The Foundation Center

fdncenter.org

"It opened my eyes to a whole world of special library work. There were about 10 people at the Foundation Center with MLS degrees and they were doing a variety of different things, from teaching to reference. I'm now rethinking what classes I will be taking at SI!"

"The experience was wonderful because I was learning a valuable tool, while at the same time studying the history of the Foundation Center."

"And of course, I learned how to provide the answer to what I was told is the number one librarian question: 'Out that door, take a left, go down the hall, and it'll be on your right.'"

Three SI students - Scott Duimstra, Maria Serapiglia and Kelly Tyler - worked at The Foundation Center in New York City over ASB 2003. Each of the students found great value in this "real world" experience and were able to apply many of their SI and professional skills to the projects they were presented with.

Kelly (left) had a busy and productive week and came away from the experience with a number of key deliverables that she was able to present to the organization. She analyzed data from evaluation surveys given to participants in 15 of the Foundation Center's educational programs and produced a 32-page Excel spreadsheet with data from the surveys. She also produced a 15-page write-up explaining the data and giving some recommendations for improvements that could be made in the educational programs based on the data.

Scott (left) spent his week with the president of the Foundation Center, working with her to appraise her document collection and organize it for transfer to an offsite facility. The experience gave him newfound insight into the practical aspects of archival activities. He also greatly valued the opportunity to work with the president of the organization, as this gave him a unique vantage point from which to understand the larger organization.

Maria (right) got an insider's perspective on one of the Foundation Center's key resources: the reference library. She worked on a variety of library-related research projects throughout the week that complemented her broad skill set and strong interest in the nonprofit sector. She developed a Google tip sheet for Foundation Center associate members, used the Center's online literature database to compile a bibliography for a publication, and even got to do some archival work on the library director's program files. In addition, Maria contributed significantly to a chapter on search engines for the 2003 version of the Foundation Center's Guide to Grantseeking on the Web and will get a publishing credit for her work.

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