SI-ASB-2008: The Field Museum


The Field Museum 1400 South Lake Shore, Chicago, IL www.fieldmuseum.org	Projects 4
Located on Chicago's beautiful lake front Museum Campus, The Field Museum continues to be one of the finest natural history museums in the world. With our extraordinary collection, world-class research, and premier exhibitions and educational programs we are setting the pace for museums in the 21st century. Our people comprise a talented, diverse, and innovative family and we are working together to share our knowledge around the globe.
Photos and Comments

Students who participated in ASB at the Field Museum: Michael Harmala and Emily Newberry

“I liked getting to shadow and interview people doing a variety of jobs. It opened my eyes to new careers that I may not have been aware of. Shadowing people allowed me to see new ways that I can use my degree in information.”

“My organization was very open and friendly. They made me feel at home and shared all aspects of their jobs with me.”

More comments from participants...

Projects

IT Department Operational Planning

Michael Harmala. Code: FIELD-01

Interns
1-3

The student(s) would work with the IT Management team to streamline the procedures and operations of the IT Department. Network folders would be streamlined and organized. The IT Department' policies and procedures for the Museum would be consolidated and inventoried ?improvements would be suggested wherever possible. The way the department communicates to the Museum would be analyzed and suggestions for improvements would be made. The end-result of this project would be analysis and recommendations about the way IT documents and communicates with itself and with its customers throughout the Museum, with the implementation of some of these options, if time permits. Ideal candidates will have management and technical experience and/or education.

Malvina Hoffman Research

Code: FIELD-02

Interns
1

Malvina Hoffman was an American sculptor who created over 100 life-sized sculptures for the museum in the 1930s. The student would conduct research in order to compile an annotated bibliography about Malvina Hoffman, particularly relating to her work here at The Field Museum. Students will compile the bibliography using existing publications, as well as searching various databases for new information. Students will also spend time shadowing various staff members in order to learn more about all areas of the library including: serials, cataloging and interlibrary loan.

Process Pamphlet Collection - Library

Emily Newberry. Code: FIELD-03

Interns
1

The Field Museum Library has a collection of pamphlets, reprints and offprints to be processed. Many of the items are in western European languages with subjects including ethnography, archaeology and anatomy. These items need to be searched in OCLC WorldCat by individual title and series title (if applicable). Items will need to be searched in our local catalog and in the stacks in order to identify any duplicates.

Technical Support Strategy Analysis

Code: FIELD-04

Interns
1-3

This is a 2-part project - we would like students with interest/experience in IT Management and also ideally with technical support experience:

Part 1: Work with the IT Management Team at the Museum to populate the technical knowledge base for Museum staff (specifically, to populate it with some 揺asy fixes?for users based on documentation that we already have, and also with Office / PC / MAC / Blackberry quick tips); review/analyze IT Help Desk tool to ensure it is optimized, recommend changes.

Part 2: Work with the IT Management Team at the Museum to determine what Tech Support metrics should be analyzed and put in place a management process around this. Further, perform analysis based on these metrics and provide a 'technical audit' report that identifies the software and licenses used in the Museum and recommends software that should be purchased based on this. This might also result in creating a list of software that should not be used at the Museum, due to security or other risks: i.e. file sharing programs, or other software known to include malware with their own software. The culmination of both parts would result in a formal report/analysis that the Museum could use for planning and strategy

Participants' Comments

“I checked OCLC for the presence of old pamphlets or absence in the collection. If it was present I checked the bound journals in the stacks to see if they were duplicates. I also spent a lot of the week shadowing the various librarians at the Field Museum. They also arranged for me to go to the Adler Planetarium, and Shedd Aquarium to visit their libraries and exhibits.”

“My organization was very open and friendly. They made me feel at home and shared all aspects of their jobs with me. I felt that they shared their time and answered all my questions. My supervisor did a great job of arranging my time with all these people and among the 2 other institutions that I was able to visit. She understood that career development was important and put more emphasis on that than on me just doing work for her.”

“My favorite part was, “Being able to go behind the scenes at the Field Museum. I've always loved that museum and it was terrific to see what goes on in the library. I also loved being able to see the really old bound journals from a variety of natural science disciplines.”

The SI Alternative Spring Break is open to graduate students of the University of Michigan's School of Information. Undergraduates looking for Alternative Spring Break opportunities should look into the University of Michigan Alternative Spring Break program administered by U-M's Ginsberg Center.