Wendy has an excellent point! She's a top research/instruction librarian who is always "in the know." I've had some excellent conversations with her at conferences.
Try public libraries. Try academic libraries. And don't forget about special libraries either. A museum may be interested in having a volunteer, since they often are unable to hire enough personnel. I did a library school internship in the library of a major accounting firm. Even a municipal archives or records department would give you substantial experience that will help you later in your career.
As Wendy said, don't be afraid to try something outside of the area that you intend to work in. I have also worked my whole career in reference, instruction, or electronic resources (until I became a director 4 years ago). Yet one of the most important classes that I took in library school was cataloging. Like her, " I understand a lot more about the mechanics of retrieval than someone who never learned much about records because it wasn't in the scope of the job they wanted."
Good luck with your studies.
Bryan M. Carson
Author, "The Law of Libraries and Archives" and
"Finding the Law: Legal Research for Librarians & Paralegals" (Scarecrow Press)
All original content copyright Bryan M. Carson
Hi, Everyone.
The very first day of online library school, I contacted my closest academic library and told them I was now in library school online but had never worked in a library and asked if I could work for free. They took pity on me and said yes, and though I completed library school with stellar grades, everything I really learned, I learned sitting at the knee of the cataloguer who kindly explained every single thing to me over and over and over until I got it. (Surely no one ever took longer than I to understand some of the trickier points, but eventually I got it). I have never had anything to do with cataloguing, by the way, but because I understand the pieces and how they work, I understand a lot more about the mechanics of retrieval than someone who never learned much about records because it wasn't in the scope of the job they wanted. I also asked a million questions about every other part of the job (ILL, reference, etc.) and everyone who I asked told me something I didn't know. In my personal opinion, my online degree would have been completely worthless without the accompanying real-life experience. If you can't find any academic libraries nearby who'll take you as a volunteer, try the publics. Any real-life experience beats none.
Good luck!
Wendy
Wendy Doucette, PhD, MSLIS
Graduate Research and Instruction Librarian
Associate Professor, East Tennessee State University
Organizer and Program Chair, TLGS (Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students) National Conference