KOREA FOUNDATION

KF Library Internship

Although some students take courses during the summer and spring, most of them choose to enjoy their break time away from school, making the campus a quiet place. I’d heard about the beautiful summers in Ann Arbor, and the entire city really does feel like it’s enveloped in a green forest, giving it a fresh and cozy feeling.
   During the first week of May, after the spring semester, the university hosts the Enriching Scholarship, an annual series of seminars and workshops for the purpose of integrating technology with teaching, learning, and research. I particularly focused on the sessions related to data curation, which was the subject of my master’s thesis. Different levels were offered for each subject, from beginner to advanced, so anyone unfamiliar with a topic could comfortably attend a beginner session. The library’s other seminars and workshops are usually conducted by librarians and other in-house administrators, but Enriching Scholarship recruits a variety of outside participants. It was a very refreshing experience to witness various organizations offer a variety of perspectives and response measures on the same subject.
   On May 19–20, my supervisors and I helped to arrange a special meeting on the Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA) at the library’s conference room. The meeting was only for two days, but we spent a busy week providing all the necessary materials, equipment, and food; inspecting the conference room; and undertaking various last-minute preparations.
   In May, I also started to document and catalogue the library’s donated texts. I always ask for help whenever I’m unsure of anything. The University of Michigan started to proactively build up its Korean archives in the early 2000s, so the documents that we received from the 1990s should enrich the collection even further.

•   Asia Library, University of Michigan
•   Lee You Kyoung