An Internship in the Forest

           

  I really enjoyed my internship this summer at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I got experience in adult, technical services, children's, and teen departments. The Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest is a new facility that opened in December 2010. Previously the Vestavia Hill Library had been in a very small location that is down the street from its present site. The new facility is LEED certified.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Over eighty percent of the trees from the site were used in the building to create floors, furniture, desks, and doors.  Trees beyond forty feet from the building were left alone.  There is a garden on the rooftop that provides insulation to decrease energy use and costs.  The building has a very modern look and it was exciting for me to come into this library everyday.

  
      My supervisor's name was Leslie West.  She is the adult services librarian at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest.  The whole summer she had historians and event planners come to the library and talk about the history of Birmingham and things to do in the city.  The library patrons really enjoyed these programs.  Leslie also has a book club that she does every month.  About twenty people show up every time.  She has a wonderful group of people that likes to discuss the books.  Leslie always chooses the books.  She wants her patrons to have exposure to a variety of literature. They might not always be comfortable reading the books, but they at least are willing to have an open mind to the material.

My favorite departments to work in were the children and teen departments.  This is where Leslie would send me most of the time to work. The children’s department is where I spent most of my time. I helped them put their books on the shelves, because they circulated hundreds of items a week. The children’s department head, Amanda, charged me with many important tasks. All through the summer she had me call different businesses to get them to donate items for the library’s children summer programs. I felt I gained a lot from this. It helped me become better at talking to strangers and developing a relationship with them. Amanda would suggest some businesses like Alabama Art Supply and Rave Motion Pictures. She allowed me to come up with my own businesses.  I was able to get items donated from local comic book and sports card stores. I found that this was important as well, because it got me thinking about activities that children might like to do like laser tag or paint ball. Amanda also asked me to assist her in story time. I helped both the children and the teen departments with programs that they had going on during the summer. I had the most fun in these departments. Amanda and Terri (the teen librarian) asked me to put together read alikes and reading lists together for them.  Before doing this internship, I did not know how I felt about children and teen service, but now I will look for jobs in these departments when I graduate.

  
    Overall, I enjoyed my internship at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. I found it to be a valuable learning experience. Everyone there was very respectful to me.The employees at this library were very friendly and eager to teach me about things that they have learned while working in this field. I felt that the work that I put into this internship was valued by all of the departments. This library has many different programs and events going on. It will be interesting to see what this library will be doing five year from now.I would recommend Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest as a good place to do an internship.