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SILS-EPA contract renewed
for another five-year term
Sept. 23, 2004 — The federal contract that provides the Environmental Protection Agency's library with staff from SILS and allows graduate students to intern at the library has been renewed for another term of five years.
The special partnership, the only one of its kind between a school and a federal agency, was created in 1974. In the mid-1980s, the program grew through an interagency agreement to include interns at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) Library. In 2002, NIEHS also added funding for two permanent support staff positions.
"This thirty-year partnership yields significant benefit to all parties," said Dean José-Marie Griffiths. "The experience gained by our student interns serves to improve their preparation for the workplace, regardless of their career trajectory. The immersive nature of the internship complements students' in-class learning, and their efforts are appreciated and valued by EPA staff. I am particularly appreciative of the efforts of all who were involved in developing and sustaining this partnership."
Under the contract, SILS staff members provide services at the EPA-RTP main library. The contract also provides for the internship program which employs 10 to 15 library graduate students from UNC at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University and UNC-Greensboro at the two libraries.
The partnership gives students a chance to apply what they are learning in class, to gain professional-level experience and to acquire a better understanding of what they want to do in the future.
"This exciting partnership between SILS and EPA has prepared more than 300 SILS graduates for careers in science libraries and information services across the country over the last 30 years," said former SILS Dean Joanne Gard Marshall, who applied for contract renewal during her tenure. "We are delighted that this mutually beneficial partnership will continue, and we look forward to continuing to provide this important service to the EPA."
From left to right: Joanne Gard Marshall, former SILS Dean; Scott Blackwood, UNC contracts department; April Errickson, EPA library director; James Peterson, associate vice chancellor for research and director of the Office of Sponsored Research; Victoria Moore, UNC contracts department; and SILS Dean José-Marie Griffiths.