Library Intern: Joseph Thornton

It has been a fun and rewarding experience working with and getting to know Joseph through the SUL internship program. Joseph's 'home base' was Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) and staff members welcomed his help with a number of projects. Joseph blended in quickly and we soon learned that Joseph is remarkably versatile and always willing to learn new skills. Before long, he began supporting both SSDS and SUL IT services in Green!

Joseph organized and documented local SSDS digital resources, compressed data files for a special project, conducted general hardware and software checks for iMac cluster machines, and devoted many hours to a project using BeagleBone, a unique credit-card sized hard drive. In addition, Joseph helped georeference rare maps of Africa and successfully completed ArcGIS training for this exciting Branner Library project.

On a personal level, I enjoyed our discussions regarding his upcoming freshman year at Stanford and sharing favorite movies and books. Together we explored campus, visiting a number of buildings and research centers. We often remarked on the beautiful, natural aspects of campus and one afternoon, were lucky enough to catch a red-shouldered hawk in the act of preying--rather clumsily and comically--upon some small birds. The hawk, for all its trouble, was at last noisily chased away by a very indignant flock.

Joseph tells me he values knowing about library research resources and services and on a practical level, learning how to manage his time in a work environment. He appreciated meeting "tons of people who want to support you in and out of the (intern) program", and thinks his experiences provided a helpful bridge to his career as a student at Stanford. I will truly miss Joseph when he leaves and hope he stays in touch with me and the rest of his 'academic family.'

-Judy Marsh
Data Services and Outreach Coordinator