The Library of Congress Junior Fellows program for summer 2012

The Library of Congress Junior Fellows program for summer 2012 has been posted at http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/308129000


Applications may be submitted through midnight, February 27, 2012. The internship period will begin May 29, 2012 and end on August 3, 2012.

At least two of the selected Junior Fellows will be involved in processing primarily 19th and early 20th-century Russian books. These are paid internships as part of the Library’s Junior Fellows/ Summer Interns program. The 10-week program involves full-time work, to run from May 29, 2011, through August 3, 2011. The pay is $300/week with a local transit subsidy.

Applicants must be U. S. citizens who are currently enrolled in a degree-granting program of study at an accredited institution of higher learning at the undergraduate level (college, university, or tribal college), or graduate level, or have graduated since August 2011 from an undergraduate or graduate program

Junior Fellows/Summer Interns will work full-time with Library specialists to inventory, describe, and explore collection holdings and to assist with digital preservation outreach activities throughout the Library. The focus of the program is on increasing access to collections and awareness of the Library’s digital preservation programs by making them better known and accessible to researchers including scholars, students, teachers and the general public.

This past summer one Fellow worked on the Yudin Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division and another worked on the Cyrillic 4 Collection in the European Division. There is a little overlap between the two projects, and last summer’s two Fellows enjoyed (and their supervisors benefited from) the interconnections.

The plan this summer is for one or two Fellows to continue work on the Yudin Collection in the Rare Book Division and for one Fellow to continue work on the Cyrillic 4 Collection in the European Division.
Here is a description of the Russia-related projects in the two divisions:
Area Studies (European)

The Fellow will assist with “light” cataloging of the European Division’s “Cyrillic 4 collection” of about 2,000 Russian-language monographs published primarily between 1880 and 1940. The ideal Junior Fellow candidate for the European Division will: 1) have a good reading knowledge of Russian; 2) be enrolled in a graduate program for Library Science studies; and 3) be interested in learning (or already know something about) basic cataloging.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division

The Yudin Collection. The Junior Fellow will use Siberian collector Gennadii V. Yudin’s own handwritten Russian-language catalog to locate Yudin's books in Library of Congress collections, identify books not yet included in the online catalog, and contribute to the virtual catalog of Yudin's extraordinary library of 80,000 volumes dispersed throughout the Library of Congress. Skill(s)/Knowledge desired: Applicants should have advanced Russian language skills and the aptitude to read pre-Revolutionary Cyrillic handwriting. Students should have good computer skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently much of the time.


PLEASE NOTE. The Website given above says of the European Division’s project that it requires “Basic knowledge of Russian and an interest in learning cataloging skills.” That is correct. However, the requirements currently given for the Rare Book and Special Collections Division make no mention of Russian. THIS IS A MISTAKE. Applicants interested in working with Russian materials should list either the European Division or the Rare Book and Special Collections Division first and the other second where the application asks for first, second and third preferences of divisions in which to work.



U.S. citizenship is required. Unfortunately, a green card is not sufficient. The program is open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and law students. Fellows may receive course credit - at the full discretion of the student’s university.


A common question is, “Do I have to be there for the entire 10 weeks, May 29 – August 3, 2012?” In a word, yes. Fellows must certainly be present during the first week when all 40 Fellows will receive group orientations before they disperse to work in various divisions of the Library. It is possible to miss a very few days during the 10 weeks, but not during the first or last weeks.

Below is a lengthier description of the Russian project in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, compiled by my colleague Barbara Dash.
G. V. Yudin Collection

Rare Book and Special Collections Division
The 80,000 volumes of the Yudin Collection, primarily a gift, arrived at the Library of Congress between 1906 and 1908. The largest personal Russian library in the United States, the collection is renowned for its quality and variety, including rare and sometimes unique works not only in Russian but in many other languages. Its hidden treasures include as well many original maps, portraits, architectural drawings, and landscapes.

Because Yudin’s books have been dispersed throughout the Library’s collections (the general collections, Geography & Map, the Law Library, the Music Division, Prints & Photographs, and Rare Book), and because only a small percentage of online catalog records identify Yudin’s books as belonging to his library, we have no available catalog of the collection. We do have in our possession, however, Yudin’s original handwritten card file, mostly still tied in bundles with ribbon. The file cards are written in several hands, mostly in Cyrillic script, on fragile paper.
Beginning in the summer of 2009, summer interns have employed Yudin’s card file to identify his library in the online LC catalog. In the summer of 2012, interns will continue to use information from the original handwritten cards to search the LC online catalog for books from Yudin’s library. Once an exact match is found, interns will enter the Yudin Collection name in the catalog record for the book. In some cases they may discover titles that have been missing from LC’s catalog. In many cases they will retrieve and examine the books themselves for important bibliographic information or physical evidence. Because many of the online catalog records for Russian books acquired in earlier times are incomplete or contain errors, the interns have the opportunity, with the guidance of Library staff, to make important additions or correct major errors in the catalog.

Applicants should have the willingness and energy to investigate bibliographic problems or questions that may take them to many corners of the Library. At the end of the summer program, interns will be expected to participate in an exhibition of treasures they have found. In addition to the Yudin project, interns will be exposed to the rich collections of the Rare Book & Special Collections Division and the Library of Congress and offered opportunities to participate in other aspects of library work.

Source:

Grant Harris
Head, European Reading Room
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4830
tel. 202-707-5859
fax 202-707-8482
grha@loc.gov