Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: Rose Music Collection Description
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to assist in describing the contents of this collection for researchers. Volunteers will examine each piece of historic sheet music in the collection, entering publication details, subject terms, and descriptions of cover art into a searchable database that may be made available online as the project progresses. A legacy card index is available to verify publication details.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over a semester, working at least 20 hours per week. A volunteer coming once a week for three or four hours could be employed indefinitely, as the collection is very large.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: Preliminary Inventories of Archival Collections
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to prepare preliminary box and folder lists of unprocessed archival collections. The successful candidate will have the first opportunity to examine historic collections and survey and describe their contents prior to formal processing by a TSLA staff member.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over any span of time, whether a few weeks or an entire semester. A volunteer coming once a week for three or four hours could be employed indefinitely, as there are always collections awaiting inventory.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: Reformatting of Archival Finding Aids
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to convert legacy archival finding aids to a new format that utilizes the DACS standard for archival description. Volunteers will be assigned a group of electronic finding aid files in Microsoft Word format and will transfer information into new Word documents using the section’s template file. Some legacy finding aids may require editing and/or additional information, so good writing and research skills are preferred.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern, preferably over an entire semester. A volunteer coming once a week for three or four hours could be employed indefinitely, as there are hundreds of finding aids awaiting conversion.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title:Tennessee Postcard Collection Description
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to assist with the creation of a searchable database for this collection, involving arrangement existing data in the database as well as entry of new data for postcards as they are acquired. Volunteers will be working with an MS Access database to split existing postcard descriptions into multiple fields, adding additional information where possible, and adding database records for postcards that have not yet been described. This database will provide the descriptive component for a scanning project which will present the Tennessee Postcard Collection online.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over a three-to-four-week period, working at least 20 hours per week. A volunteer coming once a week for three or four hours could be employed for several months.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: "Deposited" Collections Project
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to assist in compiling information on archival items or collections that were placed at TSLA “on deposit” prior to 1990. Volunteers will go through the accession folders for each deposited collection, using ownership information located there to search online for current contact information of the depositor or their descendants. The compiled information will be used to contact the depositor to propose the donation of the materials to TSLA and will provide valuable experience in donor relations and working with acquisition records.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over a semester, working at least 20 hours per week. A volunteer coming once a week for seven to eight hours could be employed for several months.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: State Records Inventory
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to assist in creating a trustworthy inventory of state agency records. These records are described in a rudimentary database that requires additional information and confirmation of records status. Tasks will involve comparing boxes to Records Disposition Authorization (RDA) forms and to database information, creating reports on records status, and lifting and moving boxes up to 40 lbs. in weight.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over a semester, working at least 20 hours per week. A volunteer coming once a week for seven to eight hours could be employed for several months.

Section: Archival Technical Services
Project Title: Tennessee State Parks Folklife Project (TSPFP) Database Completion
Description of Work: The section is looking for a motivated intern or volunteer to continue work on a database already in progress. This database tracks materials created as part of the TSPFP, including recorded oral histories and music as well as papers and photographs. This database will ultimately be used to make the entire group of project materials searchable and may be made available online.
Time Commitment:This can be an internship project for a single intern over a semester, working at least 20 hours per week. A volunteer coming once a week for three or four hours could be employed for a year or more, as this is a very large set of materials.

Section:  Archival Technical Services
Internship Opportunity: In order to gain a greater understanding of the issues facing a manager of archival acquisitions and processing, Interns in the ATS section will spend a week shadowing the Section Director. Interns will have an opportunity to observe the work of this director and other section staff, discuss current issues and initiatives, and attend both formal and informal meetings along with the Director. A longer internship can also be arranged, involving more detailed experiences in accessioning of archival materials, working with donors, archival arrangement and description, and collection management.
Time Commitment: As part of a semester featuring opportunities in different areas of TSLA, this could involve a week or two spent in ATS. Alternatively, an entire semester could be spent in the section for the student wanting a deeper focus on the section’s responsibilities.