Practicum Site Description

The practicum site description provides students with an introduction to your site and aids in their selection of preferred sites prior to the interview process. Your site description will contain 3 key elements:

1. Student activities: This element is most critical as it describes what the student will do and presents opportunities for learning. Please include:
   
   • Professional projects the student may carry out
     (e.g., updating and validating authority files, exploring implications of Web 2.0, evaluating an archival collection)
   • Activities and tasks the student may participate in
     (e.g., reference, circulation, cataloguing)
2. Site description: describes the site, with emphasis on the following:
   
   • Brief description of clientele, services offered, etc.
     (a link to a website may provide more detailed information such as collection details, staffing, etc., which does not need to be provided here)
   • Emphasis on what is special or unique about your site
   • Opportunity to highlight special characteristics
3. Specific requirements or qualifications: relevant to the activities the student will conduct, such as:
   
   • Knowledge/interests
     (e.g., specific course background, interest in children)
   • Language skills relevant to the project
   • Travel requirements

The emphasis of the site description should be on describing the activities/projects that the student will undertake; it is not intended to provide an exhaustive description of the site.

This document forms the primary source of information for students in making decisions regarding their preference for practicum sites. It will also help the Practicum Coordinator to facilitate the best matches between student and site.

If you are interested in seeing examples of other site descriptions, feel free to refer to the practicum site listings page.