Maddie Billiel

Hot Topic Paper

Dr. Sweeny
LS501
Spring 2021

Inequality in Unpaid Internships in the LIS Field

Unpaid work is the backbone of the library and archival field, many of these

institutions cannot support paid workers and relay on this unpaid work to fulfil the duties

needed to keep up with the work. As it gets more and more difficult for these institutions

to get recourse to keep their collections going, the need for unpaid interns increases.

“Without sufficient funding for adequate and well-qualified staff many archives turn to

unpaid internships and other volunteer laborers for their survival. While there is much to

be gained for students and new professionals through such opportunities, t here are also

high costs to consider.” (Cifor and Lee) These internship opportunities are also beneficial

to college students at all levels, undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, as well as those

entering the field. Many LIS programs either have internships available as a course for

credit towards their degree or as a requirement built into their program that is need for

graduation. Other than credit towards a degree, internships also give students the

experience they need in their chosen career. And while these are helpful to these just

entering the field, as Cifor and Lee mention, there are many issues that arise when it

comes to unpaid internships. Unpaid work deal with core values instilled in the LIS field.

Institutions that follow the SAA or the ALA cannot fully support their communities

through these core values, such as diversity, access, and even social responsibility if they
are not allowing these values to be seen in their workplaces with unfair labor such as

unpaid internships.

A core value for the American Library Association (ALA) as well as the Society

of American Archivist (SAA), two professional organization that heavily influence the

field is diversity. The ALA’s Core Values states that “We value our nation's diversity and

strive to reflect that diversity by providing a full spectrum of resources and services to

the communities we serve.” (ALA) and the SAA’s Core Values Statement and Code of

Ethics diversity statement is more developed than the ALA’s and specifically references

diversity when it comes to the employment in the field “Within our field at

large: Archival education programs, professional organizations, and hiring institutions

must work to develop practices and policies that center the recruitment, retention, and

ongoing support of inclusive communities of practice. It is not enough to collect the

history of diverse peoples—the archives profession must constantly work toward creating

anti-oppressive environments that encourage participation from people across the

spectrum of experience.” (SAA) As a field that prides themselves in promoting diversity

and inclusivity content, they should also be working to make it easier for those diverse

communities to work in the field at an earlier start. The SAA believes that “paid

internships are important for diversifying our field.” (SAA, 2019) There is a gap in those

that are able to take on unpaid work and those that simply can’t afford it. This creates an

inequality in the workplace even before students officially enter the field. “Limiting

internships to those who can afford them simply perpetuates existing inequalities.

Students from high-income backgrounds are more likely to hold internships that can help

them gain the contacts and experience needed to secure positions in their preferred
careers after graduation. Meanwhile, their less affluent peers graduate with college

degrees financed by burdensome loans--while lacking the relevant work experience to get

jobs that will allow them to pay off those loans.” (Mayo & Shethji, 2015) In many cases

it is disproportionally underrepresented groups, (those that do not come from white

households) that get this hit. Unpaid internships require students that are employed to

either: keep a fulltime time job and work their hours for the internship, cut back to

parttime hours or find a part time job in order to make time for an internship, or leave a

job completely in order to work a fulltime internship. Cutting back or quitting a job all

together is not an option for many as they need money to support themselves and

sometimes even support other people in their life that many be dependent on them to

work. In order to fully support a diverse field with inclusivity in the workplace, archives,

libraries, and museums need to make internships a viable option for all. This problem

with a lack of diversity due to unpaid internships, I believe falls under the greater issue of

access. Again, the issue of access brought up in the ALA Core Values and the SAA’s

Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics. The ALA’s statement on access is as follows,

“All information resources that are provided directly or indirectly by the library,

regardless of technology, format, or methods of delivery, should be readily, equally, and

equitably accessible to all library users.” (ALA) The SAA defines their access policy as,

“Archivists actively promote open and equitable access to records in their care as much

as possible. […] They work with creators, donors, organizations, and communities to

ensure that any restrictions applied are appropriate, well-documented, and equitably

enforced.” (SAA) Access should begin at the workforce level too. Unpaid internships

affect the diversity of the workforce due to an issue with access to internships. Only
making unpaid internships available to students limits the access to those they cannot

afford to take an unpaid internship. In an increasingly competitive labor market,

internships also provide important and often necessary credentials for prospective job

applicants. In spite of their value, the opportunity to pursue an internship is often limited

by a student’s socioeconomic status. The vast majority of non-profit and governmental

internships are unpaid.” (Edwards & Hertel-Fernandez)

Making more internships that are paid increase the accessibility for those that

cannot afford to take an unpaid internship to still get the benefits of those that have

already completed internships, paid or unpaid. The SAA announced in July of 2019, that

they would no longer be posting unpaid internships to their career Canter’s Internship

Directory with a statement saying “AAS strongly encourages employers to value archival

graduate students' skills by providing monetary compensation for their work

commensurate with the qualifications required for the position. If monetary compensation

is not indicated in the internship description, the position will not be posted to this

directory” (SAA, 2019) By doing this, a major organization makes it easier to weed out

unpaid internships and get direct access to paid internships. And this hopefully helps

promote the need for accessibility internships, which are those that are paid, for libraires,

museums, and archives.

There are many benefits to internships which help those that are about to enter the

field gain the experience and knowledge through hands on work and working with

professionals. These benefits include familiarity with the profession, the ability to make

connections, career planning, and project handling. (Tewell, 2008) It is known that these

institutions, libraries, museums, and archives, do struggle already with resources

including staff and funding and seek unpaid internships and volunteers as a main source

for labor. This makes it difficult for these institutions to compensate interns fairly. I

have been privileged to be able to have two internships in the career of my chose while I

was still an undergrad and I am so thankful for those experien ces. I was also lucky

enough to have been able to receive class credit towards my degree while working a paid

internship. Being able to have access to these amazing opportunities should be accessible

to all. The best way to make this accessible would be to make sure that these internships

are paid or include a type of stipend. But through grants, funds, and other programs paid

internships should be made available at these information institutions in order for them to

continue upholding their core values that they use to service their communities.
 Bibliography

American Library Association. (2020, September 28). Core Values of Librarianship.

Advocacy, Legislation & Issues.
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Bell, D. C. (2013, September 12). Internships, Privilege and SAA: A Council Member
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Cifor, M. a & Lee, J. (2017). Towards an Archival Critique: Opening Possibilities for
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