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Proposed Snapshot Presentation for the Digital Library Federation (DLF) F o rum 2017 ht tps://www.diglib.org/forums/2017forum/ Presenters: Laurie N. Taylor Brian W. Keith Title: Expanding & Enhancing Our Diverse Communities with Internships Abstract (50 words): Many library position postings have expanded from the MLIS to a relevant advanced degree with ex perience, expanding applicant pool diversity F urther expansion requires opportunities for library experien ce This presentation cover s UF s Graduat e Student Internship Program designed to complement graduate student s academic careers for multiple job outcomes, including positions in libraries. Keywords: internships, paid labor, diversity, hiring practices, position descriptions, job requirements Abstract ( 250 w ords): Research shows that job requirements for the same skill and ability sets can be written to restrict or increase diversity. A common example is requiring a standin for the skills and experience required. For example, a job could require a particular grant only be awarded to select institution types, instead of requiring the skills and experience that could be obtained in many ways, including the specific grant. Many position postings for academic and research libraries have expanded beyond the MLIS alone to include a relevant advanced degree with appropriate ex perience, with this change often occurring for digital, data, and other technologically and subject intensive areas. This change has expanded applicant pool diversity. Further expansion requires additional supports for applicants to garner library experien ce outside of the MLIS. This presentation will cover the Graduate Student Internship Program at the University of Florida, which is designed to complement graduate students academic careers for multiple job outcomes, including positions in libraries. The program saw over $30,000 in paid internships awarded in the first year, which was made possible by the large community of practice including several groups focused on diversity in academia and diversity in libraries. This presentation will review the internshi p program goals and design as they relate to increasing dive rsity in academic libraries for the opportunity for creating similar programs at other institutions and specifically in terms of how digital libraries, library publishing, digital humanities, and other technically oriented areas can serve as leaders in internship programs that promote diversity