Jacksonville Public Library Community Intern Program Returns Today After Hiatus

By Jeremy Coumbes on January 31, 2023 at 6:08am

A pre-pandemic program aimed at giving assistance to the Jacksonville community returns to the Jacksonville Public Library today.

The Community Intern Program officially restarts today at the library. Head Librarian Jake Magnusson says the program was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and because of the shuttering of MacMurray College: “In the past, we had a relationship with MacMurray College when they had their social work program. We had a social work student here in the library to help people with some of those sorts of issues. When they closed, that program went away and that was kind of around the time that the Covid-19 pandemic began. Last year, we had a sociology student from Illinois College come in for a little while. That kind of ended up being around the time the library had some staff changes, so it kind of fell by the wayside also, so we are starting it up again.”

The Community Intern is a senior sociology student at Illinois College, and Magnusson says the difference in majors for the students means the services offered to the community will be different: “They won’t be able to do the same sorts of things, offer the same sort of help that a social work student would be able to offer. They will be able to offer more in-depth help at times with computers that the library staff here may not have the time to be able to sit down and really help somebody with something that they are doing like applying for a job or social service benefits. They also will be able to provide sort of referrals to social service agencies in the area so people can get that kind of help that they need.”

The Community Intern will be available at the Jacksonville Public Library on Mondays from 3-6PM, Wednesdays 9AM-Noon, and occasionally on Saturdays from 1-4PM.