Digital Cataloging and Review/History Internships

The Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University is seeking interns to participate in the cataloging of historical documents in the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library.  The goal of the Center is to serve scholars, tourists, teachers, curious citizens, and students of all ages as they explore the life and achievement of the 26th President of the United States. Launched to the public in late 2011, the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library is the primary portal the Center uses to convey that goal to a national audience. More than 42,000 items from 18 different collections are already available at www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org.

The Center has over 150,000 digitized documents from the Theodore Roosevelt Papers at the Library of Congress, including letters to and from Roosevelt, newspaper clippings, speeches and executive orders, photographs, maps, and personal diaries. Around 10,000 items have been digitized from other collections, such as the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, sites within the National Park System, and Harvard College Library. In order to make the digital files available to the public online, the Center is seeking interns to help with creation and review of metadata for these documents in our online database. Interns will work a minimum of 240 hours (approximately six weeks), participating in all facets of the development of the digital library. These will include cataloging (viewing documents on a computer screen and typing and reviewing information in a Web-based form), reviewing the work of other catalogers to make sure all standards are being met, and copyright review of collections in order to clear them for publication.

The Theodore Roosevelt Center’s website includes interpretive content, such as articles and timelines that promote the understanding of Theodore Roosevelt’s life. This content utilizes the same subject headings as the items in the digital library to enhance the relationship with primary source documents. Candidates selected for the internship will be asked to use a digital humanities tool of their own choosing to create a visualization that will be shared on the Center’s blog.

Since the work is web-based, the internships will be conducted remotely. Interns do not need to relocate to Dickinson, North Dakota, to complete their work. Training will be provided through an online classroom environment throughout the internship. A moderate hourly stipend will be provided.  Internships are to be completed between May 15 and August 31, 2017.

Required qualifications:

• Graduate students or recent graduates in history or American studies, archival studies, library science or information management
• Attention to detail
• Commitment to accurate, high-quality work
• Self-motivated worker, as all work will be done remotely
• Knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt and/or American History in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries
• Strong oral and written communication skills

Desired qualifications:

• Experience working in digital collections, particularly creating metadata/catalog records
• Knowledge of digital standards, particularly Dublin Core and controlled vocabularies

To Apply:

Send letter of application (including your reasons for interest in this internship) and resume to Pamela Pierce, Digital Library Coordinator/Archivist for the Theodore Roosevelt Center, at pamela.pierce@dickinsonstate.edu. Applications must be received by 7 a.m. MT March 27, 2017, for consideration.