Library seeks minority high school students for summer fellowships

Cornell University Library (CUL) is seeking talented minority high school students from Tompkins County to participate in its inaugural Library Junior Fellows Program. Six to eight students will be selected for the paid summer program, which runs from July 1 through Aug. 9.

The Junior Fellows Program introduces high school students to the diverse field of librarianship and fosters awareness of the varied services, resources and opportunities available through the university and its library system.

Junior fellows work 24 hours a week in a variety of departments and areas. In addition to wages, the fellows receive a Cornell Dining Pass during their first week of employment, a TCAT Summer Fun Bus Pass and a newly refurbished computer.

The program's goal is to encourage minority high school juniors and seniors to consider a career in librarianship. CUL representatives will attend Ithaca High School's Career Day Fair on May 1 to field questions and promote the program.

"Many high school students never consider working in a library because it's not what's considered as 'cool' -- but it's a great feeling to have access to almost any kind of knowledge," said Ira Revels, the librarian for educational technologies in Olin Library who initiated the Cornell program. "Quite often, once they understand that they can potentially know anything they want to know and that there is exciting new technology to access that information, the idea starts to have appeal."

A library career wasn't in Revels' plans when she was a graduate student in educational technologies at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. But when a supervisor persistently pointed out the opportunities, she shifted course and took a scholarship in library sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.

Junior fellows will be assigned a project to work on and will participate in on-the-job training workshops in information literacy, technology and research skills. They can practice those new skills on their very own computer, given to them -- for keeps -- as part of their job. In addition Junior Library Fellows will receive career counseling.

The summer initiative is similar in spirit to CUL's current Library Fellows Program, started in 2000. That CUL program, launched by University Librarian Sarah Thomas, recruits minority library school graduates for a two-year appointment as assistant librarians. The Library Fellows Program allows post-grads an opportunity to explore new information technologies while working in several library departments and functional areas.

In addition to these new developments, the library recently established the Diversity Council, whose members develop programs focused on diversity for both library users and staff members.

For more information about the junior fellows program, contact Susan Markowitz at sem2@cornell.edu , 255-5181, or Ira Revels at ir33@cornell.edu , 255-2845.