MITH is very pleased to announce its participation in a project just funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop a model internship program for placing Library and Information Science Masters students as interns in working digital humanities centers. The participants, which include the Information Schools at Maryland, the University of Texas, and the University of Michigan, as well as Nebraska’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities and Michigan State’s MATRIX, alongside of MITH, will also work to develop a collaborative research program that draws on complementary areas of expertise and interest in the digital humanities and information studies.
KARI KRAUS, Assistant Professor in the iSchool at Maryland with a joint appointment in the Department of English, is the principal investigator for the three-year $590,000 award.
According to Kraus, “There is tremendous interest among our MLS students in the digital humanities, in part because so many of them have an arts and humanities background. Digital humanities as a field provides a perfect bridge between their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Many of our students are eager to find work in digital libraries and the cultural heritage sector, and these internships will help prepare them to do that.” NEIL FRAISTAT, MITH’s Director and a local Co-PI on the grant, adds “We at MITH are delighted to be participating in this important program, which reflects the close ties we have forged with our own superb iSchool at the University of Maryland, as well as relationships we would like to build with other iSchools around the country. Together, we are helping to train the next generation of digital humanists.”
The funded planning stage for the project begins this fall, with the first of a total of eighteen internships available in summer 2009. For more information please contact Dr. Kari Kraus, kkraus at umd dot edu.