Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative: Student Information

We’re partnering with Wisconsin local history organizations around the state to digitize new collections. We’re looking for motivated information school students (that’s YOU!) to complete scanning and metadata work for a Wisconsin local history organization, public library or museum (our host sites!). Completed projects will be publicly accessible in Recollection Wisconsin (that’s US!). It’s a hands-on opportunity to put theory into practice!

Student participants will:

  • be a degree-seeking student enrolled in the UW-Madison iSchool, UW-Milwaukee SOIS or a similar program,
  • receive practicum or independent study credit depending on your program’s requirements,
  • earn a generous stipend and reimbursement for travel expenses,
  • gain training and experience related to digitization best practices, digital preservation, collection development, and metadata,  
  • attend a virtual program launch meeting and meet regularly with the Initiative coordinator, 
  • receive an orientation to their host site’s organization and collections, 
  • write a few basic digitization workflows for their host site, and 
  • write at least one blog post about their experience, published on the Recollection Wisconsin website. 

Ideal participants will have had at least one course or some experience in digital curation or preservation, archives work, collection development or project management. Some students will likely travel to their host site to complete this project work. We welcome students enrolled in either in-person or online programs.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Our summer 2025 cohort has been chosen, and the program is taking a planned hiatus in fall 2025. We plan to open applications again for the spring 2026 semester. In the meantime, please consider filling out the application as an expression of interest in being a student participant in a future semester. The more we know about demand for this program, the more we can share with potential funders to show the need to expand our reach.

Questions? Contact Vicki Tobias (vicki@wils.org). JOIN US!