Written By: Michelle Sosa
Edited By: Adina Vega and Genevieve Hammang
I recently wrapped up my internship with Western Michigan University (WMU), which began this past Spring semester. As stated by the title, the internship provided me with the opportunity to work with raw data from a university collection. I selected a 1960s counterculture student newspaper titled The Western Activist for my project. The paper itself is fascinating. Learning that undergraduate students were so vocal about the political tensions and their school environment at the time was shocking. Their unapologetic boldness towards the school administration and the US government was impressive. Because another intern had not previously selected this project, I could start from scratch and make this project my own under the supervision of the data librarian at WMU.
Letter from university administration written to Harvey Held, one of the Western Activist editors
First, I was presented with the online platform through which the newspapers were made viewable using OCR (Optical Character Recognition). The files can be accessed using Central Michigan University’s digital Michigan newspapers portal. However, because OCR is not perfect, the files contain many errors, and the page itself does not allow users to read through the issues easily, making things like text mining very difficult. After thorough planning and discussion, the data librarian and I devised a system for transcribing items such as image descriptions. Additionally, we held several meetings with the archives curator to receive more background information and access to other archival items needed for further analysis. The goal was to create a strong foundation for the project and develop a landing page to house the files, images, and secondary research materials.
Cover taken from September 1967 issue
In addition to my research and progress on the actual project, this internship allowed me to meet with different university faculty members–including associate deans and the university library dean. I received invaluable advice, tips, and feedback on my work that is sure to assist me in making better-informed decisions for my future career trajectory. This networking opportunity also connected me with librarians here in California, and the WMU faculty were gracious enough to introduce me to their colleagues who are part of university libraries in California.
As the internship ended, I had the chance to present my final product to the research services department at WMU. I showcased the landing page for The Western Activist that I created, and the librarians loved it. Not only did this presentation serve as excellent practice for a future interview, but it also allowed me to showcase a project on which I am essentially the current expert. Now, future interns and/or other researchers can easily download the text files in bulk to read with ease. They will have access to other primary sources and secondary research materials. Seeing my hard work come full circle was so satisfying–I received several questions during the presentation from the librarians, and I could answer each question confidently. I hope that the entire collection is made accessible to the community through the landing page–not just for reading but also to inspire new research questions, new projects, and reflections on this work from the 1960s. It certainly spoke volumes to me. I found so many parallels between this paper and modern society that I even added a section on the landing page with related reading, such as modern newspaper articles that resonate with The Western Activist. Overall, this internship was rewarding, and I am so grateful for the experience and the lovely librarians I’ve met.
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