The Environmental Protection Agency/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Libraries Internship Program: An Analysis of Former Interns’ Careers

Laura Westmoreland Gariepy

James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, 901 Park Ave, PO Box 842033, Richmond, VA 23284-2033. Email: lwestmorelan@vcu.edu

This study explores the career paths of former interns of the Environmental Protection Agency/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (EPA/NIEHS) Libraries internship program contracted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS). A web-based survey was sent to 244 persons who participated in the EPA/NIEHS Libraries internship program. There was a 68% response rate. Results indicated that almost all former interns pursued careers in LIS for some length of time following their internships, and that most respondents currently work in academic or special libraries. Two thirds of respondents believed that their internship experiences had a strong or very strong impact on their careers. This study contributes to a small body of existing literature exploring the relationship between graduate-level LIS internships and participants’ career paths, and will be of interest to all LIS educators.

Keywords: internships, careers, surveys, Environmental Protection Agency Library, EPA, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Library, NIEHS, LIS education

Internships, practicums, and other opportunities for hands-on experience have long been a part of LIS graduate education programs (Leonard & Pontau, 1991). These types of programs (which will be referred to as “internships” throughout this article) provide students the opportunity to gain professional experience in their areas of interest, link what they are learning in the classroom to real-world experience, and make themselves more marketable to prospective employers. However, little has been published about the relationship between graduate-level LIS internships and participants’ long-term careers. Do former participants believe their experiences in internship programs helped them find their first jobs? Do they believe those experiences affect the type(s) of LIS work they pursue in their long-term careers (if they choose to pursue work in LIS at all)? Most published literature exploring these types of issues focuses on post-graduate LIS fellowship programs (Brewer, 1997; Carle, 1995; Lanier & Henderson, 1999; Martin, 1967; Scherrer, 2010), but few studies have explored the relationship between graduate-level internships and participants’ careers and participants’ perception of that relationship.

This study explores the career paths of former interns of the Environmental Protection Agency/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (EPA/NIEHS) Libraries internship program contracted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS). As a result of this contract relationship, SILS students have provided certain library services to EPA/NIEHS researchers for more than three decades while gaining professional experience working with specialized scientific/government collections. As of March 2009, more than 350 SILS students had participated in the EPA/NIEHS Libraries Internship Program.

In this article, data gathered via a web-based survey will shed light on the career paths of former interns and explore their perceptions of the ways their careers were affected by the EPA/NIEHS Libraries internship program. In what types of libraries are they working? Do they believe their internship experience affected their careers? What types of day-to-day tasks do they perform in their work? The findings of this study will be useful to all LIS educators currently offering internship programs or considering them, and will contribute to a small body of existing literature exploring the relationship between graduate-level LIS internships and participants’ careers and the ways former interns perceive that relationship.

The EPA/NIEHS Internship Program

In the Fall of 1973, administrators from the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park (EPA-RTP), a noted research park in North Carolina bounded by Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, expressed interest to SILS Dean Edward G. Holley in engaging in a contract between SILS and EPA for the provision of library services by SILS students and staff at the EPA-RTP Library (McCoy, 1973). Dean Holley saw the contract as an opportunity to provide financial support and real-world library experience to students while fulfilling a critical need for EPA researchers (Lowry, 1993). After many discussions, SILS entered a contract to provide certain library services to the EPA-RTP Library. The first interns began work in summer of 1974 (McCoy, 1974), and the contract was awarded again in July of 1975 (Holley, 1976). This was the beginning of a long series of contract awards over the years, as evidenced by SILS’s continuous provision of library services to the EPA-RTP facility from 1974 through the time of this publication. Most recently, EPA-RTP again awarded the contract to SILS in Fall of 2009 (EPA/NIEHS libraries internship, 2009).

The overall structure of the internship program has remained largely unchanged since its inception: interns are hired through an application process and are paid to work 20 hours per week, cycling through different “rotations” in the library each semester. Interns generally work for at least one academic year. Over the course of the internship’s existence, rotations have included serials, cataloging/documents processing, interlibrary loan, reference, and online/literature searching. In addition to these most consistently offered rotations, other rotations have been offered over the years and students also have the opportunity to participate in special projects.

In 1985, interns began working at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Library in addition to the EPA Library through an interagency agreement (EPA Contract is 15 years old, 1989). Three interns were assigned to the NIEHS Library each semester and worked rotations in serials, cataloging, and reference (Lowry, 1993). From 1985 until the 2003-2004 academic year, interns worked at either the EPA or NIEHS Libraries. During the 2003-2004 academic school year, the EPA-RTP Library Director at the time (also a SILS-contracted position) provided the opportunity for students to complete rotations at both Libraries over the course of their internships if they so desired (UNC School of Information and Library Science, 2004). This model is still in place today.

The internship program today comprises eight to ten paid interns, two of whom are assigned to the NIEHS Library. Rotations at the EPA-RTP Library as of March 2011 are offered in reference, cataloging, interlibrary loan, advanced reference (searching databases such as DIALOG), serials, and the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards document publication process. Interns may complete rotations in reference or in technical services (including cataloging and physical processing) at the NIEHS Library (“Environmental Protection Agency,” 2010). The internship is not directly tied to specific learning objectives or courses at SILS, does not require a reflective or graded component, and is generally not completed for academic credit.

Review of Literature

Internships and other forms of practical experience have been a part of LIS education, in varying degrees, as long as LIS education has existed (Roy, 2009). LIS researchers have pursued many avenues of research related to internships, practicums, and other types of field experiences, but little literature exists about the relationship between graduate-level internships and long-term career paths. However, several studies have explored the career paths of participants of post-graduate LIS fellowship or residency programs and the ways former participants perceive the effect of these types of programs on their careers (Brewer, 1997; Carle, 1995; Lanier & Henderson 1999; Martin, 1967; Scherrer, 2010). The majority of these studies found that individuals who participated in these types of post-master’s programs believed their careers were affected by their experiences as fellows/residents, and that most were pleased with their respective programs.

Martin (1967) surveyed former participants of three post-master’s residency programs approved by the Medical Library Association, and found that more than 90% of respondents obtained jobs in medical or biomedical libraries after the completion of their residencies. He concluded that the programs were successful recruitment methods for medical and biomedical libraries. Carle (1995) had similar findings in his survey of former participants of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Library Associates program, the oldest post-master’s residency program in health sciences librarianship in the United States. Surveying 121 former NLM Associates from 1957-1990, Carle found that 108 of them found jobs in health sciences libraries after the completion of their residencies.

In 1997, Brewer surveyed former residents from various post-master’s residency programs and found that 88% of respondents believed that their experiences as residents contributed to jobs they obtained after their residencies to some extent or to a great extent. Additionally, 83% of respondents indicated that they believed their career path would have been different if not for their residencies, and nearly all stated that they enjoyed their experiences as residents. Two years later, Lanier and Henderson (1999) explored several aspects of post-master’s residencies/fellowships by surveying former interns at three institutions: the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), The Library of Congress, and the NLM. Although there were differences in responses depending on which program respondents had participated in, they found that overall, 67.9% of respondents believed their fellowship/residency experience was a factor in obtaining their then-current positions, and 75.5% of respondents believed that their experience was a positive influence on their careers.

Scherrer (2010) evaluated the career impact of the UIC’s Academic Resident Librarian Program, focusing specifically on the participants who worked in the Library of the Health Sciences. Although Scherrer’s work was published after the survey for this study was administered, her findings are worth mentioning. While 15 of the 16 former residents interviewed were working in academic libraries, only four of them were working in academic health sciences libraries. This represents a notable contrast from similar studies of health sciences residency programs that found most former residents ultimately pursued careers in health sciences librarianship (Carle 1995; Martin, 1967).

Very few studies explore the ways in which careers are affected by graduate-level internship programs. In 2002, Bastian reported her findings from a survey of former students of Simmons College’s archives management program to measure success of required archives internships. She found that 68% of former interns were working in archives professionally, and that their internships affected their careers in a number of ways. Former interns indicated that the most important ways in which their internships affected their careers were helping them understand the profession and providing experience for their résumés. Bastian also found that the type of institution in which former interns completed their archives internships (academic archives, public archives, government archives, etc.) was highly correlated with the types of institutions in which they ended up working professionally.

The most similar study to the one currently undertaken was reported in a SILS master’s paper thirty years ago by an EPA Library intern at the time. Thorn (1980) conducted an evaluation of the career paths of EPA/NIEHS interns who had either completed or were currently participating in the EPA Library internship program. At that point, the internship program did not yet include the NIEHS Library.

Thorn surveyed 66 of the 75 then-current and former interns based on the availability of contact information and had a return rate of 76%. Her findings indicated that most former interns at the time worked in special libraries (42%), biomedical libraries (18%), academic libraries (18%), or public libraries (8%). Smaller percentages of former interns indicated that they worked in law libraries, other libraries, were unemployed, or that they worked in a non-library setting. When asked to provide job titles, 21% of former interns indicated that they were reference librarians and 21% were “either librarians with several areas of responsibility or held faculty status” (Thorn, 1980, p. 37). Another 13% and 11% identified themselves as information specialists or systems analysts, respectively, and another 11% indicated they worked in technical services. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of respondents identified themselves as coordinators, supervisors, directors, or chiefs/heads, indicating that a substantial number of former interns were in management and/or leadership roles.

Findings from the Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS 1) study provide background information on the careers of North Carolina LIS graduates. WILIS 1 is a “large scale retrospective career study of graduates of all library and information science (LIS) programs in North Carolina from 1964-2007” (Marshall et al., 2009, p. 141) that provides information on the types of work NC LIS graduates are performing. In 2009, Marshall et al. reported on key findings of WILIS 1, including the types of libraries in which graduates are working. They found that of those still working in libraries, 33% worked in school libraries, 31% in academic libraries, 20% in public libraries, and 16% in special libraries. Although the scope of WILIS 1 is much broader than this study, these numbers provide a useful point of comparison.

Overall, the existing literature suggests that both post-master’s residencies and graduate-level internships have notable impacts on participants’ careers according to the perceptions of former participants. Studies indicate that former participants in these programs often end up working in institutions or types of librarianship similar to their residencies/internships. They are generally very satisfied with their experiences as residents/interns.

Methods

A survey was developed with Qualtrics Survey Software to explore several aspects of interns’ careers in LIS after the completion of their EPA/NIEHS Libraries internships, and their overall satisfaction with the internship program. The survey asked former interns to provide information regarding many aspects of their careers. However, this article reports key findings restricted to:

• Whether or not they were employed in LIS at the time of the survey’s administration.
• Their perception of the role of the EPA/NIEHS Library internship program in finding their first jobs.
• The types of libraries in which they work and have worked.
• The types of tasks they perform in their jobs.
• Whether or not they deal with or have dealt with scientific or government information in their jobs since the conclusion of their internships.
• Their perception of the internship program’s impact on their careers.

The survey employed a series of “skips” that asked respondents different sets of

questions depending on previous responses. For example, individuals no longer working in LIS were not asked to indicate the nature of their current position or information that was not transferrable to the current LIS environment. Additionally, respondents were free to skip any questions in the survey.

According to a list maintained by the EPA-RTP Library, 355 individuals had completed internships at the EPA and/or NIEHS Libraries at the time this survey was administered. Email addresses were obtained by searching the web and by gathering information available in the SILS Alumni Directory. The author also sent a request to the SILS alumni email listserv briefly describing the study and requesting email addresses of those who were eligible and willing to participate. A total of 244 valid email addresses were gathered after identifying inactive accounts by sending a test email. The survey was sent to all of the active email accounts and included information on the study’s approval by UNC’s Institutional Review Board. The survey was open for 18 days, and a reminder was sent to all valid email addresses after 10 days. Results were linked to respondents’ computers’ Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, but were otherwise anonymous. The survey had a 68% return rate (n=167). Data were analyzed in both Qualtrics and SPSS 17.0.

Results

Interns from all decades of the internship’s existence were represented in the survey results. Eighty-one (81%) percent of respondents (n=167) indicated that they are currently employed in the LIS field. An additional 15% of respondents indicated that while they do not currently work in LIS, they have done so at some point since the conclusion of their internships. Only 2% of respondents indicated that they did not work in LIS at any point after the conclusion of their internships (small percentages indicated they were unsure or did not answer the question).

Current Positions of Former Interns

Respondents who indicated that they were currently employed in LIS (n=135) were asked to describe in their own words their position and type of institution (excluding names, locations, etc.). Based on the responses, the author developed categories and calculated the percentages of former interns working in different types of libraries in order to provide a snapshot of “where they are now” (see Figure 1).

The largest numbers of former interns currently work in academic libraries (42%). For the purposes of coding this data, academic libraries were defined as those that are part of an institution of higher education, excluding health sciences libraries in higher education. Health sciences settings in academia were categorized separately due to the focus on health sciences at both the EPA and NIEHS Libraries. The author deemed this focus strong enough to differentiate between health sciences librarianship in academia and other types of academic library work. In fact, 5% of respondents indicated that they currently work in academic health sciences libraries.

The second largest group of respondents (27%) indicated that they work in special libraries. Special libraries were defined as library or information settings not associated with academic institutions, public libraries, school libraries, or vendors. Those who provided responses that were categorized as special libraries worked in a variety of settings, including non-profit research organizations, corporate libraries and information centers, law libraries, hospitals, biomedical or pharmaceutical firms, and government agencies. Almost a third of this group indicated in their answer that they work in libraries focused on science or health sciences. Smaller numbers of former interns indicated that they currently work in public libraries (10%), school libraries (6%), or for vendors (3%).

These numbers differ markedly from Thorn’s (1980) findings in her study of EPA interns’ career paths, although it is worth noting that the findings are not directly comparable since respondents’ answers were not aggregated into identical categories. Still, Thorn’s findings offer an interesting point of comparison. While the largest number of respondents in this study indicated that they work in academic libraries (42%), Thorn found that only 18% of her respondents worked in academic libraries. Instead, she found that the largest numbers of respondents in her study worked in special libraries (42%), while only 27% of respondents in this study indicated they were currently working in special libraries. What might have caused the decrease over time in the number of students pursuing careers in special libraries since the time of Thorn’s study? Without a more comprehensive study of all of the factors that could impact the career decisions of former interns, as well as the reasons they elected to participate in the internship program, it is difficult to say. Many factors could be at play here, including recruitment methods for the internship, availability of other internships at SILS, and changes in the types of jobs available in the LIS field.

Data from the WILIS 1 project (Marshall et al., 2009) regarding the types of libraries in which North Carolina LIS graduates are currently working provide another point of comparison to the data gathered in this study (see Figure 2). The scope of the WILIS 1 project was much larger than this one, exploring the career paths of graduates from North Carolina LIS programs from 1964-2007. While only 16% of WILIS 1 respondents indicated that they currently work in special libraries, 27% of former EPA/NIEHS interns indicated that they worked in a special library at the time of the survey. This data suggests EPA/NIEHS Library interns may be more likely to pursue careers in special librarianship than other LIS students. Former EPA/NIEHS were also more likely to work in academic libraries.

Tasks Performed in Current Jobs

Individuals who indicated that they were currently employed in LIS (n=135) were asked to indicate the types of tasks performed in their jobs (see Figure 3). The most commonly performed tasks were reference services (70%), collection development (64%), and instructional services (64%). Around two-thirds of respondents (61%) indicated that they have management or supervisory responsibilities in their current positions. This is an increase from Thorn’s (1980) study, in which she found that 37% of respondents had supervisory responsibilities. This increase may be due in part to the fact that former interns have had considerably more time to climb the administrative ranks since Thorn’s study.

Close to half the group indicated that they performed marketing and outreach tasks or online/literature searching services in their work, while forty-one percent (41%) of respondents indicated that they have web authoring and design duties. Less commonly performed tasks included cataloging (30%), database administration (29%), systems support (19%), and interlibrary loan services (19%). More than a quarter of respondents indicated that they perform “other” tasks in their current jobs, which they were asked to describe. Some of the more frequently indicated tasks reported by respondents who selected “Other” included acquisitions, knowledge management, archive services, digitization, and project management.

It is not surprising that former interns perform such a vast array of tasks in their current positions. The rotation system that has been part of the EPA/NIEHS Library internship program since its inception is intended to prepare students to work in various facets of librarianship, and/or work in a position that requires performance of many tasks. That, combined with the expectation that individuals’ careers change and evolve over time to include new tasks and roles, offers an explanation for the varied tasks performed by former interns—even if they were not rotations in the EPA/NIEHS internships.

It is surprising that so few respondents indicated that they perform cataloging or interlibrary loan services in their current positions, as both have been long-standing rotations in the EPA/NIEHS Library internships. Generally, the tasks reported by former interns seem to be primarily public services (reference, instruction, marketing and outreach, literature searching) as opposed to technical services (cataloging, interlibrary loan, etc.), despite the fact that the rotations offered provide a balanced experience in public and technical services. It is possible that interns begin their internship with preferences for specific rotations, but for the benefit of the EPA/NIEHS Libraries, they also end up working in rotations that may not align entirely with their ultimate career goals. Many students might have completed rotations in technical services at the EPA/NIEHS Libraries because it was part of the “package deal” of the internship—not necessarily because they hoped to pursue a career in that area. This scenario might offer some explanation as to why relatively few interns have pursued careers in technical services.

Employment in Federal or State Libraries

Twenty-three percent (23%) of respondents indicated that they have worked in a federal or state library at some point since the conclusion of their internships. Since this study only included former EPA/NIEHS Libraries interns, it is impossible to suggest whether or not this percentage is significantly different from that of students who did not participate in the internship program. This comparison could be explored in future research.

Use of Scientific and Government Information in LIS Jobs

Two types of materials frequently utilized at the EPA/NIEHS Libraries are scientific information and government information. Former interns who have worked in LIS at some point since the completion of their internships were asked to indicate how often they deal (or, in the case of those not currently working in LIS, dealt) with both of these types of information in their current or most recent jobs.

The frequency with which former interns use(d) government and scientific information is comparable. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of respondents indicated that they use government information often or very often at work, while 38% indicate that they use scientific information often or very often. An additional 31% and 26% percent indicate that they sometimes use government information and scientific information, respectively. It is reasonable to conclude, then, that the EPA/NIEHS Libraries internships play a role in equipping a significant number of interns to work with these types of information throughout their careers.

Satisfaction with Internship Experience

Ninety-two percent (92%) of respondents indicated that they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their experiences as interns. Another 5% were somewhat satisfied, and only 2% were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Respondents who worked exclusively in either the EPA Library or the NIEHS Library showed very comparable degrees of satisfaction with the internship program: Ninety-two percent (92%) of respondents who worked exclusively in the EPA Library were very satisfied or satisfied with their experience, while 96% of respondents who worked exclusively in the NIEHS Library were very satisfied or satisfied with their experiences. Interestingly, 100% of respondents who worked at both libraries during their internship indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the experience—perhaps because they received a more varied experience and were therefore more marketable when seeking first jobs and throughout their careers. These numbers clearly demonstrate that both the EPA and NIEHS Libraries internships are highly regarded by former interns.

Perceptions of Internship’s Impact on Obtaining First Job and Impact on Career

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of respondents who currently work or have previously worked in LIS believed their internship had a significant or very significant impact on obtaining their first jobs, while 19% percent believed the internship was somewhat significant in obtaining their first jobs. In terms of long-term career impact, those currently employed in LIS were more likely to indicate that the internship had a strong or very strong impact on their careers than those who formerly worked in LIS but have left the field (see Figure 4). It is plausible that individuals who no longer work in LIS may have pursued a career change or stopped working altogether, either of which might render their experiences from the EPA/NIEHS Libraries less significant to their careers.

Other interesting findings include that respondents currently working in LIS and who indicated that they have at some point worked in a government library were more likely to indicate that the internship had a strong or very strong impact on their careers than those who had not worked in government libraries (78% and 70%, respectively). Similarly, more respondents who currently work in LIS and have at some point worked in a special library indicated that the internship had a strong or very strong impact on their careers (80%) than those who had worked in academic libraries (69%), public libraries (70%), or school media centers (75%).

Discussion and Implications for Future Research

Although this study focuses on former participants of the EPA/NIEHS Libraries Internship Program, many of the findings are thought-provoking for the LIS community at large. The data give cause for LIS educators to consider the relationship between graduate-level internships, assistantships, and other types of fieldwork and participants’ long-term careers. In this study, we discovered that students who participated in the EPA/NIEHS Libraries Internship Program were more likely to work in specialized library settings than the general population of North Carolina LIS graduates from 1964-2007 (Marshall et al., 2009). However, in general LIS researchers have not systematically explored the idea of graduate-level internships as catalysts for developing professionals interested in pursuing careers in certain types of librarianship. Do internships focusing on particular aspects of librarianship create librarians who pursue that type of work? Do we want them to? If internships and other forms of practical experiences at the graduate level have an impact on the types of work librarians ultimately pursue, whether that is due to the fact that it sparks student interest in a type of librarianship or because they provide an avenue for students to gain experience in an area they’re already interested in, LIS programs have an opportunity to utilize internships and other practical experiences within the curricula to foster graduates interested in specific aspects of the LIS field.

This study yielded a number of findings that are interesting in their own right, such as how many former EPA/NIEHS Libraries interns have at some point worked in government libraries, the types of tasks they perform day-to-day, and the types of LIS settings in which they currently work. However, these findings would be more useful to the profession with additional data to which they could be compared. Similar surveys administered to former participants of other LIS student internship programs at both UNC and at other library schools would yield data that offer a more contextualized understanding of how students perceive the EPA/NIEHS Libraries Internship Program compared to other student internship programs, and whether or not former EPA/NIEHS Libraries interns’ career paths are unique. Similarly, research exploring students’ career goals upon admission to an LIS program and then again after participating in a particular internship could provide further understanding of the reasons students might choose a particular internship and/or the ways in which internships affects their career paths.

Limitations

The findings of this study are not generalizable to populations other than former interns of the EPA/NIEHS Libraries internship program. This study provides a foundation for understanding the impact of the internship program on interns’ careers. In the future, a similar study with more qualitative data would be useful in gaining a more in-depth understanding of what former interns valued most and least about their internship experiences, the reasons for choosing to participate in the internship program, and the ways in which they believe it has affected their careers in the long term.

Without more background information on the former interns’ decision-making process in applying for and accepting an internship position, it is impossible to say whether the internship program impacted their careers directly, whether their original career goals affected their decision to pursue a position as an intern, or both. Future research exploring LIS students’ career goals at the time they begin their program, reasons for pursuing a particular internship or other practical experience, and their career goals and paths after participating in an internship would provide a clearer picture of different programs’ impacts on participants’ long-term careers.

Conclusion

This study explores the career paths of former participants of a large and long-standing LIS internship program, as well as their perceptions of the way in which their experiences as interns affected their careers. The majority of the former EPA/NIEHS Libraries interns believe that their internship had a strong or very strong impact on their long-term careers. Additionally, most respondents believed that their internship experience played a significant or very significant role in obtaining their first jobs in LIS. Former interns perform a variety of tasks in their day-to-day work, and most of them work in either academic libraries or special libraries. Nearly all respondents went on to work in LIS for at least some length of time after the conclusion of their internships, 82% of respondents continue to work in the field now, and almost all indicated high levels of satisfaction with the program. Hopefully, these findings will serve as a springboard for further research in the ways LIS graduate internships affect participants’ careers and encourage further evaluation of these programs.

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