The following is a guest post by Senior Music Cataloger Sharon McKinley.
My colleague Mary Wedgewood and I were recently chatting about all our former interns and volunteers, and how much we’ve enjoyed working with them. Some were training for library work. Some wanted to be performers. And a few just happened across our paths with entirely different goals for their lives. Each and every one of them brought something special to the job. First and foremost, they all love music. All have been intelligent, curious, and enthusiastic. We like to think we’ve given them something in return: training in sometimes arcane facets of cataloging; a chance to work with other interns and with the fabulous staffs of the Music Division and the former Special Materials Cataloging Division; and an introduction to the wonders of the Library of Congress. We figure that anyone lucky enough to spend time with our wonderful collections will take away experiences they will never forget.
Melvin Whitehead
So what is this leading to? Mary and I decided to contact all the interns we could find, and ask what they’re doing today. The results have been positive and quite entertaining. We hope you will enjoy reading about where our wonderful interns have gotten to in their lives and careers. Look for a series of these as we feature a delightful mix of interns from almost a decade of hosting them.
Melvin Whitehead was a Junior Fellow in 2009, when he worked with Mary Wedgewood processing materials for off-site storage at Ft. Meade. He focused on non-English language books, and cataloged a variety of materials, including items related to Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, and worked on the It’s Showtime! database of sheet music with Sharon McKinley. Melvin graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information in 2010 and is currently the Public Services/Electronic Resources Librarian at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, IL. In addition to instructing students in information literacy, he is a proponent of increasing the utilization of emerging technologies both in the library and among his faculty colleagues to instruct and engage students. Melvin thanks the LOC Music Division staff and the Junior Fellows program for the support, mentorship, and professional development they provided to him and his colleagues.
Erin Menzies
Erin Menzies volunteered at the Library of Congress in 2009, when she worked with Mary Wedgewood, cataloging copyright deposits related to 9/11. Erin completed her MLIS at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2009 and now works as a Research Analyst for Clinical Trials Ontario in Toronto, Canada. In her current position, Erin primarily conducts research and environmental scans which support her organization’s mandate of streamlining the clinical trials review process in Ontario, in addition to facilitating the working group on IT Harmonization and Performance Metrics. Previously she held roles as Health Sciences Reference Librarian at the University of Manitoba, and as Librarian with the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries.