The State Library is offering small grants to libraries in Oregon to fund library internships for local high school juniors or seniors (approximately 16–19 years old), to be completed in Summer 2023. This project was inspired by PLA's Inclusive Internship Initiative and has been adapted for Oregon library needs.
This grant project has multiple goals:
The application period will open on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, and close Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Grants will be awarded by March 15, 2023. Funds will be distributed in advance and recipients will be expected to commit to spending the entire grant amount to the penny. All funds must be expended by August 31, 2023.
Priority will be given to libraries that did not receive a Teen Internship ARPA grant.
Each entity may request up to $5,000 to recruit and hire an intern, in compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws and minor workers laws, and in collaboration with your library’s human resources and finance staff, throughout the grant award and the intern application and selection process.
Libraries should recruit interns who reasonably reflect the diversity of the community being served. We encourage you to think broadly about diversity and inclusivity. In addition to race or ethnicity, consider gender and gender identity, physical ability, teens currently not in school or those experiencing housing insecurity. There may be additional populations in your community from which to recruit an intern.
Participating libraries will:
Participating mentors will:
Under the guidance of library mentors, interns will:
To support these activities, the State Library will:
| January 31 & February 3, 2023 |
Information Sessions
|
| February 15, 2023 | Applications open |
| March 1, 2023 | Applications due |
| March 15, 2023 | Applicants notified of award status |
| March 28, 2023 | Meeting: Kickoff, 9-11am |
| April 25, 2023 | Meeting: Mentoring 101, 9-11am |
| May - August, 2023 | Internships run |
| May 16, 2023 | Meeting (optional*): Setting It All Up, 9-11am |
| July 11, 2023 | Meeting: Midway Check-In, 9-11am |
| July 12 or 13, 2023 | Meeting (for Teen Interns only, optional*): Teen Intern Meeting, July 12 10-11am or July 13th 3-4pm |
| August 1, 2023 | Meeting (optional*): Ending Well, 9-11am |
| August 31, 2023 | Deadline for grantees to spend funds |
| September 30, 2023 | Deadline for grantees to submit final report, including receipts and PowerPoint slides |
| October 10, 2023 | Meeting: Celebrate and Report Out, 9-11am |
*The optional meetings were requested by some grantees last year.
You may preview the application before applying.
To start your application:
Final applications must be submitted by the deadline listed in the timeline above. Applications that are left incomplete in the system or not submitted by the deadline will be considered abandoned requests and will not be considered for funding.
For project inspiration, here are some examples from PLA's Inclusive Internship Initiative and other libraries that may be helpful:
You can also see what participants did last year: slides | video.
Mentors can be any staff responsible for developing and implementing public-facing programs or services. We encourage you to look beyond teen services staff when considering mentors. Check to make sure mentoring will not require a job description change or violate union rules.
Yes, having a mentoring team is a great way to expand an intern’s experience and while being sensitive to staff time and responsibilities. We ask that one mentor be identified as the intern manager.
Mentors are expected to participate in all virtual grant project meetings, as well as the final wrap-up event. They will work with their intern to develop a connected learning project based on the intern’s interests and library goals. Mentors should expect to spend at least 3 hours a week on direct intern support.
We suggest students who are between entering their junior year of high school but have not yet started college (approximately 16–19 years old). Participating libraries will be responsible for identifying and hiring their intern.
It is the responsibility of the library to recruit and hire an intern, in consultation with the library’s human resource staff.
This grant will support one (1) intern per library.
Yes, grant funds can be used to pay interns. The library is responsible for establishing the intern’s hourly wage and determining how the funds will be administered to the intern. These funds must be used for direct intern support, which includes payroll taxes such as FICA, Medicare, and unemployment. They cannot be used for overheard or related costs. Please check with your HR department regarding local laws and policies for tax and benefits withholding.
We want to ensure libraries with varying staffing levels can access this opportunity, so we have some flexibility with the total time this project takes. To have adequate time to develop their community-based project, interns should commit to this internship being a primary summer responsibility.
With that said, there is no minimum weekly work requirement. Libraries should determine how many hours they can support an intern over the summer and make a decision from there about how many hours of an internship to offer when hiring, with a minimum of 100 hours total and a maximum of 300 hours total. It is up to the mentor and intern to determine the intern’s schedule. A 100 hour internship would work out to approximately 10 hours a week over a 10 week summer period. A 200 hour internship would work out to approximately 20 hours a week over a 10 week summer period. A 300 hour internship would work out to approximately 30 hours a week over 10 weeks.
Please note interns may only spend 25% of their time on administrative tasks like copying, filing, etc.
