Mariel's Internship

Mariel Ziperski

June 5, 2013

Internship Paper--Ravenscroft Library

I went into my internship unsure of what to expect. I was working with Mrs. Thrash in the library for up to six hours in a day. I didn’t know what work she had in store for me or what jobs I would do to pass the time but I had been pulled to work in the library for multiple reasons. I had always loved to read. Throughout my childhood I had spent summers nose-deep in the entrancing plots embedded in novels and knew that I wanted to get back into it. As any Ravenscroft student can tell you, the workload for a high-achieving student can be strenuous to say the least, and over the past four years, I didn't get much opportunity to read for my own interest. Working in the library would allow me the precious chance to delve back into the literary world, like getting reacquainted with an old friend. The feeling of getting into a good book and being unable to put it down was something I missed. Mrs. Thrash had always been one of my favorite teachers and I realized that an internship with her would allow me to be around something I loved (books). However, I wasn't exactly sure what I could do to contribute to the library.

I was nervous going into the internship. I had no idea how the dewey decimal system worked and always needed help finding a book. I knew that I would be spending a lot of time in the library next year and college and needed exposure to “library culture.” Over the course of my time in the Ravenscroft library, I shelved books and got to the point where I could point out any genre or author`s section to a confused student. It made me appreciate the things that are usually done for me. While before I hadn't thought about mindlessly taking out books and not putting them back but now I realize the work that goes into maintaining a library. I had taken it for granted and now as a library assistant, I finally understood how much the librarians cared about the students.

In addition, I set up book displays, suggesting various novel series. I hoped that my collection would inspire people my age to put down their phones and pick up a book. Reading a common series unites students and brings them together under the struggles and triumphs of the characters that they relate to. I hoped that finding interesting and popular novel display would spark an interest in high school readers. During middle school, reading had been huge; everyone kept up with the latest best-sellers but as the homework kept piling on as years went on in high school, the numbers of readers dwindled. I like to think that my display of books (while it is a far-fetched fantasy) would bring back a population of high school readers. I just want other high school students to appreciate reading as much as I have.

I also had to learn the library technology; while the scanner and database system may seem simple, it`s actually quite complex. After a few frustrating and tedious tries with unsuspecting middle school students hoping for a quick and speedy checkout, I finally became a barcode-scanner aficionado. I am now totally comfortable looking up books for students and finding them anywhere in the library. Honestly, being a conductor of the Alexandria Database system made me feel like a true librarian at heart.

Being a part of the library team also brought me closer to the Ravenscroft community. Even though I’ll be graduating in just a few days, I assisted Mrs. Thrash in planning the new freshman buddy tour for new students for next year. I worked with another senior interning at Ravenscroft to try to come up with suggestions and improvements to better welcome the new kids. It taught me how to work as a team in order to create the best possible event. I also helped create social media outlets for the Ravenscroft Key Club. I set up a Twitter, Instagram, and Vine profile for the club. It allowed me to get experience in social media, marketing, and public relations. I even trained the incoming club officers on how to respectfully utilize the sites in order to expand club membership and participation. I prepared a contract for each of them to sign in order to guarantee that they would justly represent the school on a public website. We talked with each of them in order to help plan the most successful Key Club year yet.

Though there were times when I was less than ecstatic to do the work. I spent a solid five hours sorting old newspapers and archiving the stacks, placing each into a cardboard box designated by year. The task was tedious, I hunched over the floor filing through the hundreds of old newspapers, my fingers turning black from all of the ink. At one point I had used up all the boxes and had to stop so I could look for more, scouring the library and even the upper school to find any available box. In addition I had to stack the incredibly heavy boxes of filed newspapers on the top of the shelves lifting them up above my head. It’s possible I pulled a muscle in my shoulder putting the final boxes up (I’ve completely healed by now).

The best part of the internship by far was the hours of downtime that allowed me to catch up on reading. When Mrs. Thrash didn't have much work for me to do, I was given time to seek out new literary adventures. I was able to finish an entire book in just two days. I read Mindy Kaling`s Why is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and started other novels such as David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day, John Green’s A Fault in Our Stars, and A.J. Jacobs’ A Year of Living Biblically. After a hectic and stressful year of college applications, I couldn't have been more thankful for the quiet hours to myself curled up with an interesting book.

The greatest thing I learned from my entire experience as a library intern is that I now have a newfound appreciation for librarians and all that they do. I had no idea how devoted they are to the students. And now with the struggle to maintain an interest in reading during a modern and majorly technological era, librarians have to work tirelessly to keep students reading. It helps improve vocabulary, and improves reading comprehension as well as test scores but also unite a community of readers under the author’s spellbinding story that pulls them in. The library provides a quiet sanctuary for students to work and lose themselves in books. I appreciate the chance to learn more about it and now that I understand the dewey decimal system, I feel confident in my ability to find books next year in an even larger and more confusing library. I can’t thank Mrs. Thrash enough for the wonderful opportunity she gave me to be a librarian for ten days.