The Title V Library Internship

Alex Castro, a senior history major, held one of these internships at the Walter Stiern Library last year. He writes enthusiastically below about his experience with this wonderful program geared to interest our students in library science.

The Library Internship was truly amazing. I spent countless hours handling, reading, transcribing, and digitizing original Civil War Letters in the 4th floor archives.  I spent a whole weekend in a California Library Association conference in Sacramento, where I visited many booths and meetings along with librarians from across California.  After being given the option to visit the library of my choice, I visited the Getty Museum Library and the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences  in Hollywood.  I was able to shadow experienced librarians, give many presentations for classrooms and tour groups, and even teach incoming freshmen the basics of the library.  What amazed me the most is that I was actually paid for this experience, an experience that in my opinion was priceless.

As it turned out, this internship led me to another library job. I now work at the information desk at the Beale library and am loving it.

For more information on the Library Internship program at CSUB, contact Librarian Curt Asher (casher@csub.edu) or Johanna Alexander (jalexander@csub.edu).  The internship program is an opportunity for Hispanic, low-income, or ethnic minority students to gain professional experience and training in library science before going to graduate school.