The document summarizes the 2009 Alternative Spring Break program placements for 94 graduate students from the School of Information at various sites in New York City, Washington D.C., and Chicago. It provides details on the number of students and partner organizations in each city and highlights some of the projects students engaged in, such as creating guides, exhibits, and applications or assisting with digitization, processing collections, and more.

1. SI ASB 2009 Post Reflective Session 3 Cities 94 Students 55 Sites A Great Year!

2. The Mission of SI-ASB The Alternative Spring Break is to place interested and motivated graduate students, during the week of Spring Break, in professional work environments in the public sector where they can... provide a service to an organization, institution, or community gain practical job experience develop leadership skills as information professionals learn new skills create professional partnerships pursue their fields of interest Students receive no course credit for this experience, but the School of Information, along with alumni and corporate donors, supports their travel and lodging costs.

3. 20 Students / 13 Orgs in New York New York Sites ABC No Rio ARChive of Contemporary Music Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Public Library Citizens Union/ Citizens Union Foundation Gotham Gazette Green Map System Lower East Side Ecology Center New York Public Library The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art / The Cloisters Library The Paley Center for Media Tribal Link Foundation, Inc. MSI Students Nan Chen Noah Liebman Ian McKilligan Ann McWilliams-Piraino Barbara Pezet Madison Stuart Chih-Ming Yi Beilei Zhang David Jackson Ke Sun Carrie Ashendel Jenica Baty Jeremy Canfield Megan Esseltine Jennifer Henderson Wen-Hui Kao Adrienne Klum Anita Shankar Ning Wang Emma Wolman

4. 51 Students in Washington D.C. MSI Students Janani Bhuvaneswari Sundar Rachel Doepker Daniel Fehrenbach Marc Levitt Li Li Zhe Liu Kumar Mayank Michael Nagara Meredith Raymond Jonathan Shiffner Chutimon Sindhuprama Colleen Theisen Nathan Tomlanovich Sally Vermaaten Zhuo (Tony) Zhang Lori Donovan Andy Hickner Jessica Jones Urmila Kashyap Sharon Knieper Ryan Lankton Rachel Lwin Katie McCurdy David Quick Angelique Richardson Cheney Schopieray Maurini Strub Alison Trulock Jennifer Trusty Brian Wilson Ellen Wilson Caroline Yee Greg Grossmeier Elaine Engstrom Christiane Evaskis Annie Fang Sarah Gurnick Emiko Hastings Ashwin Kailasam Malisa Lewis Chrysta Meadowbrooke Anne-Louise Mittal Beth Noyes Michael Perry Sarah Raezler Audrey Riojas Amy Stilgenbauer Rui Wang Lauren Wendel Emily Sanford Dawn Barton

5. 23 Organizations in D.C. American Library Association (ALA) American University Association of American Medical Colleges Community IT Innovators (CITI) Georgetown Law Library Institute of Museum and Library Services Library of Congress National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) Headquarters National Library of Medicine National Public Radio National Science Foundation, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs Open The Government Population Action International Smithsonian Institution: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage National Museum of African Art National Museum of American History National Museum of the American Indian Archives National Museum of Natural History U.S. Dept of State Bunche Library U.S. Dept of Transportation National Transportation Library U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Library U.S. Naval Observatory Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

6. 23 Students/9 Orgs in Chicago Chicago Sites Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum American Library Association (ALA) Headquarters Archdiocese of Chicago Archives & Records Center Cabrini Connections Chicago Public Library Chicago Park District Columbia College Chicago Library Roosevelt University University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center MSI Students Garima Garg Malhar Gupta Zhenan Hong George Ishii Taeho Ko Zhe Pu Eunice Shin Wentao Wang Sui Yan Ayoung Yoon Mark Goetz Kristina Weins Evan Anderson Heather Backman Liz Blankenship Mohammad Hadhrawi Michael Harmala Rahan Khozein Debra Lauterbach John Levandowski AnneMarie Lock Matt Strand Shannon Wait

7. Adler Planetarium Usability and Visitor Experience Zhenan Hong 1 st year HCI Conducted user survey and interview to make redesign recommendations for website and audio tour. Ran protocol as well as implementing usability test for input devices of the World Wide Telescope in visualization lab.

9. Jennifer Henderson Office of the Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel -- Archives Began compiling a database of past exhibitions from 1870 to the present taken from authoritative sources (Museum Bulletin, Exhibition Files, and Annual Reports) Translated documents from German to English

11. Rachel Doepker went to the Library of Congress and wrote brief guides for the online exhibit, “This Month in Business History” for Business Reference Services. Rachel (l) with mentor, Ellen Terrell (r) She also attended a staff meeting and observed reference in the Science, Technology and Business Reading Room. She composed two short guides; the first on the patenting of the board game, Monopoly, and the second on the launch of CNN. Source: http://www.cnn.com Source: http://www.hasbro.com

12. Heather Backman Chicago Public Library – Humboldt Park Branch Me, my supervisor, and my book display Updated informational binder containing articles, demographic information, etc. related to the Humboldt Park neighborhood Created book display for library lobby Observed meeting of reference librarians from north third of Chicago Unpacked and did preliminary processing on newly arrived books Attended storytime!

14. - @ NYPL This science and business library is needed in NY now more than ever. Think of it as a career center with research librarians; it’s a very effective combination. I saw a ~500 year-old book, and it was a piece of art. I wrote a 30+ report of my findings, and because my manager, the gracious Erminio D'Onofrio, said to hold nothing back, it included a one-page disclaimer/apology. Ian McKilligan

15. Library of Congress Geography and Maps Division Emily Sanford 1 st year LIS/ARM Project: Work with a cartographic materials cataloger to copy catalog a collection of electronic cartographic materials. Create a bibliography of creators the G&M division receives materials from. Create a finding aid for CD-ROM materials.

16. Taeho Ko | HCI Cabrini Connections Created a simple application that shows Tutor/Mentor program locations and other data on the map visually. The goal of TM/C Program Locator is to let more people become aware of Tutor/Mentor Connection program, and give them motivation to be involved.

17. US Naval Observatory Library ASB Washington, DC 2009 The Library: As the largest astronomy library in the US, the USNO supports scientific research for the Navy and elsewhere. The Project: Processing a donated collection and preparing selected items to be moved to the Library of Congress. Bonus: The Rare Book room filled with Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, et al; a beautiful building; and a visit from VP Biden. From…SI Student Jessica Jones

18. Janani Bhuvaneswari Sundar

19. Smithsonian Museum of African Art African “master-piece” behind us With our coordinator and Mr. Obama Docent Website for NMFAA Webpage is fully functional with features like docent can view readings, videos, tours, sample exhibits, directory list, about the museum, etc… We also integrated a discussion forum (which is wikispaces) We visited other museums during lunch break. It was a good experience and we completed the work within 5 days. Janani Bhuvaneswari Sundar & Kumar Mayank The World of Map Cataloging, organizing, scanning, and uploading images of maps of Southeast Asia area where I come from Taking a tour in Botany and Anthropology departments Chutimon Sindhuprama The world of maps project. Working with Rusty Russell and Jim Harle. Department of Botany Chutimon Sindhuprama

20. Brian Wilson @ US Department of Transportation RITA NTL, Washington D.C. Project: Created archival and record information retrieval guide intended for NTL patrons and staff Lists DOT record groups and record schedules Outlines use of NARA online search tools Provides DOT, NARA and FRC contact information Describes RM at DOT and common ARM terms Also: Interviewed DOT Records Officers, NTL staff and DOT Historian Toured NARA facility in College Park with archivist assigned to DOT records

21. State Department Ralph J. Bunche Library Sharon Knieper Assessed, edited and organized part of an internal reference wiki (edited about 60 pages) Attended meeting with International Information Programs Bureau on developing internal wikis and various web 2.0 State Department efforts Informational interviews with Chief Librarian, two branch chiefs, and head cataloger Presented to library staff members future suggested improvements for internal wiki and what SI is like 7th floor of State Department (Hillary’s office is on the right, I wasn’t allowed to take a picture of that)

22. Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History Processed 35 cubic feet of material for 2 collections: Alexander Binder Company (records from manufacturer of binders for company records) Railroad Trade Literature (instruction manuals and marketing pamphlets for major railroad companies during the 1850s-1950s) Explored the SINMAH “vault” Guided tours of the Star-Spangled Banner “flagquarium” and Scurlock photograph exhibit Lauren Wendel, Amy Stilgenbauer, Audrey Riojas, Sarah Gurnick and Nathan Tomlanovich

23. Smithsonian National Museum for Natural History Supervisor: Jamie Whitacre Project: Cyberinfrastructure Development of DNA Barcoding Details: Collected and organized the labeling, recording materials and data according to taxonomic hierarchies and data protocols. Designed the VBA program to improve the data comparison efficiency of plant DNA barcode. Bonus: Free IMAX Movie in Museum-This week special: “Dark Knight”. Museum Tour: Special view each day. All Gifts - 25% off for employees. (From Left) Tony, Jamie, Mon, Jim

24. Katie McCurdy - Georgetown Law Library I did usability testing of the Law Library’s homepage using TechSmith Morae. DC, baby!

25. Lori Donovan @ Library of Congress I participated in the digitization workflow in the Geography and Maps Division I also touched Sean Connery

26. NARA Donated Gifts, Textual Records Ellen Wilson Processed, including rehousing and the creation of finding aids, the collected papers of Thomas Hubbard and John C. Reed – two individuals deeply involved with polar exploration Selected artifacts for the 75 th Anniversary Coffee Table Book Selected artifacts and records for the Public Vaults display on Polar Exploration

27. Brooklyn Public Library- Young Adult Services Produced YA pathfinder for humorous books Used Novelist, YALSA lists, and other selection aids to find recent, humorous books in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel and Series collections Used BPL catalog to determine item status in the Central Branch, made list of books to be ordered Observed Youth and Young Adult programming Assisted in setup and implementation of “Teen Time” (gaming), “Toddler Time” (stories and songs), and “‘Tween Art” Provided directional and reference assistance on Youth and YA desks Megan Esseltine

28. Sarah Raezler and Malisa Lewis National Archives and Records Administration Center for Legislative Archives Very awesome elevator doors Toured a lot of cool places and met some awesome people Evaluated and made recommendations to improve researcher access through website

29. Library of Congress, NDIIPP ( N ational D igital I nformation I nfrastructure P reservation P rogram) Mission : “to develop a national strategy to collect, archive and preserve the burgeoning amounts of digital content, especially materials that are created only in digital formats, for current and future generations.” Primary projects completed: Outreach web page – created guide to making “how-to” videos on digital preservation for NDIIPP Accessibility check Dawn Barton & Sally Vermaaten

31. Maurini Strub American University Instruction/Information Literacy Project Developed & delivered instructional content Graduate teacher education course Uses of Technology in Education Met with library directors Learned how they facilitate research teaching via: Instruction Reference Collection development work. Maurini Strub with Alex Hodges (Instruction Team Leader) Bender Library

32. New York Public Library Picture Collection (Mid-Manhattan Branch) Emma Wolman I helped inventory and process boxes of the Picture Collection’s oversize materials (posters, prints, illustrations, etc). There were really interesting items, and some fairly heavy-handed war messages that I got to unearth. It was a great project, albeit one that necessitated wearing layers and a scarf every day.

33. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION I spent the week working on a variety of projects and observations I spent time with a number of different reference libraries doing both behind the scenes work (collection development, e-reference) and public reference (reference desk rotations) I looked at the on-line guide to the microform collection and offered suggestions for improvement I also looked at the catalog records and physical items for the Journal Citation Indexes for Science and Social Sciences and suggested possibilities for the future of the collection Jennifer Trusty

34. Smithsonian Institute: National Museum of American History At the museum’s Archives Center… Processed and rehoused materials from Alexander Binder Company collection Learned how to make custom boxes for oversize items Helped with foldering of 30 cubic feet of railroad trade literature Audrey Riojas