Library of Congress

Updating the Sub-Saharan Africa Reference Collection Materials

Code: LOC-01

The intern will work in the Library's African Section and receive an introduction to major Africana reference sources. Directed by the area specialist, the intern will be responsible for updating the Library's reference collection of materials for sub-Saharan Africa focusing particularly on countries of the anglophone West African region. The specific duties of this internship include: searching Library catalogs and identifying representative materials e.g., bibliographies, indexes, subject or regional guides etc., to be added to a specialized collection of reference works which relate to sub-Saharan Africa.

Survey the Uncataloged Volumes from the Berman Haggadah Collection

Rebecca Welzenbach. Code: LOC-02

The intern will work with a Senior Conservator from the Preservation Directorate of the Library of Congress to survey the uncataloged volumes from the Berman Haggadah Collection, housed in the Hebraic Section. (The haggadah is the book used at the Passover seder.)

The survey will be in two parts: the first will be a quick, two-day assessment for the housing needs of the collection, while the second part (not to be completed) will require using a custom-designed Microsoft Access database to survey for the conservation treatment needs of each item and link it with bibliographic information. Most of the assessments will be conducted in the Hebraic Section. However, NO knowledge of Hebrew is necessary for this project.

Produce an Online Finding Aid for the African Section Pamphlet Collection

Rachael Dreyer. Code: LOC-03

Efforts toward maintaining bibliographic control and producing finding aids are underway for Africana material which comes into the African & Middle Eastern Division on a temporary or long term basis. The internship would consist of viewing assembled data for one or more countries working with area specialist to produce an online finding aid for the African Section pamphlet collection.

The collection is accessible via the African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room. The formats include pamphlets, ephemera, newspapers, serials, folded maps, photographs, posters, clippings and memorabilia from African electioneering campaigns and personality cult textiles. The subject content of the Africana material covers creative literature and language studies, histories, ethnographic studies, tourist literature, government reports and development studies, university catalogs and reports, student departmental papers, speeches of national leaders, publishers' catalogs, biographies, and more. In providing information on the contents of this collection, patrons will be better served.

South Asian Portals

Code: LOC-04

Check links on current country portals: http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/area_AD.html, correct links if URLs have moved, delete sites no longer traceable. Take previously made lists of URLs and input with descriptive text already created, or create new text if none exists. Write descriptions of sites from printouts of homepages, and input link and description.

Albrecht Weber Papers

Jennifer Henderson. Code: LOC-05

Albrecht Weber (1825 1901) was professor of Sanskrit at the University of Berlin. His papers consist of the correspondence file for the Fifth International Congress of Orientalists, Berlin, 1881, and the offprints and galley proofs of his book reviews, of which no bibliography exists. Training in archival cataloging desirable. Knowledge of German necessary.

South Asian Manuscripts

Code: LOC-06

The Asian division has a card file of more than 500 manuscripts in Indo Aryan languages, with enough information on each to create at least a minimum level record. The Division also has worksheets devised by a team of catalogers, which have been filled out by non librarian experts in the various languages. These need to be input into LC Voyager as MARC records to be reviewed by LC staff and finalized as records by the professional catalogers. Inputting will involve inputting of Unicode romanizations with various diacritics. We do not contemplate getting these all into the OPAC, just as many as possible. Knowledge of MARC cataloging highly desirable.

Southeast Asian Manuscripts Descriptions Input

Code: LOC-07

Inputting into the OPAC the highly detailed physical descriptions of manuscripts in Burmese and Shan that were provided by the dealer. This would NOT involve a knowledge of the languages or romanization of them, nor inputting of diacritics. No linguistic knowledge other than English is necessary. Knowledge of MARC cataloging highly desirable.

Interdepartmental Committee on Foreign Publications, The Washington Documentation Center

Code: LOC-08

The WDC microfilm collection consists more than 700 reels of Japanese publications, newspapers, magazines, and monographs published during 1940 1945. The minimum level contents (i.e., title and publication date) of the collection have been recorded in romanized Japanese and transferred to an Excel file as a search tool.

The condition of the microfilm needs to be surveyed. The data in Japanese transcripts needs to be added to the current search tool by reviewing individual images. A general description of the collection should be written, as well. Individual titles in the collections of North American libraries should be searched to evaluate uniqueness and value of the collection at the Library. Knowledge of Japanese is desired. Training in handling microfilm preferred.

Collections Access, Loan and Management Division, Digital Reference Team

Katherine Swart. Code: LOC-09

The DRT supervisor will match current team needs with student interests and skills to develop appropriate projects. The Digital Reference Team's multidisciplinary reference specialists respond to reference questions about the Library's online resources, create electronic guides and bibliographies to the Library's digital resources, write and edit historical features for the Library's web site, and present a variety of electronic and in-person workshops, as well as other virtual services.

A variety of projects are available with the DRT ranging from updating web guides and narratives, compiling internal links for historical features of the Library's web site, and providing digital reference service. The DRT supervisor will match current team needs with intern interests and skills to develop appropriate projects. The interns should have completed basic reference coursework, advanced course preferred, but not required. Strong search skills and familiarity with basic and specialized electronic resources required. Some familiarity with Library of Congress web site desired. Intern must have strong writing skills and some knowledge of writing for the web.

Collections Access, Loan and Management Division

Code: LOC-10

Project includes surveying collections areas as part of space management program. The end result will be a written report including graphs and statistical analysis of the space surveyed. In addition, the report will include photographic documentation and comparative analysis of the latest and previous survey results both in writing and visual format. Requirements: very good knowledge of Word, Excel, and digital photography

European and Latin American Acquisitions Division

Code: LOC-11

Compile data on LC holdings of Iberian and Latin American newspapers in print and microfilm, working in the LC Newspaper Section files. Using OCLC World Cat Collection Analysis as their principal research tool, the intern(s) will compile in a Microsoft Access database statistical data on the holdings of the Library of Congress and other leading research libraries in one of the specific subjects and types of publications described below, or in another subject and/or type of publication proposed by the student (if it is acceptable to the Library).
1) Latin American newspapers
2) German federal government serial publications
3) Russian Duma publications
4) Mexican Presidential election 2007
5) history of Serbia, 1990-present, including political, social, and economic history
6) other, similar subject(s) proposed by the student.

The statistical categories and compilations normally should include
- Subjects, including LC classification number and LC subject heading, if used
- Types of publications such as newspapers, journals, electronic journals, books

Cataloging Electronic Formats Collection (CD-ROMs)

Code: LOC-12

The project will consist of the student intern working with a cartographic materials cataloger on the Electronic Formats Collection (CD-ROMs). The student will search the ILS database for duplicates, organize the collection, view the CD-ROM to make sure it corresponds with G&M collection standards, and enter collection level catalog records into Voyager using the MARC format. Add MARC holdings and apply security controls to the database.

The project will increase the student's knowledge and experience with metadata and cataloging. In addition the student intern will gain exposure to other units within G&M, such as Reference, Collection Development, and the Digital Library.

Geography and Map Division, Digital Team

Tiffany Chao. Code: LOC-13

Processing County Landownership atlas images, including entering metadata and scanning CIA maps, processing the images and creating metadata. Depending on how long and how much the student is interested, this could also include upgrading the MARC record in Voyager. The intern would learn to scan maps on the Digibook scanner, process the images using Photoshop, and enter data in a Microsoft Access Database. Skills learned would include data management in a digitization process.

G&M is converting late 19th and early 20th century county atlases to digital, with the assistance of the Binding Office. These items will provide full converage of some really great historical materials, post Civil War to the 1920s in the US, with county maps, and individual township maps with landowners, size of holdings, etc. and images of the period appearing.

Instructional Design and Training Division

Wenbo Wang. Code: LOC-14

Creating course materials for a one-hour skillbuilder. Checking links on web page (and suggesting others). Working directly with a senior instructor, the intern will be given the opportunity to select from one of the three assignments listed.
1. Word 2003 SkillBuilders
2. PowerPoint 2003 SkillBuilders
3. Checking links on web page (and suggesting others)

For Word 2003 SkillBuilders and PowerPoint 2003 SkillBuilders, the intern would create course materials for a one-hour skillbuilder. Working with an experienced course developer, the intern produces materials for the instructor to teach from, as well as handouts for the students or trainees. A model will be provided for the intern to follow. Course materials are created in Word.

For checking links on web page (and suggesting others), the intern would review the Instructional Design and Training website for Library Services. (It is on the LC intranet so a URL cannot be provided for the intern to peruse the site.) The intern would be asked to check links and to identify instructional, information technology, and library science websites that IDTD should be linking to. If the intern has the necessary skills IDTD can arrange for the intern to make the links on the website.

Poetry 180 for Children

Code: LOC-15

Map out a plan to put a "Poetry 180 for Children" program together for primary school pupils on the www.loc.gov/poetry site to complement Billy Collins's popular Poetry 180 venue for high school students, www.loc.gov/poetry/180/. The intern would list the steps to be taken to get a new web feature going. (The intern would not have to choose the poems for the site.) It might be possible for the Poetry Literature Center (PLC) to use some information from the new site in a future fundraising proposal. Someone on the OSI web team would work with the PLC and the intern.

MAVIS/Poetry Archive Project

Code: LOC-16

The Poetry Literature Center (PLC) intends to add permissions information to MAVIS for the Poetry Archive, which is maintained by the Recorded Sound Division. The intern would have an opportunity to talk with staff on the Packard Campus as PLC proceeds to identify the things the poetry office can add to the database, and the ways in which the PLC can use MAVIS to research recordings made at LC over the past decades. PLC needs an intern to help it get started working with MAVIS, a Recorded Sound database that will soon become part of the Library's larger cataloging information database.

Poetry Email List

Code: LOC-17

The Poetry Literature Center (PLC) needs help with its Poetry Email List. The intern would research the structure and function of the four e-mail lists in PLC and make suggestions about how they can be improved both functionally and in term

Prints and Photographs Division, National Photo Company Collection

Katherine Goodwin and Megan Cooney. Code: LOC-18

Enrich online access to the National Photo Company Collection by adding subject access points. The intern(s) would enrich online access to the National Photo Company Collection by adding subject access points to the sparse descriptions in existing catalog records for recently scanned negatives. Interns would view online the images created by early photojournalists based in Washington, D.C., 1909-32, use the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials to select subjects for the topics depicted, and then enter the index terms in Minaret MARC-format software. For a preview of the images: http://memory.loc.gov/pp/npcohtml/npcoabt.html

Business Reference Section

Angelique M. Richardson. Code: LOC-19

In the Business Reference Section the intern would create content for a new series, "This Month in Business History," for the Business Reference Services web site. Contacts would include a business reference librarian, as well as the business web master. Activities would include researching one or more topics to identify materials in the Library's collections, online databases, and the web. The end product would be an annotated bibliography of print and online resources including pertinent LC Subject Headings, and images to illustrate the topic.

Science Reference Section

Cheryl Whitfield. Code: LOC-20

In the Science Reference Section the intern would research a science-related topic for the Library's highly popular "Everyday Mysteries" web site. The site provides explanations of life's everyday mysteries and illustrates the Library's rich collections in science and technology. The project involves searching the Library's general collections, using a wide variety of online databases, and searching the web to create an "Everyday Mystery." To illustrate the topic, the intern would find images using the Library's Prints and Photographs collection, or scan images from the Library's public domain science material.

Serial and Government Publication Division

Code: LOC-21

Begin re-design of website content for the Government Documents Section of the Serial and Government Publication Division. http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/. Take the lead in redesigning the government documents part of SER website, focusing particularly on U.S. federal publications, United Nations, and League of Nations. Do survey of some major university government document web sites (including University of Michigan Documents Center site). Brainstorm with key division staff. Begin online re-design as time permits. Results would better publicize and improve accessibility of LC resources and also help better comply with certain GPO and UN depository requirements.