Name: Sam Elliot Schwanak
Pronouns: they/them
Hometown: Sherwood Park, AB 

What is your favourite summer activity? Or your favourite Halifax activity?
These days I play a lot of boardgames and table-top roleplaying games and write novel length fanfics, but in the before times I could be found at the theater, the symphony, haunting the comic shop or staring at the ocean.   

What is your internship title? Which library (and archives!) location are you affiliated with? 
I am a Dalhousie Libraries Intern based out of the Killam Library.  

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?
I worked at the SMU Patrick Power library as a student assistant for three years and that cemented in my mind that I wanted to continue working in a library in some capacity. It also felt like I would be able to take my skills from my English degree and push them even further through library science, as well as working towards a career that would allow for constant learning and growth, provide new challenges every year, would leave me fulfilled and happy, and aligns closely with my morals and convictions.  

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?
The opportunity to learn and experience working at an academic library was a big draw, as well as the fact that I would be given the opportunity to work on projects in a fairly self-directed manner, and do work that would create a tangible benefit for students that used the Killam.  

What’s your educational background?
I took a bachelor’s degree at Saint Mary’s majoring in honours English, with a double minor in German language and creative writing.  

What have you been doing during your internship and how has the pandemic shaped your internship?
So far I’ve been working on an involved project to create an audit that will allow the library to easily collect data about the accessibility of ebook databases and readers, so that the library can make more informed decisions about which ones to invest in when it comes to supporting students with (dis)abilities. I’m also helping with some tutorials for business software and a project on copyright processes, among other projects that will come down the pipeline later this summer.  

The pandemic has shaped my internship by allowing me to have extremely self-guided productivity, which has grown my confidence in running projects on my own. It is also useful because while my workspace isn’t always the best because it was never meant for working, working from home when you’re disabled can be much easier, especially if you’ve already built-in whatever accommodations you need.