Part of the course requirements for the practicum involves preparing a presentation to summarize my experience. Most of this week I looked over information collected for the archives, collections, and metadata. I outlined a summary paper for IHP and based the presentation on the different issues, situations, and findings throughout the previous weeks. It was a nice project to get some perspective. Until now, I was focused on details--now able to see a bigger picture.
Because this internship was remote and self-motivated, at this point I have been beginning to anticipate the end with some anxiety. I realized as I began to summarize, that I did not have EVERY college and university represented. I had made the choice to exclude any further historical societies, due to time limitations and the likely scope and resources of such repositories being unlikely to turn up collections of interest. The stats geek in me says the variety of repositories I did survey are a good start and include the largest public schools most likely to have more resources and diversity of collecting. I am also realizing that it is hard to maintain consistency over fourteen weeks, especially with how much I learned and tweaked in my process over time. I am my best critic, and I am just hopeful the product I give to IHP is helpful.
Considering the project as a whole has stoked some inspiration about my capstone paper, and now I am looking beyond this moment and excited to build on my knowledge and move forward.
I would not be doing justice to this experience if I did not place it in context. During the first part of the pandemic, when everything was uncertain and fearful, I was home from work. This semester was always going to be demanding since I work full time, needed to log an average of 10 hours per week, and still had coursework to complete. The COVID-19 fatigue and continuing despair will be documented in every sector, and as a student and library worker, it has been particularly difficult to continue on as "normal." Experiencing the creeping impact of climate change, my area was also in the "cone of uncertainty" seven or eight times--and Hurricane Zeta was my first. Needless to say, I am tired and this project especially was an emotional process. I am so honored to be part of this work, I have learned so much and met some amazing people, and I am looking forward to continuing down this path. I am also counting down the hours and looking forward to a break!
