The State Library of Oregon is currently offering grants to fund Teen Internship positions during spring and summer 2025 at libraries statewide. Academic libraries are especially encouraged to apply this year. Deadline to apply is February 3, 2025!
The Teen Internship Grant program, started in 2022, provides up to $5,000 of Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds to Oregon libraries to foster growth and connections between libraries and local high school juniors and seniors through summer internships. Internship options support teens’ development of professional experience, increase their understanding of the work of libraries, and give insight into how their interests and skills align with library work for their future endeavors.
Additionally, this internship gives library staff the opportunity to develop leadership, communication, and coaching skills as they work with their intern to develop a connected learning project. Over the course of their internship, teens focus on enhancing a variety of skills by working in areas where the library needs support. This means the internship looks different in every library, as every teen and every community are unique.
In the past three years of this grant program, participants have seen interns develop new skills and confidence while sparking new ideas for their future goals or study as they learned new things about themselves and their communities. Library staff have learned new ways to support teens and have strengthened their relationships with community partners. Several of our grantees have even received continued funding for future internships in their library’s budget from other sources including their cities or other youth employment grants.
Applications close for this year’s Teen Internship Grant February 3! The State Library of Oregon is looking forward to supporting a new cohort of libraries and teens, and all the awesome work that will happen this summer.
For more information, and to see examples of previous projects, please visit https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/lstagrants/teeninterns or contact:
Greta Bergquist
Youth Services Consultant
Library Support & Development Services
State Library of Oregon
greta.bergquist@slo.oregon.gov 971-375-3549
