Source: US Global Legal Monitor
The following is a guest post from Shala Howell, a co-lead in the Remote Metadata Program of the Law Library of Congress. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Rice University and a master’s in library and information science from San José State University.
On Thursday, May 14, 2026, the Law Library of Congress held an online celebration to mark the 10th anniversary of its remote metadata internship program. Speakers at the event included Jay Sweany, Assistant Law Librarian of Congress for Collections; Aslihan Bulut, Law Librarian of Congress; Kimberly Powell, Chief of Talent Recruitment and Outreach at the Library of Congress; Andrew Weber, product owner for Congress.gov; and Tina Gheen, chief of the Digital Resources Division. Also speaking at the event were Jill Reilly Corbett, Catalog and Online Access Director at the National Archives, who helped found the program; Jennifer González, senior legal information specialist at the Law Library of Congress, who has shepherded the program for all of its 10-year history; and several former interns.
Jill Reilly Corbett and Jennifer González founded the remote metadata program in May 2016 to provide a meaningful, hands-on professional experience that could transcend geography for the increasing number of graduate students in the nation’s online MLIS programs. Although two-thirds of the program participants are MLIS students; the program welcomes a diverse set of other participants as well, including Ph.D. students, law students, upper-level undergraduates, retirees, military spouses, people on leave or job searching, and current librarians looking to add to their skills in a changing profession. In all, 917 interns and volunteers have participated in the program since its inception in 2016.
Over that time, these interns and volunteers have contributed more than 30,000 hours of work to improve the collections on the Library of Congress’ website. Their dedication, curiosity, and collaboration have resulted in countless metadata and display updates to the Statutes at Large, Foreign Legal Gazettes, US Reports, Congress.gov, Century of Lawmaking, and the US Treaties digital collections. Interns have also contributed 82 blog posts to the Law Library’s blog, In Custodia Legis, on topics ranging from the expanded social roles of women during Prohibition to International Coffee Day, based on items they found within the Library of Congress’s own digital collections. Finally, Law Library of Congress interns and volunteers have created nine story maps and several research guides to make the Library of Congress digital collections more accessible to users nationwide.
Over the past 10 years, the internship program has hosted nearly four dozen culminating projects, including capstone projects, directed fieldwork and practicum experiences, and graduate theses, for MLIS students in their final semesters.
González’s philosophy is to offer this opportunity to those who need a high-quality internship with space and autonomy for other commitments. The program is remote and online, to reach as many people across the country/world as possible; asynchronous, to allow participants in different time zones to do the work at the time convenient for them; flexible, to allow participants to rearrange hours within the semester as needed; autonomous, so they can develop career skills like decision-making and task management; and part-time, to allow for full-time work, school, or family obligations. Nearly 30% of participants return for multiple semesters. More than 100 participants have continued with the program for longer than a year (three semesters). Recently, there has been a leadership component added for the interns who continue to return.
As one of the few high-quality, autonomous, and flexible remote experiences available to MLIS students in online programs, demand continues to outpace available space. Despite averaging 55-75 students for each of our three semester sessions, González still has to turn away qualified people. Nevertheless, the reach of the program has been remarkable, with interns and volunteers from nearly all of the top library and law programs represented in the program. Participants have joined the program from all 50 states and more than 20 different countries.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the program, González conducted a survey of former interns and alumni of the program this past spring. Ninety-five percent (95%) of respondents reported that they had a positive experience and are likely to recommend the internship program to others. They noted improved research skills, writing skills, greater facility with remote collaboration, and a deeper understanding of government libraries, law libraries, and public librarianship. Interns also expressed gratitude for the career-building opportunities and resume-building skills they gained while volunteering for the Library of Congress. Finally, several reported a renewed interest in participating in crowd-sourced, large-scale projects that improve access to information for the public good.
Perhaps the most important marker of the program’s success, however, is the fact that graduates of the program have gone on to work at many different academic, government, and public libraries, as well as universities, museums, Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and legal aid organizations. Several graduates have continued to work for the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office, as reference librarians, archivists, digital public records interns, data analysts, and volunteers.
“Their impact on our shared profession is extensive,” said González. “We are so proud to have been part of each alumni’s journey.”
We are very thankful to all the interns who have dedicated their time, skills, and contributions to this project. If you or someone you know are interested in being involved with this project or other Law Library internships in the future, please be sure to visit the Internships page of our website for more information on how to apply.
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