What is the Pop Culture Ambassadors internship?
The Pop Culture Ambassadors program is a four-day, paid internship program in which a cohort of five undergraduate students learn about the behind-the-scenes work of libraries, and visit local book and game stores to select materials for the Popular Culture collection. Books, comics, and games selected by the students are added to the Grainger Engineering Library and Information Center's Popular Materials collection.
The goals for the program are as follows:
- To introduce students from diverse backgrounds to the Library and Information Science profession as a potential pathway to recruit students from various, diverse backgrounds to the field.
- To help undergraduate students understand how the library works so they can be ambassadors for library collections and services to their peers.
- To build a more student-centered popular reading collection that represents diverse perspectives and current student interests to promote belonging.
The program is held over spring break.
This program was inspired by Bryn Mawr College's "Student Shape the Shelves" internship program.
Questions? Email Mara Thacker at mthacker@illinois.edu.
Community Partners
Bookstores
Game Stores
Public Libraries
Image credit: The Literary Facebook page.
Pop Culture Ambassador Planning Team
Mara Thacker, South Asian Studies & Global Popular Culture Librarian
Christopher Bailey, Information Sciences Librarian
Skylar Lucci, Visiting Engineering Instruction & Outreach Librarian
Victor Jones, Jr., Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility