Library and Information Science Virtual Capstone

Institution: South Colby Elementary School

Title of Presentation: Enhancing Classroom Learning with Library Materials at South Colby Elementary School

Summary: Hardy's internship took place at South Colby Elementary School in western Washington state. Her internship objectives were as follows: 1) weed and develop the library's collection to better reflect the needs of today's students, 2) collaborate with other district librarians to gather new ideas, and 3) make connections with various grade-level teachers in order to support students' classroom and digital learning through targeted library lessons. After completing her internship, Hardy had weeded hundreds of materials and purchased new up-to-date ones, attended weekly district meetings to collaborate and brainstorm with her fellow librarians, and completed a three-week project with first grade where students learned to add photos and captions to Google Slides to enhance their classroom animal research projects. In her presentation, she will discuss the importance of collaborating, listening, and staying up-to-date with what students and staff need in an elementary library.

Institution: Westchester Public Library

Title of Presentation: Behind the Shelves: An Internship Experience at Westchester Public Library

Summary: The goal of this internship was to gain hands-on experience in a public library setting. O’Dell did not have previous professional experience working in a library environment before beginning the MLIS program. She completed an internship at Crown Point Community Library in the Fall of 2025, and this new opportunity at the Westchester Public Library allowed her to gain additional experience in areas she was not exposed to in that internship. She was involved in three major projects, one in technical services, one at the Westchester Township History Museum, and one at the small branch library. In technical services, O’Dell worked on an AACR2 to RDA cataloging conversion project to bring the WPL catalog records from the 1990s and 2000s up-to date. At the museum she worked on packing and preparing mansion exhibits for a complete renovation starting the Summer of 2026 and indexing local historical and genealogical materials for future patron use. A weeding project at the branch library gave her the opportunity to learn how to run and interpret circulation reports and participate in the deaccession decision-making process. She also helped prepare an educational program focused on Narcan training and local resources to support those struggling with addiction for the main branch of the library, which will be offered in April. Significant support from the library staff was key to achieving the internship’s learning goals.

Institution: Ruth Lilly Medical Library

Title of Presentation: Archival Processing at the Ruth Lilly Medical Library

Summary: The purpose of this internship was to gain more experience in archival processing. The primary projects for this internship included processing two collections from William H. Schneider. This was the bulk of the internship and will be the topic of the presentation. For this internship, Planton completed two collections, gaining hands on experience with archival processing. Planton also gained experience in programming planning, which will be useful for his career going forward.

Institution: Indianapolis Public Library

Title of Presentation: Discovering Myself: Deciding on my Specialization at the Fort Ben Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library

Summary: Due to her lack of previous professional library experience, Swayze sought this internship with the goal of not only gaining hands-on experience but also to discover what area of library service she would prefer to specialize in. To that end, Swayze worked with the Fort Ben branch manager to identify opportunities that would allow her to work with many different age groups in different settings while providing valuable support to the library. Swayze gained experience working at the reference desk, assisting patrons with reference question, reader’s advisory, and other inquiries. She also provided support to both the Adult and Children’s staff in their collection management process, both in choosing new materials and in deselection. She assisted in facilitating Adult and Children’s programs, including leading her own storytime. Due to staffing issues in the branch during her internship, Swayze took over running the biweekly Teen DND program, and during her tenure attendance more than doubled. Swayze was also given the opportunity to explore the Indianapolis Public Library system outside of the Fort Ben branch. She visited the Indianapolis Special Collections Room and the Program Development Area at the Central Library, attended both Adult and Children’s Services training sessions with other librarians in the system, met with the Collections Management team at the Library Services Center, and rode along with one of the Bookmobiles to see how the library meets its patrons on the ground. One of her most formative experiences was spending the day at the Spades Park branch, where she learned about how smaller library branches function in the system. Swayze’s experiences in this internship helped her decide that she wants to become a dedicated children’s librarian due to her passion for youth literacy, enjoyment of youth programming, and interest in helping children develop a lifelong love of reading. During her presentation, Swayze will talk about the moments that led her to choose children’s librarianship as well as small changes that can make a big difference in youth programming.

Institution: Port of Portland

Title of Presentation: Connecting the Port to its Past: Creating an Archive From a Records Program at the Port of Portland

Summary: Bryan Miller completed his internship at the Port of Portland, the Port district for Portland, Oregon. His main project was to process a collection of historic 35mm photographic slides, digitize them, and implement an accessible digital asset management system. He eventually chose Access to Memory (AtoM) and helped the team implement it for the photograph collection as well as for other historically valuable records collections. He also got valuable experience in Records Management, processing Public Records Requests, indexing files for destruction, and much more. Bryan will discuss how he was able to add an archival perspective to a records management team and how his work will inform future interns and other records work.

Institution: Calumet Regional Archives

Title of Presentation: Community Archiving in the Calumet Region

Summary: This presentation covers Michael White’s internship at the Calumet Regional Archives (CRA) at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana. The CRA is a community archives in Gary that focuses on the people, organizations, and communities of the Calumet Region in Northwest Indiana. White has a prior MA in US History and is an active local historian, but didn’t have previous experience in an archival setting. The internship was designed to further develop archival management capabilities, to hone a mastery of processing, learn how to create displays using archival materials, and most importantly to focus on cultivating and advancing community archiving skills. The CRA recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, but has encountered difficulties including new archivists, a growing backlog, a dysfunctional online finding aid, and only having one archivist. Due to the situation at the CRA, White was able to shadow archivist Dan Hill as he navigated these serious day-to-day archival management challenges, including dealing with IT, regular maintenance, archival upkeep, storage issues, cataloging, inventorying, collections maintenance, working with students, departments, faculty, staff, and managing donors and public relations. White was able to fully process two unorganized collections, the two-box Samuel Moore Chase and Carl Chase Papers, and later the historically important eight-box George Earle Collection. White was able to help plan, assemble, and create displays for Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. And throughout the internship, White focused on cultivating community archiving skills. White was involved in the day-to-day operations, working with donors, researchers, and local historians, scanning and doing reference work, appraisal and acquisitions, networking between local organizations, participating in the Local Historians Meeting in Crown Point, and organizing and hosting local historians at the CRA to view the George Earle Collection. White got intimate first-hand experience in collaboration, organizing events, and working with the community. As the CRA evolves, White was able to complete the internship while also impacting long-lasting positive changes and helping to foster stronger relationships with local historical organizations and community members.

Institution: Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives

Title of Presentation: Objectivity in arrangement and description at the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives

Summary: Sarah Wulf completed her internship at the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives as a graduate level intern, where she built on skills learned through coursework and supported the Special Collections’ mission of providing access to unique materials. She has worked on two main projects, those being the processing of the Reynold Levy papers and the processing of the Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group papers. She has digitized the 990 forms for charities in the philanthropy collection upon patron request. Both of the collections Sarah Wulf has processed have included mixed physical and digital items. She has used skills in appraisal and arrangement to gain intellectual control over these unique collections. She has also entered relevant metadata into ArchivesSpace to increase findability, and has uploaded digital media into A-Space to increase accessibility. Sarah will be presenting on what she has learned about how appraisal and arrangement tell a story and the importance of being honest and objective as possible in appraisal and arrangement techniques.