Intern Profiles 2022: Maddie Hare

August 16, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Maddie Hare (she/her)

What is your favorite summer activity? Or your favourite Halifax activity?

During the summer I am usually tending to my garden or going for a dip in the Atlantic! I also love cooking with seasonal produce: Nova Scotian strawberries, rhubarb, fiddleheads, the list goes on! I am hoping to get out clam digging this year; it brings me so much joy to cook and eat things I’ve grown or gathered myself. During the summertime I also find it hard to extract myself from the Halifax Public Gardens, my favourite place in the city.

What internship are you affiliated with?

I am an intern at the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library located on Dalhousie’s beautiful and historic Carleton campus.

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?

Having earned my BA and MA at Dalhousie, I had already strong ties with the school and deep connections with its community. My background is in History and I had my sights set on Archival Studies. Upon researching programs in the field, I once again found myself looking at the dynamic program at Dalhousie’s School of Information Management. After attending one information session I was sold on its esteemed faculty, close-knit community, and the potentials and opportunities for applying its curriculum to any realm of Information Management.

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?

I began working at the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library as a student assistant when I started the MI program. I thought it would be a good way to gain experience working in an academic library setting, learn more about the needs of the community it serves, and put what I was learning at SIM directly into practice. After meeting the 2021-2022 interns, Vinson and Kendell, I learned about how the internship was an immersive and fulfilling experience. I was interested in expanding my knowledge by learning from librarians and other Dalhousie staff. I also developed a strong interest in the Health Sciences after spending so much time among the Faculty of Medicine. I had heard from my peers that the internship program helped them grow a great deal as information professionals and I was interested in challenging myself to develop my Information Management competencies.

What’s your educational background?

I am a long-time Dalhousie attendee, having completed both my BA and MA in History here in 2017 and 2021, respectively.

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?

I have been working on a diversity of different projects so far! Dalhousie Libraries recently switched to using the system Alma. I worked on updating Health Sciences LibGuides to make sure links to Dalhousie’s catalogue are working and accessible for patrons. Many of the libraries’ video tutorials have also required updating as a result of this migration, and I have been assisting with creating new online video tutorials using Camtasia.

Additionally, I have performed a bit of Collections work which involves searching for textbooks and other literature to supplement the Kellogg library’s current holdings. I received training on Health Sciences databases and am now conducting PRESS reviews and search translations. Using these skills, I have worked on translating searches and am looking forward to further developing my search competencies. Through shadowing librarians’ consultations with students and faculty working on systematic reviews and other research projects, I have enjoyed learning more about evidence synthesis, how to construct effective and comprehensive searches, and how to teach these skills to patrons. I am working on integrating this new knowledge into providing reference services for students, faculty, and the broader community.

Projects I have had the opportunity to work on with the extended Dalhousie library community include putting together a book display on Nova Scotian medical history for Dr. Allan Marble’s book launch. It was great to get a sense of how the practice of medicine evolved over the centuries, while working with Dalhousie students and faculty in the modern-day field!

Intern Profiles 2022: Kate Anderson

August 9, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Kate Anderson (she/her)

What is your favorite summer activity? Or your favourite Halifax activity?

My favourite summer activity has to be running, whether on a track or out and about in nature. This is my first summer in Halifax, but I love going down to Point Pleasant as much as I can, whether that’s to run along the coast or have a relaxing walk with the blue jays and chickadees.

What internship are you affiliated with?

I’m currently interning at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, supervised by Dr. David Michels.

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?

After completing my Masters’ thesis, law school felt like a natural next step. When I discovered that Dalhousie also had a combined Information/Library Science degree, the decision became a no-brainer. Because of my love of research, the combined MI/JD program is perfectly suited to my skillsets. Law plays to my academic strengths and provides me a balance of applying acquired skills and confronting new challenges that will allow me to grow as both an academic and as a person. Information Management, meanwhile, allows me to further develop the skills I have in research and data organization to pursue a career as a legal researcher or librarian. The opportunity to intern at the law library is an added bonus!

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?

I’ve always wanted to work in an actual library but have never had the opportunity. Since I’m the newest MI/JD student in the program (and only one of a few), I was presented with the chance to intern and took it. It is a fun and rewarding

What’s your educational background?

I have a Bachelors and a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Calgary, where I focused primarily on medieval literature, embodied performance, and queer studies. My research interests are primarily in law, legal research, feminism, queer studies, Indigenous rhetoric, and embodied research. I’m currently going into my second year of law school and my third year of the MI/JD program.

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?

I’ve got my hands in a lot of ongoing projects right now, from updating the law school’s repository, Schulich Law Scholars, to shifting books as we move some of our collections. Currently, I’m working on evaluating and rebuilding the law school’s LibGuides in preparation for the fall.

Intern Profiles 2022: Mansi Nishit Trivedi

August 4, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Mansi Nishit Trivedi (she/her)

What is your favorite summer activity? Or your favorite Halifax activity?
Taking a long evening walk on the waterfront (my go-to place) makes me feel relaxed. I love to spend my Saturday mornings at the Halifax Brewery Market exploring local food, fresh produces, and live music altogether in one place. Halifax Public Gardens are also one of the finest places for me to spend some peaceful time amid beautiful flowers and trees.

What internship are you affiliated with?
I am affiliated with the Multidisciplinary Reference Internship supporting the Killam, Sexton, and MacRae libraries.

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?
I worked at the academic and special libraries in India before coming to Dalhousie University to pursue MI. During this time, I developed a passion for working in libraries. When I decided to pursue further education in Canada, I wanted to stick to this field only and my research about the institutions that offer the LIS degree with ALA accreditation led me to the MI program. This program at Dal is designed for anyone coming from any educational or professional background. The variety of courses offered in this program opens horizons for students to explore different subjects of information management and then decide their career paths.

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?
I wanted to gain experience in a variety of disciplines of an academic library. The multidisciplinary internship could fulfill this desire. I also heard from my seniors about gaining hands-on experience in this internship can lead my library career to greater heights. Moreover, it always feels amazing to stay connected to the Dal community through this internship.

What’s your educational background?
Bachelor of Commerce with specialization in Accounting, Statistics, and Business Management.
Master of Library & Information Science.

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?
I have been engaged in various projects at Killam, Sexton, and MacRae (remotely). I am a part of reference and research services virtual or in-person for Killam (research assistance shifts), MacRae, and Sexton libraries.

My big projects are – to renew the Environmental Science LibGuide with fresh content and design; develop the layout and content for a General Science LibGuide after comparing the Faculty of Science learning outcomes with the ACRL Framework for information literacy; evaluate Dal libraries’ eBooks collection platforms through the survey developed in Opinio to support Nova Scotia’s Accessibility 2030 legislation.

A Literature Review on the topic of ‘Reference Services Models in Academic Libraries’ has been helping me to polish my research abilities. I have been assisting the library with creating online tutorial videos using Camtasia. I am also a part of the collection development process at the Sexton Libraries for subjects like Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Internetworking Food Science, and MacRae Libraries for their subjects related to the Faculty of Agriculture.

Blind date with a book is also another super exciting project I am involved in. Selection of the books by browsing through the bookshelves, going through their content, building a story around that book, and presenting it to the patron in a form of a wrapped surprise is fun.

The initial training through Brightspace at the beginning of my internship and the internship enrichment program are well-designed and great learning experiences. They have been helping me to proceed through all these projects.

Intern Profiles 2022: Courtney Svab

August 3, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Courtney Svab (she/her)

What is your favourite summer activity? Or your favourite Halifax activity?
My favourite summer activities are going to the beach, kayaking, or going for a hike. Nova Scotia is such a beautiful province with so much to offer!

What internship are you affiliated with?
I am at the W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library for my internship.

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?
I came to the MI program at Dal because I was interested in archives. I was living in Halifax and loved the city, so the program felt like the perfect fit. Throughout the first year of the program, I became more interested in special libraries and academic libraries, as well as public policy.

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?
I am a big believer in the importance of practical work experience while in school. I attended the information session about the internships and thought it would be a terrific opportunity to learn about academic libraries and gain reference experience.

What’s your educational background?
I have my MA from the University of Guelph, focusing on Canadian History.

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?
I have found reference work to be interesting and have enjoyed answering email questions and directing patrons to the best resources available to meet their needs. Similar to reference work has been the opportunity to update LibGuides and Video Tutorials to provide students and researchers with the best information for accessing library resources.

I have had the opportunity to learn about library collections and create recommendations for purchasing books in different subject areas by ensuring that the library has the most up-to-date editions of core texts for the health fields.

I have also had the opportunity to begin working on translating searches across the different Health Sciences databases. These projects remind me of solving a puzzle to ensure that the search is pulling the relevant results.

Intern Profiles 2022: Anne Summerhays

July 29, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Anne Summerhays (she/her)

What is your  favorite  summer  activity? Or your  favourite  Halifax activity?
Of summer activities, I would say I love hiking above all, but I also enjoy gardening, picnicking with friends, listening to live music, biking, reading in the park, canoeing, and swimming.

What internship are you affiliated with?
I am one of the multidisciplinary interns, so I work at the Killam, the Sexton, and the MacRae libraries.

What brought you to the MI program at Dal?
I primarily applied to the MI program at Dal with the idea of becoming a public librarian. That being said, it’s a wide world out there, even within Information Management, so I’m open to many different paths my career might take me, and am especially intrigued by academic and governmental librarianship. The most important thing to me is to have a chance to work with sweet people, help others, and have a career that lets me learn continuously for the rest of my life. In that way, I already feel like I’m living the dream!

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?
I really like the vibe at Dalhousie, especially my experiences with the libraries, and have long had the impression that it would be a great place to work. When the internship opportunity opened up, I jumped at the chance, knowing this was the perfect opportunity to learn whether academic librarianship is for me.

What’s your educational background?
I did a double major in Psychology and Sociology at McGill.

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?
I’ve already done a lot of cool stuff in this internship and we’re not even halfway through! Some highlights are: researching and making improvements to Dal’s A-Z Database list to make it both easier to use and it more consistent in terms of the information provided about each database; following-up on Sam Schwanak’s ebook accessibility project from last year, in which I’m assessing Dal’s ebook platforms using their handy accessibility checklist (Mansi’s working on this, too!); researching trauma-informed approaches to reference in order to improve our services; and choosing books to include in next year’s Blind Date With A Book event, for which I also write “dating profiles,” which is just so much fun!

Intern Profiles 2022: Annette Amenta

July 28, 2022 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Annette Amenta (she/her)

What is your  favorite  summer activity? Or your favourite  Halifax activity?
Since moving to Halifax, I love seeing what’s in bloom at the Public Gardens, visiting local bookstores, and walking along the Waterfront.

What internship are you affiliated with?
I’m the Archives Intern at Dalhousie University Archives, located in the Killam Memorial Library.

What brought you to the Master of Information (MI) program at Dal?
I have always loved helping others research and find relevant information using a critical lens. I thought that the MI program at Dal would complement my history and teaching background perfectly.

What drew you to the internship opportunity at the Dal Libraries?
I thought the internship opportunity would be a great way to gain practical experience in a field that was still relatively new to me. I would get to know the day-to-day roles of archivists and other information professionals and see if it was the right fit for me — which it definitely is!

What’s your educational background?
B.A. Combined Honours French and History (McMaster University)
M.A. History (Western University)
B.Ed. Intermediate/Senior French as a Second Language and History (Western University)

What projects have you worked on so far during your internship?
I have been working primarily on the Joy O’Brien fonds, which consists of material related to the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, a local choir that has performed throughout North America and was, and is, highly involved in anti-racism initiatives. This is a bigger collection that involves processing, rehousing, and describing thousands of photographs, in addition to textual records, video cassettes, and audio cassettes.

I have also started work on processing, describing, and rehousing Paul Cram’s musical scores and recordings. Paul Cram was a local, Juno-nominated jazz musician and composer.

Some upcoming projects include processing and describing exhibition catalogues and files from the Dalhousie Art Gallery fonds and creating a video tutorial for a file transfer tool using Camtasia.

Archives for Interns 2022