NYPL Labs Internships (2)

Description

NYPL Labs is an experimental design and technology team imagining a new kind of library for the Internet age. Labs researcher/developers work closely with librarians and curators to create imaginative tools, apps and experiences around library content and services. Often engaging the public directly in the work of improving, organizing, or remixing library data. Labs has become particularly known over the past couple of years for its cultural heritage crowdsourcing initiatives, mobilizing online volunteers to help mine datasets out of historical documents; ranging from NYC insurance maps, to vintage restaurant menus, to theatrical playbills. While continuing these efforts, the team is currently investigating new areas of library innovation including catalog & discovery, linked data, ebooks, and education.

NYPL Labs has an exciting internship opportunity for two interns who are interested in learning how lab researcher/developers work in a library setting. Selected candidates will work directly with the Labs group in its engagements with curatorial divisions and service units across the Library. Interns will learn how to devise and develop new projects, test new interfaces and techniques, wrangle amazing data sets, help with community outreach, and study how patrons are using what we build.

About You
Maker. Experimenter. Access advocate. Data nerd. Excited by deep archives and interested in figuring out ways to make them part of the Internet. Convinced that public institutions have a role to play in shaping the 21st century. Game to help reinvent a 100-year-old organization.

Schedule
This internship will run from January 27- May 15, 2014

Interns are expected to work 1-2 day/wk for a maximum of 12 hours per week

Applications submitted before December 31,2013 will be given first priority. Attendance to orientation is mandatory.

Responsibilities:
Under the mentorship of the Manager and Product Manager of Labs, the interns will gain insight into the emerging practices of hybrid librarian/technologist teams blending cutting-edge web development with some data science and traditional principles of librarianship. Interns will partake in the following activities; project pitches, Demos, User Testing, Analytics, Materials Preparation and Data Cleaning. Interns will work with the Labs team to learn and conceptualize a possible future Labs project and present the results to NYPL Labs’ team of collaborators. Interns will have the opportunity meet with their mentor (Manager and Project Manager of NYPL Labs)  three times throughout their internship to discussion professional goals and participated in different feedback sessions with other team members.

Qualifications:
All candidates must be currently enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate program.
Candidates in MLIS, Archives, History, Mathematics, Interactive Media, or Computer Science programs preferred.