Latonia Jackson, Manager of Middle and High School Services, says the number one question she consistently gets from teens and their parents is, “Can you help me get a job?”
To help prepare teens for getting jobs—as well as providing exposure to library career paths and the field of library work in general—we welcomed five paid high school-age interns at the Main Library this summer.
‘It’s good to add some work experience to my resume’
From mid-June through early August, three interns worked in Middle and High School Services, and two worked in Materials Handling.
“It has been rewarding to learn how to sort nonfiction books using the Dewey Decimal system,” said Kiara (pictured above, right), who worked on the Materials Handling team. “I also enjoyed attending team meetings, because it was interesting to hear about how other colleagues in the library work and how they got to the positions that they have now.”
“It’s good to add some work experience to my resume, especially because I am interested in working in libraries in the future,” she added.
Chawn (pictured above, left) also worked in Materials Handling and said he got really good at searching for lists of items this summer.
“It was really satisfying to do shelf reading as well, making sure that all the books were in order as I went along,” he added. “I’ve enjoyed my time here this summer and hope to come back next year.”
‘Doing something different each day’
In Middle & High School Services, Ahmyas, Matthew, and DeAsia assisted with programming, including pop-up programs, and day-to-day operations like making book displays (pictured here).
“All of the interns loved their experience and really enjoyed doing something different each day, along with having so many opportunities for independent work,” said Alexander Gutierrez, Middle and High School Services Supervising Librarian.
They also helped out with the Friends Book Sale, home delivery service, and in the Children’s Services department.
What did they like most?
Matthew says he enjoyed setting up gaming stations and ensuring all of the controllers were put away at the end of the day. Ahmyas really liked helping out with Content Corner and coming up with fresh ideas for social media content, and DeAsia says she loved all the craft projects and being able to express herself through her creativity.
