iSchool student Lindsay Davis spent her summer as a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress, identifying publication information for the cataloguing of one of the legendary Spanish playwrights of the Golden Age.

Davis was one of 41 students from across the country who were selected for the prestigious 10-week paid internship. The fellows work under the direction of Library of Congress specialists to inventory, describe, and explore collection holdings. Davis worked in the Hispanic division to help prepare cataloging information about Pedro Calderon de la Barca, and some of her work has been incorporated into the Library of Congress catalog. Much of Davis’ work included looking at various bibliographies and reference books about Spanish drama of the Golden Age.

“It was very rewarding to turn in my work to the cataloguers and then see the record after they finished with it,” said Davis, who expects to graduate in fall 2011.

Davis is also the recipient of the 2009-2010 Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Francisca Schneider Scholarship, which helps fund the majority of her school expenses. Davis just learned that her scholarship was renewed for the upcoming school year.

“Without the scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to justify coming to D.C. for my fellowship,” Davis said. “Although the fellowship is paid, it doesn’t cover all of my living costs.”

Davis earned her undergraduate degree in history from California State University Stanislaus in 2008, and as the first person in her family to go to college “I didn’t know much about different careers,” she said. Davis was intrigued by librarianship but needed to make money to afford to go back to school, and substitute teaching seemed to have the best career prospects in California’s jobs-scarce Central Valley.

Last summer, Davis volunteered at the University of California at Merced’s library, as well as the archival room at the Merced County Courthouse Museum. The experience motivated her to speed up her plans to get her MLIS, and Davis and her husband moved in with her parents to save money for her education.

Davis hopes to become an academic librarian because she likes the idea of teaching research skills and helping students to think critically. “I like helping people in a practical kind of way,” she said.