Practicum - Archival

        The major objective of the practicum is to enable a student to work in an archive or information center under the direction and guidance of an archivist/information professional. This experience offers an opportunity to test professional skills and to re-examine concepts and theories within an actual archive or information center.
        The practicum is designed to help the student contrast theory and experience by participating in those activities appropriate to their type of placement. These practicum duties might include: performing reference searches, selecting and acquiring materials, creating bibliographies and reading lists, developing training or instructional programs, cataloging library materials, or gaining familiarity with the library technology.  In sum, an archival practicum is an attempt to have the student archivist in training evaluate the services, policies and collections of a professionally managed archival institution.
        The practicum consists of a minimum of 155 hours of on site work during one academic semester.  Hours may be scheduled throughout the semester to be clustered in a shorter time span to accomodate students coming from a distance. The School recommends no particular practicum structure since libraries vary widely in their hours, clientele, resources and facilities.  Student duties will be professional as enumerated in the ALA’s policy statement “Library Education and personnel utilization.” Tasks that might be routinely assigned to clerical and technical staff may be included only to the extent that they contribute to an understanding of the interdependence of library/information center functions. However, all operational units of the archive should be included in the practicum experience.