Diversifying Librarianship through a Data Services Internship for BIPOC Graduate Students

The National Center for Data Services (NCDS) of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) developed an annual Internship Program with the goal of providing practical experiences to graduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups interested in learning about and gaining skills in data services. These internships were designed to include the soft and hard skills needed to enter data librarian positions, including working on a team, disseminating scholarship, and obtaining a job. NCDS worked with partner organizations Data Curation Network and the NNLM Evaluation Center to develop project ideas, trainings, and placements for nine interns to work 10 weeks during the summer of 2022. This internship program is an annual summer offering and was developed as part of the "Leading the Charge" EDI initiative by Hampton University and funded by IMLS. As part of this initiative, NCDS worked with EDI leaders and a consultant in development of the features of the internship.

This program serves to both grow the field by increasing capacity and to diversify the field by centering opportunities on BIPOC graduate students, not only as an introduction to data librarianship but acclimation to the field in a health sciences context. Interns gained practical experience while working with a mentor in a guided environment on structured data projects, helping to provide the interns with skills needed to be competitive for data librarian positions.

This presentation will present the ideas and outcomes from NCDS’s first Internship Program, discussing the need to provide opportunities to graduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, talking about establishing structure and partnerships to help place interns, and exploring opportunities for replacing these types of programs at other institutions.