Internship opportunity with the Reuther Library's Archives and Primary Resource Education Lab

The Reuther Library's Archives and Primary Resource Education Lab (APREL) seeks a paid intern for the 2019 Winter term.

The Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, is the home to thousands of archival collections documenting the international labor movement, urban and political life in Southeast Michigan, and Wayne State University. Though the library has always served academic researchers, we have adopted a new focus on reaching younger students, particularly undergraduates and high school students.

In our years of experience conducting archival research instruction, we have seen that it is central to the development of collegiate-level critical thinking skills and truly transformative in a student’s understanding of the origins of the information they consume. In order to grow our archival education program and study its impacts, we have established an Archival and Primary Resource Education Lab.

We believe:
Primary source education is transformative and trains communities to make informed decisions based in evidence.

Primary source instruction has the ability to positively impact student success at all levels.

We can empower community members with critical thinking and information literacy training through the lens of primary source education.

APREL Objectives
1. Train learners of all ages to understand and evaluate sources of information from unique and often disparate perspectives
2. Promote the use of primary sources on Wayne State’s campus, in regional K-12 schools, and online through educational tool development
3. Study the impacts of primary source education on student success for various constituent groups
4. Serve as a focal point for innovative primary source education, offering instruction, embedded archivist services, and curriculum development support

Intern Duties
Based on relevant experience, an APREL intern may be asked to:
1. Refine, test, and organize data for a first-phase assessment tool studying the effectiveness of our current methods for archival instruction and identifying areas for improvement, focusing on the impacts for FTIAC students and those participating in support programs such as VIP and others
2. Assist in creating visually pleasing, user-friendly instructional tools such as videos or web-based forms that translate some of our current learning objectives to an online audience
3. Research and create draft content for a small-scale web exhibit or archival document set for use in remote classrooms at the high school level

Requirements
Applicants must be graduate students in a relevant field of study
Applicants must submit resume and cover letter outlining their proposed project (max 500 words)

Compensation
Interns will be expected to contribute 40 hours of work during the Spring 2019 semester (January 7 April 22)
Interns will earn $15/hr (up to $600 total)

Please submit application materials to meghan.courtney@wayne.edu and ac9538@wayne.edu by January 18, 2019.