DC librarian offers paid internship to boost interest in library science – WTOP News
In 2019, Christopher Stewart started paying students in D.C. to work in a school library and learn about the field.
The concept is similar to a paid internship, with students helping with research and shelving books. The goal is to increase students’ awareness of library science and spark their interest in the field.
Stewart has brought the program with him to various schools. Now in his first year as senior school librarian at Garnet-Patterson S.T.A.Y. High School, Stewart has opened applications for hiring two library brand ambassadors. He’s already received information from six applicants.
The mission, he said, is to “make sure that students have an opportunity to explore the field, particularly Black and Brown students, because we make up so little as far as the grand total of librarians, especially school librarians.”
As a Black male school librarian, Stewart said he is part of a group that makes up less than 3% of school librarians.
The ambassadors help design programs that exist in teen spaces elsewhere and could be replicated at their school. They also shelve books and learn the Dewey Decimal System, “helping to create a different system that works best for our population.”
Part of the intention, Stewart said, is for students to share their experiences with their peers in hopes of boosting interest in the field.
They work about two or three hours every week, and Stewart pays them out of his own pocket. Students typically work in the library for three or four months before a new group takes over.
Students earn $20 per hour but only have access to half of their earnings immediately. The other half, Stewart said, is set aside for their future.
“20% goes toward the purchase of their first home, 20% goes toward a college or CTE program in preparation for that licensure, and 10% goes toward a charity that they choose,” Stewart said.
They receive that money when they graduate, he said, with the hope that they “continue to save toward the purchase of a home, college and university, and also to continue to give to charity.”
Stewart hopes the field continues to expand and said that will take more than simply wishing for it to happen.
“You can’t just say it,” Stewart said. “You have to put the work in and do it. It’s important to show it.”
Inspired by the opportunity to work in a school library, Stewart said some of his former students have considered library science as a career.
“The field of library science is one that you research,” Stewart said. “When you do research, you find additional things that can help communities and empower communities.”