Graduate Internship Program Committee

Program Resources

• Contact Us
• Application and Program Materials
  • Coversheet
  • Internship Application Template
  • Program information
• Other Resources
  • Syllabi and plans for Fellowships, Independent Studies, and Practicums by Dr. Margarita Vargas-Bentancourt
  • List of awarded internships through Spring 2022 in PDF
  • Presentations, including CV and resume workshop presentations, on the Internship Program

Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program Guidelines (October 2022)

Purpose:

The Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program provides semester-based graduate student internships in the George A. Smathers Libraries in collaboration with academic units.[1] The Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program experience will complement the graduate student’s academic career and provide for their professional development.

Funding for the Program has been generously made available by the Dean of University Libraries.

Awards are made annually via a competitive process, which is open to all library faculty[2]. Successful proposals are competitively selected in the fall and spring, and are funded by the Libraries to occur in the following semester(s). These internships will benefit the Libraries and foster transformative collaboration across campus. Proposals require collaboration with at least one faculty member or exempt-level employee in the Libraries, who will serve as the Internship Director, and one faculty member partner from outside of the Libraries. The Program provides a supportive environment for those who wish to gain experience conceptualizing, writing, and administering internship projects.

Internships may have a duration of one, two, or three semesters for Fall, Spring, and/or Summer A and/or B, or Summer C.

Awards:

The funding provided by the Program is exclusively for the graduate student intern’s wages. The hourly rate of pay will be $22 for a maximum of 160 hours (based on a typical internship of 10 hours per week, for a maximum of 16 weeks per semester). The award per semester will not exceed $3,600 inclusive of fringe benefits.

Graduate Student Eligibility:

Graduate students must be active and in good standing in their program, and must possess the requisite skills, knowledge, and abilities to successfully undertake the specific internship project. Graduate students must be eligible to work within the parameters of the award as described above, and must have submitted a completed application for the internship prior to the posted close date.  The selected graduate student intern does not have to be from the same program as the partnering academic faculty member.

Contacts:

The Internship Program Committee is available for assistance and questions: LibraryGraduateInternshipProgram@uflib.ufl.edu

Evaluation Criteria:

Each proposal will be evaluated by the Internship Program Committee according to the following criteria, and recommended to the Deans in priority order based on the highest scoring proposals. Please note that an Internship Director may only hold one internship at any time.

Evaluation Process:

All proposal submissions will be reviewed and rated by the Internship Program Committee. To create a strong proposal, applicants should closely follow the requirements stated here and should familiarize themselves with the evaluation criteria. Applicants may also wish to review examples of prior internships: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00037247/00028/allvolumes

The Committee may seek clarification after submission and prior to award. For clarifications, the Committee will send an email list of questions, with a request for responses in the form of updated proposals using Track Changes. The Committee is able to support one round of review for proposals for each internship deadline; proposals needing more extensive revisions will be recommended for the next application cycle.

Proposals endorsed by the Internship Program Committee will be reviewed by the Dean of Libraries, who will ultimately determine if the internship assignment is approved.

Proposals for all awarded internships will be loaded for Open Access to the IR@UF with a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License. By submitting, the Internship Director is confirming approval by the full project team.

Also, please note that awarded internships are recommended to be cited/listed as internally funded awards.

List of Required Documents for Application:

1. Cover sheet with signatures
2. Application, following the template

Application Submission Procedure:

Email electronic copies of all documents to the Internship Program Committee, including a scanned copy of the coversheet with signatures.

Deadlines and Schedules:

1. For the following Spring, Summer and/or Fall, the application deadline is October 1; for the following Summer, Fall and/or Spring, the application deadline is March 1.
2. Applications must be submitted electronically to LibraryGraduateInternshipProgram@uflib.ufl.edu by 5pm on the deadline date.
3. The Internship Program Committee will review proposals during the month of submission (March; October).
4. Notification of awards will be made in the following month (April; November).
   1. The Internship Committee sends notification to the Internship Director, shares at Joint Chairs, sends an All-Staff announcement, and all awarded proposals are posted to the IR@UF (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License) and linked from the Internship Program website.
5. The Libraries HR should be contacted prior to the semester start for the new intern for the hiring process, including the letter of agreement.
6. Reports are due each semester by the grade submission deadline (https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/Pages/dates-and-deadlines.aspx#ac).
   1. Confidential evaluation for the intern.
   2. Non-confidential survey response assessing the internship in relation to the metrics and deliverables from the application.

Changes to Awarded Internships

[2] Smathers staff employees may also be eligible to serve as an Internship Director and should contact the Internship Program Committee for more information.

Members:  Internship Program Committee members for the Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program will be faculty selected from the Libraries and academic units. Members will serve staggered terms of no less than one year.

Description of Responsibilities:

The Internship Program Committee is charged to support the Smathers Graduate Student Internship Program. Specific advisory and operational activities include:

• Review and rating of proposals and recommendations to the Dean of University Libraries
• Define components for successful internships and educational experiences in support of scholarly inquiry alongside professional development;
• Establish and follow procedures for periodic reporting and review of internships to ensure optimal support for Interns, Internship Directors, and collaborators;
• Regularly assess and consider improvements to the Program to ensure it delivers effectively on its purpose;
• Consult with Director of Graduate Studies in academic units or other subject experts for additional expertise as needed to support and assess internship proposals.

Committee Members

• Maggie Ansell (2019-2022; Chair, 2022-present)
• Rachael Elrod (2019-present)
• Chelsea Johnston (2021-present)
• Carol McAuliffe (2021-present)
• Aida Miró-Herrans (2021-present)
• Colleen Seale  (2019-present)

This work (Internship Program Committee Charge), by the Smathers Library Internship Program Committee) is free of known copyright restrictions.