San José State University School of Information student Rose Khoury spent fall 2009 as an intern with the Office of Strategic Initiatives for the Library of Congress, helping promote use of the library’s primary sources in K-12 education.

For Khoury, the internship built on her longtime love of working with and educating children. She spent much of her internship in Washington D.C. creating primary source sets focused on specific themes, such as a collaborating with colleagues to develop the Veteran’s Day Primary Source Set, as well as beginning a primary source set about child labor.  

“Some of my favorite moments from my internship include the grand opening of the Young Reader’s Center, where I was able to see Dr. James Billington (the Librarian of Congress) read a story to young children,” Khoury said.  She also was able to meet several authors, including Mo Williems, Steven Kellogg, and Jon Scieszka, while volunteering at the National Book Festival.

Khoury has wanted to be a librarian since high school, after she started volunteering for the San Jose Public Library system.  She’s been employed with San Jose Public Library since 2003, working her way up from aide to her current job as a clerk.  Khoury earned her undergraduate degree in Child and Adolescent Development from San Jose State, volunteering in elementary classrooms and working as a support teacher for Bright Horizons Family Solutions while going to school.

“I love working with children,” she said. “One of my favorite things is to see a child intrigued with a book. I think it’s important to promote literacy to children from the day they are born because it’s beneficial to their lifelong learning.”

Khoury’s passion for reaching out to young readers helped her land the prestigious LOC internship, which she found on the iSchool web page that lists internship opportunities.  With her Library of Congress internship under her belt, Khoury is already on to another internship this semester – at Berkeley Public Library.