Shift #9 - Small Group Meeting with Mentor
Wednesday, May 29, 2024 | 5-5:30 pm PST/7-7:30 pm CST/8-8:30 pm EST (0.5 hr)
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Michelle Hurt, student/intern
Jennifer Gonzalez, practicum supervisor
These are two screenshots from my first meeting with my small group mentor. Every quarter, all interns meet once with their mentor who will help us with our research and writing tasks.
Our whole intern cohort was divided into groups of 8-9 people and have been assigned a mentor (a previous intern with the Library of Congress). My cohort is being led by Judy Maas and unfortunately, due to my travels this week, I couldn't join the main small group meeting. Thankfully Judy was accommodating and met with me and another intern (Elle) who also had scheduling difficulties. The three of us met on Wednesday evening and was a good introduction to each other. Our meeting was short but very productive, as Judy gave us a background on her work experiences, especially leading up to being our mentor. She previously did the metadata internship during a long semester and also this same internship we're doing now, the remote Creative Digital Publications program. I appreciated Judy's warmth and encouragement. She told us that she is here for us as a resource and as our ally in this research and writing process, that she can help us with a fresh perspective, and that she can be a sounding board as we think about our blog ideas and research approaches.
Elle and I both wondered how Judy came up with her topic when she did her internship. She did it with an outside-in approach, where she came up with a fun idea and tied it to law. She said that her post was not published but it was still an enriching process for her. Therefore, she reminded us that our idea needs to be collection-oriented (it can also be research-oriented, from the outside, but still needs to be tied to the collection). She suggested that we start by perusing the catalog and see what catches our eye (sort of what I've already been doing). She said that we should look for the story in the collections and think about the story behind the item or the image we find. Because there is a lot to sort through in the Law Library's collections, she suggested that we start with one collection and identify five objects that pique our curiosity. What is helpful is to break things down step by step, perhaps take 3 days and 3 collections to examine.
I'm glad to have met Judy and have her in my corner as I dive further in this internship!
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