A Librarian's Internship in a Campus Computing Center: Lessons Learned and Implications for Community College Libraries

Abstract

This research reports on the conduction of a needs assessment and the development of a training and evaluation program for a student associate position at the campus computing center. The center provides faculty support for a range of software and technologies. At the project's onset, the majority of students performed basic office duties such as greeting faculty, logging computers, as well as answering phones and referring requests to the appropriate center staff member. The project's goal aimed to enhance students' technology skills to improve the level of service they provided to faculty. The qualitative study included interviews with current student employees to gauge their digital literacy competencies as well as discussions with the students' supervisors and full-time center staff members on the types of skills necessary for upgrading the position. The second phase of the project centered on the development of a training plan and skills assessment for the student workers. The authors draw on the similarities between libraries and campus computing centers to advocate for the conduction of technology training programs for library staff. In addition, the article proposes increased collaboration between libraries and campus computing centers to enhance their collective services and programs for patrons.

How graduates make meaning of their on-campus employment: A retrospective view

“…Institutions should take advantage of all resources they have and develop on-campus internships and work experiences that collaborate with academics and give real-world experience (Blummer, Martin & Kenton, 2009;King & Lindsay, 2004;NASPA, 2003).…”