Laredo Public Libraries Completes National Summer Internship Program
Written by admin, Sep 27, 2019, 0 Comments
Courtesy Analiza Perez-Gomez
LAREDO, Texas—This summer, the Laredo Public Libraries joined 48 other libraries across the United States by serving as a pilot site for a new internship program intended to help attract young people to careers in librarianship. Through its Inclusive Internship Initiative (III), the Public Library Association (PLA), which is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), sponsored public library internships for 50 high school juniors and seniors from diverse backgrounds in 25 different states across the country.
With individual guidance from a mentor, each intern engaged with multiple facets of library life, from administration to programming to user services. The program was funded by PLA with support from a pre-professional Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The Laredo Public Libraries selected Aaron Vivanco as its intern for Summer 2019. Aaron is a freshman at Texas A&M International University, and was selected through a competitive process that required an application, essay, membership in the Laredo Public Libraries’ Teen Advisory Board, and at least 500 community service hours with the library. Analiza Perez-Gomez, Librarian, and Ricardo Carrillo, Circulation Supervisor, served as mentors to Vivanco.
Over the course of the summer, Perez-Gomez and Carrillo guided Vivanco in the completion of a community-based learning project. According to Vivanco, the project was focused on introducing virtual reality technology into the library as a service that can be provided. Introducing virtual reality as a library service could spark a curiosity in technology to children and teens that they could pursue in the future.
“The internship has shown me a great deal about how the library operates, and the process behind the events created for the public,” said Vivanco. “I was already thinking about going into this line of work, but now I feel more inclined to go for it now that I know and appreciate more about my library.”
Vivanco and Perez-Gomez attended the III wrap up event in Washington, D.C. the weekend of September 20. Each intern, including Aaron, made a five-minute a presentation on their projects and shared learnings with their peers.
Laredo Public Libraries intern Aaron Vivanco presented at the Inclusive Internship Initiative wrap-up event in Washington D.C. the weekend of September 20, 2019.
Perez-Gomez, said of the project, “Diversity of library staff is key to the success of libraries in the future. The Laredo Public Library learned as much from Aaron Vivanco as he did from us. In turn, the community benefits from his virtual reality project.”
