Practicum Opportunities

King Family Library

by

Location Description

Location is the King Family Library in Sevierville, TN. The facility is 48,000 square feet over 3 floors, with specialized service desks throughout the building including: first floor circulation, business center, meeting rooms, and cafe; second floor first reference desk (adult fiction), children's room, teen room, grand reading room with volunteer station, and meeting room; third floor with makerspace/creative commons, second reference desk (adult non-fiction), history center, study rooms, meeting room, and Friends book store. We have an outdoor green space with a community garden and pergola/sitting areas.

Practicum Work Mode

On site

Semesters or Time Period Available

Ongoing, not limited to a specific semester

Location

408 High Street
Sevierville, TN 37862
https://www.sevierlibrary.org/

Contact

Rhonda Tippitt
Sevier County Public Library System
rtippitt@sevierlibrary.org
865-365-1416

Student Tasks

The students would have the opportunity to work at all of the service desks, learning the variety of tasks (circulation duties, reference research, reader's advisory, children's, teen, and adult programs, technology including basic to robotics/media lab, and more) performed in each area by staff and have the opportunity to interact with patrons on a real time basis, assisting them to find answers to meet their needs. Students would also have the option to work with the library director to create a specialized experience that targets areas of interest or study focus. This could be in conjunction with the overall experience after visiting and working at all our service points or as a stand alone program.

Type of Mentoring Provided to the Student

Mentoring will be provided at every level of the student's experience, including meetings with the director to answer questions and explore the library system with a thorough tour and discussion. The manager and supervisors at service points would provide training and guided experience in all aspects of library service that we provide as well as answer questions and provide feedback throughout the experience. We will be happy to provide a project opportunity if the student wishes to take on a leadership role for a program or significant task that is occurring during their time with us.

Student Interaction With Others at the Location

The student will be 100% hands on with patrons at each service desk and will be working side by side with staff every during every step of the program. They will have full access to ask questions and learn all that they want to learn.

Fountain City Branch, Knox County Public Library

by

Location Description

Fountain City Branch is one of the large branches of the Knox County Public Library. Patrons use this branch for information, recreational reading, home-schooling, tutoring, computers, and more. It hosts/offers a variety of programming for adults, teens and children. The manager, when possible, enjoys outreach programs with area schools.

Practicum Work Mode

On site

Semesters or Time Period Available

Ongoing, not limited to a specific semester

Location

5300 Stanton Road
Knoxville, TN 37918
https://www.knoxlib.org/about/hours-and-locations/fountain-city-branch-library

Contact

Elizabeth Nelson
Manager, Fountain City Branch, Knox County Public Library
enelson@knoxlib.org
865-689-2681

Student Tasks

The student would basically be shadowing the manager (me). He/she would provide reference service, readers' advisory, computer help, and more to our patrons. I am on the Children's Collection Development Committee; the student would be welcome to attend a meeting & be expected participate. I do 2 – 3 storytimes each week; the student would be welcome to observe and participate. When possible, I provide outreach programs to area schools; again, the student would be welcome. I would expect the student to create a book display based on a theme of his/her choosing. Other activities, as needed.

Type of Mentoring Provided to the Student

Other than having them follow me around, work the circulation desk, participate in programs/outreach/committee meetings, I have the student read selected sections of our Policy Manual, to get an idea of the kinds of policies & procedures that public libraries have. I also have the student read "Black Belt Librarian" by Warren Graham, for an overview of security issues that public libraries face. This is a "fling them in the deep end & hope they swim" kind of mentoring — they learn by observing and, more importantly, doing. Yes No No, I'm ready to submit the form. Unknown

Student Interaction With Others at the Location

They would work with the rest of the staff here — special projects, shadowing, etc. If they attend any meeting(s) with me, they would meet & interact with other library staff.

Acquisitions and E-Resources – Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries – Vanderbilt University

by

Location Description

Acquisitions and E-Resources (A&E) is responsible for purchasing, licensing, processing, and providing access to library materials in all formats. The office is located on Vanderbilt campus in the Baker Building, but during the pandemic, all work would be handled remotely.

Practicum Work Mode

Remote

Semesters or Time Period Available

Ongoing, not limited to a specific semester

Location

110 21st Avenue South Suite 700 Baker Bldg
Nashville, TN 37203
https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu

Contact

Julie Glascock
Director, Acquisitions & E-Resources
julie.glascock@vanderbilt.edu
615-343-5879

Student Tasks

The student will complete small projects encompassing key areas of the electronic resource lifecycle, assist with troubleshooting user-reported access problems, and also assist with a larger project to update licensing terms in the Alma system which will appear to users in the library catalog.

Type of Mentoring Provided to the Student

The student will work one-on-one with A&E staff to learn basic order, access, and licensing workflows common to the e-resource lifecycle, and receive basic training required to troubleshoot electronic resource access issues reported by users and other library staff. In addition to one-on-one training, relevant webinars and reading materials will be assigned. Regular meetings will be scheduled for training, Q&A, and project monitoring.

Student Interaction With Others at the Location

The student will have extensive interaction with the A&E staff, but in particular with those working with electronic resources. The library staff is committed to providing an overview of the work involved in Electronic Resources Librarianship in a collaborative and supportive environment.

DAAC – Oak Ridge National Laboratory

by

Location Description

The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded data operation focused on Terrestrial Ecology. ORNL DAAC staff are primarily located in Building 4500N at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Practicum Work Mode

Flexible

Semesters or Time Period Available

Ongoing, not limited to a specific semester

Location

1 Bethel Valley Road Building 4500N
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
https://daac.ornl.gov/

Contact

Bruce Wilson
ORNL DAAC Manager
manager@daac.ornl.gov
865-574-6651

Student Tasks

The exact tasks vary depending on the ORNL DAAC’s needs, student background, and student learning objectives. Tasks typically involve on-line research to identify relevant information, such as papers citing ORNL DAAC datasets, scripting and similar tasks to reformat and quality assure data, and data analysis and visualization. The general focus of the work is improving the completeness, quality, and process of identifying the documents (particularly journal articles) which cite ORNL DAAC-published data.

Type of Mentoring Provided to the Student

Mentoring will depend on student background and educational objectives. It may include coaching on scripting and other data manipulation or data analysis tasks. Mentoring will typically also include requirements analysis, effective communication, and personal project management skills. Mentoring may also include scientific metadata and specialized skills related to scientific data management.

Student Interaction With Others at the Location

The student will typically have one ORNL DAAC staff member assigned as the primary mentor, with some interaction during each work day. There will typically be at least weekly interactions with the ORNL DAAC Manager and/or ORNL DAAC Deputy Manager.