“There are so many opportunities to choose from to shape your future. Simmons can make it happen.”
Hee Jung Lee recently became an acquisitions assistant working for the combined libraries of the world- renowned Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA). The position fits well with her love of the “hands-on” aspects of librarianship and her extensive knowledge of art history. Fittingly, she credits Simmons’s experiential learning approach — including a series of impressive internships — with helping her career unfold.
IDEAL INTERNSHIPS:
An international student from Korea, Lee arrived at Simmons after earning her master’s in Regional Studies East Asia at Harvard University and her bachelor’s in archaeology and art history at Seoul National University. She became interested in library science while at Harvard, when she worked as a curatorial intern for the MFA’s East Asian art collection.
At Simmons, she diversified her field experience by interning first in the corporate archives of the Bose Corporation. Later, she served as an archives intern, assisting with digitization projects and processing materials in various formats, for the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Lee also worked as a research assistant for Professor Jeannette Bastian and in Interlibrary Loan and Periodicals as a student assistant at Simmons’s Beatley Library.
PERFECT MATCH:
In her current position, Lee acquires and processes titles for the library’s impressive 320,000-item collection, housed in a main library and nine curatorial departments. She collaborates with the curators to support research for the museum’s permanent collections, special exhibitions, and ongoing education. As the non- circulating library is open to the public, Lee also performs reference services, which she finds unexpectedly rewarding.
“I love that librarianship is a helping profession, and it means a lot to be thanked for what I do."
PLENTIFUL CHOICES:
Lee found Simmons to be a welcoming campus, one that opened her to new facets of the field and herself. She believes the program helped transform her into a technological problem-solver and a leader.
AMONG THE HIGHPOINTS:
Working on a grant project to establish libraries and train librarians in Vietnam. “There are so many opportunities to choose from to shape your future,” says Lee. “Simmons can make it happen.”