An internship can give you a leg up in your career

The year 2023 turned to the next and so came the end of my training period. I’m Laura, a third-year student of Library and Information Services here at SeAMK, and I started my five-month internship here at our very own library at the beginning of August.

When I went to apply for an internship in early spring last year, I didn’t have to think too much about where I wanted to go. The choice was clear; I wanted to work in the SeAMK Library. I had previous library experience in both a very small public library and a huge university library, so I thought it was an excellent idea to go for “something in between”. In other words, a medium-sized library for a university of applied sciences right in my own neighbourhood was an obvious choice – especially as the internship here is paid.

As I already had some previous library studies prior to starting my studies here, my budding professional identity as a librarian was already strongly oriented towards academic libraries. During this traineeship, my decision to focus on academic libraries has only strengthened – this is the direction I am heading in.

My training here has been extremely varied, and I have had the opportunity to do so many different things. Collection management covers everything from acquisition to cataloging to weeding, not forgetting the occasional book repair. The research, development and innovation activities at SeAMK have allowed me to see the life cycle of published material even further back to its roots. In particular, the world of scientific and professional research has opened to me in a whole new way during this traineeship. I have also been able to participate in the teaching process on several occasions.

There have been more events I’ve been able to attend than I can remember – and one of them I did from the very beginning myself. One of the best things about the SeAMK Library is how much the intern can do by themselves, if they just take up the opportunity. For example, Lukulotto reading challenge, which is still running at the library, is my handiwork. SeAMK Library is often described as “agile” because of the ease with which people dare to try something new, and I fully subscribe to this adjective.

If you are wondering how difficult it would be to work in an academic library, don’t worry. The world of the academic library is admittedly different from that of the public library, but for me at least, what I like about academic libraries is the certain structure that teaching brings. The surrounding organisation sets objectives and values, and the calendar of the academic year establishes a certain rhythm. There are very busy times when you can’t concentrate on anything other than customer service, but especially during the weeks of independent study, you can take a breather and focus more on the collection and planning for the future.

I am extremely grateful for my internship, as it taught me so much about the library field in a very practical way. There is also much, much more to learn. Therefore, I was very fortunate to have a rare opportunity, and now you can still find me behind the library counter for the remainder of the spring semester. See you there!

The article was written by student Laura Eskola, who completed her internship at SeAMK Library in the autumn semester 2023.

Thank you to Laura for your internship!