Library internships for UChicago Social Sciences Division PhD students
The University of Chicago Library encourages applications for five summer internships for UChicago Social Sciences Division (SSD) PhD students as part of the Graduate Student Affairs “Partner Opportunities” program. Internships are designed to provide experience in alternative careers and to develop skills that will be helpful to the student’s academic work. Depending on the position and qualifications, Library interns will develop research and technical skills in one of the following areas: citation analysis, digital presentation, digital preservation, exhibition research, archival processing, and cataloging Chinese monographs.
1. Citation Analysis Internship.—Working with staff in the Dissertation Office and other subject specialists, the Citation Analysis intern will investigate dissertation research trends through a citation analysis of a selected body of recently completed University of Chicago dissertations. Citation analysis, a form of bibliometrics, is a tool used to help quantify and describe patterns and relationships in academic literature. The intern will conduct research to identify the types of resources appearing in the dissertation bibliographies and complete a written report summarizing the results of the investigation. This project will not require in-depth statistical analysis.The dissertations examined for this project will focus on subject areas relevant to the intern’s academic interest. Knowledge of Microsoft Word/Excel and good communication and writing skills are required.
2. Digital South Asia Library Intern.—The Digital South Asia Library (DSAL) intern will work with the Bibliographer for Southern Asia as well as digital library professionals and University academics to expand and enhance our presentation of data and texts supporting social science scholarship. We seek an SSD Ph.D. student with experience in computational analysis of numerical, geospatial, or textual data and an interest in further developing skills for the delivery of scholarly resources. DSAL (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/) is one of the most highly regarded sources of digital assets for research on the South Asiansubcontinent. Knowledge of South Asian languages is not required.
3. East Asia Collection Intern.—Working with the Chinese Cataloging staff, the intern will catalog Chinese books using existing cataloging records from the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), an international bibliographic information system. The responsibilities also include verifying names in the records, importing records from OCLC to the Library’s online system and keeping statistics. Required qualifications: good level of proficiency in Chinese language and ability to work independently and effectively.
4. Special Collections Archives Assistant Intern.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center has an opportunity for an SSD PhD student intern to assist archivists in providing preliminary access to archival collections, as follows:
- Preserving the University’s Architectural Legacy.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center is undertaking a multi-year project to preserve and make accessible 117,000 architectural drawings held in the University Archives. These drawings date from the University’s founding to the present. The collection includes a wide range of different types of architectural design records: proposals, plans, elevations, sections, decorative detail drawings, perspective renderings, presentation drawings, landscape designs, and maps of campus buildings and grounds. The graduate student intern would assist archivists in compiling a searchable online database, organizing and assessing the condition of the drawings to determine proper preservation for the future.
- Chicago Jazz Archive Inventory Project.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center includes the Chicago Jazz Archive. The CJA was founded in 1976 to preserve materials on the birth and early growth of Chicago jazz. The collections include recordings, publications, photographs, articles, posters, programs, ticket stubs, and other ephemera of musicians, clubs, record companies, and jazz organizations. The graduate student intern would assist in inventorying the recordings collection of jazz collector John Steiner.
5. Special Collections Exhibit Research Intern.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center has opportunities for SSD PhD students to conduct research in Special Collection in support of the following exhibition projects:
- European Academic Émigrés at the University of Chicago.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center is planning an exhibition in Spring Quarter 2016, European Academic Émigrés at the University of Chicago. The exhibition will focus on European émigrés and refugees of the 1930s and 1940s who found an academic home at the University of Chicago. The graduate student would work with the exhibition curator to conduct research in SCRC collections to identify archival, manuscript, and rare book items for gallery cases, create biographies and other exhibition text panels, and assist in design of a web version of the exhibition.
- Chain Reaction: Chicago Pile No. 1 and the Atomic Scientists’ Movement.—The University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center is planning an exhibition in its gallery in Winter Quarter 2017, Chain Reaction: Chicago Pile No. 1 and the Atomic Scientists’ Movement. On December 2, 1942, Manhattan Project scientists on the University of Chicago campus led by Enrico Fermi created the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Following the use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Manhattan Project scientists lobbied successfully for the passage of the McMahon Act and the formation of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The graduate student intern would work with the exhibition curator to conduct research in SCRC collections to identify archival, manuscript, and rare book items for gallery cases, to create biographies and other exhibition text panels, and to assist in design of a web version of the exhibition.
A resume and cover letter are required. Apply online by April 15.
