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Practicums
The Practicum is a professional field experience program designed to provide students with the opportunity to work in a professional environment under the supervision of an experienced librarian or information specialist with the guidance of a GSLIS faculty member. This opportunity allows students to integrate the theory and knowledge of course content with the application of principles and practices in a work environment.
To enroll in a practicum course, students must identify a site where they would like to work, along with a site supervisor and a GSLIS faculty advisor. The student spends 100 hours over the course of the semester at the practicum site, with no more than 25 hours of that time devoted to a Special Project, which is determined by the student and site supervisor and agreed upon by all parties.
Ideas for a CI-related might include working with the park district or other community organization to train youth or elderly persons in technology skills, helping a local cultural center develop a community library or archive, working with a librarian to incorporate relevant programming and materials for an underserved population in their user community, working with city officials to improve e-government initiatives, working with community health or environmental organizations to improve citizens’ access to health information, participating in a community-run media center or assisting a researcher with assessing outcomes for community development initiatives.
For more information on how to initiate a practicum, visit: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/courses/practicum/ or e-mail Lynn Hanson at lmhanson@illinois.edu.