[PADG:1292] short term job advice

["Carli, Alice" <acarli@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all, 

A really excellent undergraduate student employee approached me at the beginning of this year to say that she's planning on taking a year off before graduate school in order to think more deeply about her future career path (she's interested in music theory and in librianship) and do some reading and research on her own to prepare in either direction. She's really enjoying the work she's doing in my department (researching replacements for lost parts) and wondered if there was any way she could either keep this job after she graduates, or find another one like it. I've ascertained that there is no way that her student employment status can continue past her graduation, and I know there are no 1-year jobs in my library. 

On the other hand, I also know that the student will be a valuable asset wherever she goes; she's observant, thoughtful and learns very quickly. She's already achieved more in actual results -- scores returned to circulation with either new parts or preservation photocopies following "good faith efforts" to find new replacements -- than any of the graduate students who have previously worked on the project. She's interested in both the research part of the job and the preservation aspect.

She's thinking of applying for the following year to University of Seattle and UNC Chapel Hill, so that working in one of those places could lead to settling there, but she is more interested in finding work that will help her think about her future than working in any particular place.

She will be speaking with faculty members about possibilities in academe, and I thought that PADG would be another good place to come for advice (I'm alson sending a message to MLA-L). The fact that she won't be a student anywhere does make it harder for me to come up with ideas, though I may be missing some obvious programs.

Let me know what suggestions (or job offers!) you might have for a 1-year-nonaffiliated college graduate (as of summer 2007) who's interested in libraries and music. I was impressed that she's thinking ahead this far, and would love to reward her with suggestions that help her find what she's looking for. 

Alice Carli
Conservator
Sibley Music Library