Overall, my experience so far as an intern with the National Collections Program at the Smithsonian Institution has been an enjoyable one. I have enjoyed being a part of the collaborative effort to create a collections based hazards flipbook that will serve as a resource to not just the Smithsonian community, but to a much larger audience that deals with collections management at a variety of different institutions and organizations. All of the skills I have learned working on this project will serve me well as I move forward in my professional career after completing my masters degree.
For me personally, what has been eye-opening about my internship so far is the the amount of work and collaborative effort that goes into creating a project like the collections based hazards flipbook. Going into this project I was unaware of all the different technical elements that are a part of any large scale project like the creation of this flipbook. What I have discovered is that there are a multitude of different decisions that have to be made at every step in the process that will affect the final product that will be published on the National Collections Program’s website in the late spring/early summer. These decisions included: how to best collect and store the information on various collections based hazards, what information about the hazards should and should not be included as part of the data set, and what is the best way to present the data set on the National Collections Program’s website so that it can be accessed by the general public. All of these decisions were carefully decided while keeping the overall goals and objectives of the project in mind.
The expectations that I initially had when I started this internship back in August have definitely changed now that I am half-way through the internship. These changes have been positive and have allowed me to take away many practical skills and experiences from this internship. Initially, I expected to be working as more of an assistant on the flipbook project. I thought that I would be given some small simple tasks that just needed to be done for the project. Instead, I have actually become an integral part of the team to create this collections based hazards flipbook. I have been able to voice my opinions and to be a part of the major decisions that have been made about the project along the way. In addition, I have also been put in charge of various important tasks that will make up crucial elements of the final flipbook project that is published on the National Collections Program’s website. Recently, I was put in charge of drafting the introductory text about the project that will be included when the flipbook is published online. In addition, I have also been put in charge of emailing all of the Unit Safety Coordinators at the Smithsonian in order to receive Job Hazard Analyses (JHAs) about different jobs dealing with collections. These tasks have helped me to really be able to see my contribution to the collections based hazards flipbook project, and have also provided me with valuable skills that I will use in my future career.
