Internship policy City of London Culture, Heritage and Libraries Department London Metropolitan Archives
Contents Internship policy... 1 Contents... 2 Vision statement... 3 Policy... 3 Introduction to the policy... 3 Statement of policy... 3 Feedback... 5 Mission Statement of the Department of Culture, Heritage and Libraries:... 5 Our commitment:... 5 About this leaflet... 6 2
Vision statement A commitment to education and learning runs through all that we do within London Metropolitan Archives. We seek to encourage and support people who are interested in careers in archives and related professions by hosting internships. Interns will be able to develop their own skills and help to support essential services for everyone interested in the history of London with the appropriate levels of support from LMA. Policy Introduction to the policy London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) welcomes public participation in its work and seeks to encourage interest from people who would like to work in the archive sector. An internship would typically be filled by someone who is interested in developing a career in the cultural sector, specifically in archives / conservation / heritage image management / heritage interpretation or any other related area of LMA s work. A distinction is drawn between the role of the intern and that of the volunteer. A volunteer is someone who, without compensation, or expectation of compensation beyond reimbursement of expenses incurred in the course of volunteer duties, performs a task at the direction of and on behalf of LMA. A distinction is also drawn between the role of the intern and a young person, typically under the age of 18, who has a short period (typically less than 3 weeks) of unpaid work experience at LMA. This policy is applicable to interns only, and not to volunteers or young people on work experience. Statement of policy London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) welcomes public participation in its work and welcomes people from the diverse communities in London (particularly those traditionally under-represented in archives) and further afield, regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, religious/political belief or disability to participate in internships. LMA actively encourages training in practical skills as part of an internship. 3
LMA recognises that interns are not volunteers; their work is typically more diverse, less based on long programmes, and interns generally work alongside (other) staff. They are intent on exploring their work environment to gain an insight into the sector and developing skills for the future. They may be on a placement as part of pre-application to professional training. LMA believes that internships should be properly acknowledged and compensated. Therefore it does not host unpaid or unsupported internships. There are several ways LMA hosts internships: 1. LMA will run its own internship programmes whereby interns are recruited, usually for 12 months, and employed as members of City of London staff. These programmes will run whenever funds allow and the number of internships will necessarily vary from year to year. 2. LMA will apply for external funding to run internships as opportunities allow. LMA would always seek to ensure people appointed to these programmes are properly and appropriately supported. It is likely in these cases that interns would be employed as City of London staff. 3. LMA will host internships funded directly by external partners - again, with the proviso that these are properly and appropriately supported. In these instances people would be paid / recompensed directly by the external provider. LMA would agree in advance with the external provider the terms and conditions of the placements which should be broadly comparable to those for LMA staff. In addition to proper financial remuneration, LMA will seek to ensure people on internships are given proper skills based training, generally provided in-house, and also training in job seeking (e.g. CV writing and interviews skills) and generic skills such as time management. Interns will be given opportunities to learn about working as professionals within the sector. LMA recognises that interns are not substitutes for paid staff, who remain the backbone of service provision, although some interns however are members of City of London staff in their own right (as a general rule internships are based on fixed term contracts). The City of London will indemnify interns and hold them free from civil liability to any person as the result of personal injury, loss or damage 4
arising from the execution of tasks assigned to them on its premises on the same basis as a paid member of staff Feedback Please complete a comment form or email us at ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk if you wish to give feedback on this policy. This policy will be reviewed at least every two years to make sure it remains timely and relevant. Mission Statement of the Department of Culture, Heritage and Libraries: The mission of the Department is to educate, entertain and inform, through discovery of our amazing range of resources. Our commitment: The City of London provides a unique and diverse range of services to the residents, businesses, workers and visitors in the City of London and beyond. We are committed to being proactive in providing services fairly to all our potential service users. Promoting equal opportunity for all is one of our core values. Our policy is to treat all service users, and anyone else we come into contact with, equally and with dignity and respect and not to discriminate on grounds of age, disability status, employment status, ethnic or cultural origin, gender, marital status, nationality, religious belief or non-belief, responsibility for dependants, sexual orientation, social background, or any other grounds which cannot be shown to be justified. We will recognise, respect and value difference and diversity. In partnership with our employees, our residential communities and stakeholders, we will work hard to meet our obligations under the relevant anti-discrimination legislation, codes of practice and good practice guidelines. The Internship Policy is one of a complete suite of policies for the archive service function delivered by London Metropolitan Archives for which an Equalities Impact Assessment has been carried out and which is available to view on request. 5
About this leaflet This leaflet was revised in January 2014 by London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R OHB Telephone: 020 7332 3820 Fax: 020 7833 9136 Email: ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk Website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma London Metropolitan Archives Except as otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publisher, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the London Metropolitan Archives at the above address. 6