Implementing a Hybrid Internship during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic institutions led to rapid shifts from person-to-person services to fully online services in the spring of 2020. These shifts presented unique challenges for graduate practicums and internships—experiences that bolster students’ job-preparedness before graduation. An internship at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries in the United States, originally structured as face-to-face and hands-on, shifted to a hybrid experience in which a graduate student worked with two librarians through a combination of in-person and virtual meetings. The librarians aimed to implement a hybrid internship that provided as authentic and informative an experience for the intern as an in-person internship. This article discusses the planning and implementation of the hybrid internship. It highlights benefits to the intern, including the adaptability of the hybrid program, learning in multiple formats, and opportunities for networking, and the challenges of altering the original plan for the internship.

Keywords:

• Internship programs
• academic libraries
• special collections and archives
• library education
• case study

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mitch Fontenot, Andrea Hebert, and Sigrid Kelsey for providing feedback and edits incorporated into the final version of this manuscript.