A Day in the Life of a Practicum Student

BiblioBytes welcomes guest blogger Layne Fargo, a Kent State School of Library Science student who has been doing a practicum project at the Harold T. Clark Library this semester. Layne is in her last semester at Kent, and also currently works as a Tech Trainer and Adult Services Associate at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Libraries. She has been working at the Library since January and will be completing her practicum hours at the end of this month.


Thanks, Wendy!

I’m excited to be doing my practicum at the Natural History Museum because I’m very interested in special collections of all kinds. I’ve already worked in a public library and a fine arts library (The Lawrence & Lee Theatre Research Institute at The Ohio State University, where I got my MA in Theatre in 2008), so I figured that working in a museum would be a great way to further round out my experiences in the field.

Originally, my practicum assignment was supposed to consist of helping the Library work towards automation of its card catalog. That project was put on hold just as I started my practicum, so Wendy worked with me to find another option that would benefit the Library and also fit with my own interests. We decided to pursue an expansion of the Library’s online presence, including this blog and a digital exhibit.

Most of my semester was spent working on the exhibit. We focused on the Library’s Rare Book Collection, selecting 10 titles to highlight. I got to be involved in every stage of the project, from choosing the books, to photographing them and editing the images, to researching each volume and writing contextual notes. The exhibit will debut soon on the Museum website, but for now, here’s a preview:


Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitat was written by Alexander H. Smith, a prominent mycologist who spent the entirety of his career (from 1934 to 1972) at the University of Michigan Herbarium. The book, designed to bring the study of fungi to amateurs, was published in two volumes. One volume contains the text; the other, disguised as a book, contains stereoscopic slides with photos of mushroom specimens and a Viewmaster for viewing the illustrations. The illustrations are credited to William S. Gruber, the inventor of the Viewmaster (an invention which was introduced just 10 years earlier at the 1939 World’s Fair). Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitat is without a doubt one of the most unique titles in the Library’s Rare Book Collection.


I’ve had a wonderful time working with Wendy this semester, and I would highly recommend the Harold T. Clark Library to any Kent student looking for a great practicum opportunity in the Cleveland area.