 18 American Dietetic Association: Dieteti Internships Approved by the Executive Board. Chicago, The Association, 1953. 19. U.S. ry edical Service: Ary Diettic Internships. (folder) 25 20. David, Lily Mo: Economic Status of Library Personnel, 1949. Chicago, American Library Association, 1950, p. 28o 21. American Psychological Association. Education and Training Board: Doctoral Training Programs in Clinical Psychology and in Counseling Psy- chology, American Psychologist, 8:245, June 1953o 22o Wolfle, Helen- Available Internships in Psychology, 1949-1950. American Psychologist, 4:43-47, Feb. 1949o 253 American Psychological Association. Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology: Standards for Practicum Training in Clinical Psychology; Ten- tative Recommendations, American Psychologist, 5:594-609, Nov. 1950. 24, American Association of Social Workers: Social Work Year Book, 1951o New York, The Association, 1951, po 159o The purpose of the association includes, "to encourage through its membership requirements proper and adequate basic preparation and training and to foster a homogeneous group which can develop competent social work opinion," Ibide, po 578o 25. Ibid., p, 1640 26. Wright, Helen Re: Discussion, In Berelson, opo cito, ref. 15, ppo38-43. 27. Goodrum, Co A.: LoCo Trains Recruits. Library Journal, 77:393-396, March 1, 1952o 28. U.S. Civil Service Commission: Guide for Internship Training in the Federal Service (Pamphlet 46, June 1952) Washington, D.C., U.S. Govern- ment Printing Office, 1952, p 5.3 29. U.S. Civil Service Commissions Junior Management Assistant Programs in the Federal Civil Service. (Pamphlet 30, July 1952) Washington, D.Co, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952, 30. U.S. Civil Service Commission, op. cit., ref. 28, p. 30. (Underlining in quotation added by the author) 31. New York (State) Civil Service Commission: Careers for College Graduates in New York State Government. Albany, 1955, ppo 15-16. 32. Ibido, p. 15. 335 Wilson, Le R. The Geography of Reading Chicago, American Library Asso- ciation and the University of Chicago Press, 1958, pp, 118-1235 354 Munn, Ralph: Conditions and Trends in Education for Librarianshipo New York, Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1956, p o 17 35, Williamson, ope cit,, ref 1,I pc 62. 36. Bryan, Alice I,: The Public Librarian, New York, Columbia University Press, 1952, 370 Southeastern States Cooperative Library Survey: Libraries of the South- east. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1949,ppo 218--52o 380 Report of the Advisory Committee on Internships to the Council on Medi- cal Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association, Journal of the American Medical Association, 151:499-510, Feb. 7, 1955. 39. Revision of the Essentials of an Approved Internship. Journal of the American Medical Association, 151 : 579-585, Febo 14, 1955. 40. Report of the Subcommittee on Internship. Medical Library Association Bulletin, 40:441-442, Oct. 1952, The actual requirements set up for the medical library in which an intern may be accepted are listed in the article cited in reference 14.