Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed my practicum experience. It was an interesting and educational experience. I think what really worked best for me was the opportunity to work in different areas of the archive, the digital lab and historical manuscripts and photographs. This gave me an even better over view of the the archive as a whole and gave me valuable experience in both areas.

My time was split between the two but was more heavily dedicated to the digital lab, and I think that was good thing. The digital lab required more instruction and training for the projects I was working on than the projects in historical manuscripts and photographs, so dedicating 2/3 of the time to the digital enabled me to receive the necessary instruction while also completing a sufficient amount of work to understand the department and the processes of digitizing archived materials.

While I did enjoy both areas of the archives, I think I was more comfortable and enjoyed the digital lab the most. The whole practicum experience it extremely beneficial for any library science student, especially those who aim to go into archives or are working to complete the archives and special collections certificate.