User Experience (UX) Internship

The Libraries' UX Internship is designed for students interested in user experience research. While UX is often closely associated with websites and UI (user interfaces) the libraries' website is situated within the College's web domain and design options are limited. As a result, the focus of the internship is on user research more than web design. It's more UX than UI.

Interns research all aspects of user's interactions with the libraries (whether in library buildings or online) and learn the entire research process beginning with formulating good questions, to deciding on the most appropriate methods, gathering and analyzing data, and finally presenting their results to library leadership.

In a required, weekly team meeting, interns learn and practice user research methods including: web usability, card sorting, content audits/inventories, web analytics, interviews, focus groups, impression testing, talk-back boards, empathy mapping and journey mapping.

Since research and facilitation skills improve with practice over time, the internship spans an entire academic year, and if desired, interns may return in subsequent years to build their skills and add to their experience and portfolios.

Read about current and past projects on the blog, AUX@Swarthmore.

Interested students should look for application announcements each Spring semester after Spring Break. Email Assessment + User Experience Librarian, Mary Huissen, at mhuisse1@swarthmore.edu with questions.

LibUX Interns 2023/24

Samira Begum

Samira Begum, '25 is a junior from New York City, studying Economics and Mathematics/Statistics. She's interested in using optimization-based computation to inform policy-making. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, cooking, and trying everything pistachio-flavored.

Amanda Bonnet

Amanda Bonnet '24 is a senior from Connecticut. She is pursuing a major in both Computer Science and French & Francophone Studies. She is passionate about improving the accessibility of platforms through UX/UI design. In their free time, they enjoy singing and doing art.

Khaliun Enkhbayar

Kali (she/her) is a senior from Mongolia, double majoring in Medical Anthropology and Economics. She's learning to view technology and products from a human-centered perspective extending to multiple dimensions of a product: social, cultural, and economic.

Harrisson Li

Harrisson Li (he/him) is a sophomore from Philadelphia, PA and a prospective math major. He wants to hone his skills as well as increase his marketing knowledge through exploring UX design. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, listening to music, and chilling with friends.

Olivia Medeiros-Sakimoto

Born and raised in Honolulu, Liv (she/her/they) is a junior at Swarthmore, pursuing an individualized special major titled "Ethics in Film, Design, and Human-Computer Interaction." She is a strong advocate for cultural inclusivity and aims to blend leadership and innovation within her community as President of Swarthmore's Student Government Organization, a University Innovation Fellow with the Stanford d.school, and a UX Research Intern with the Swarthmore Libraries. A creative problem-solver at heart, she hopes to pursue product design in the social-tech space post graduation.

Marisa Musenga

Marisa Musenga (she/her) is a junior from Rwanda, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Global Studies. She has worked in all three of Swarthmore's main libraries and has been a part of the Libraries' UX Team for three years.