NNLM Region 6 Virtual 2026 Student Internship for Community Health Information

Posted by Miles Dietz-Castel on December 11th, 2025 Posted in: Blog

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Are you a library and information science student interested in learning more about community health information outreach? Are you enrolled in a program in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, or Wisconsin? Region 6 invites you to apply for our Spring 2026 virtual internship for Community Health Information, January 26 – April 6, 2026. This 12-week internship focuses on consumer health literacy, social determinants of health, health statistics resources, and mapping software. Students will use the knowledge and skills they acquire to develop content for the NNLM Community Guide to Advance Health Information.

Requirements

• Available to meet with instructors and student cohort one-hour per week beginning Monday, January 26 and ending Friday, April 10, 2026.
• Able to dedicate up to an additional 4 hours per week, at your convenience, for project work.

Each week will begin with a virtual one-hour meeting with the instructors and other students. This is an opportunity to connect and build comradery, introduce topics, discuss assigned work, and answer questions.

Objectives

At the end of the internship, students will:

• Have recognized how social, economic, and environment determinants affect health outcomes for individuals and communities.
• Have identified credible and reliable information resources to help build capacity for understanding health information needs in communities.
• Have used ArcGIS software to build a community data map and internet story.
• Have an increased awareness for how libraries and other community organizations are important and trustworthy partners for advancing health literacy.
• Have engaged with NNLM for for consumer health education.

Deliverables

The internship has been designed to build the knowledge and skills needed to complete successfully the following deliverables:

• Story map for the Region 6 NNLM Collection of County Stories
• Project presentation (10-minutes)
• A program evaluation

Other Benefits

Students who successfully complete the internship will:

• Receive $2,000
• Earn Medical Library Association Consumer Health Information Specialization (MLA CHIS)

“This internship kept me focused on health librarianship during my last semester of school. My school didn’t have a health sciences emphasis, so this internship gave me much needed experience. I learned a lot about the social determinants of health, health data, and where to find health data. Then I compiled the data for a single county and presented it in the Community Guide to Advance Health Information Equity.” – Spring 2024 student intern, Annisija Hunter

Learn more about Annisija’s experience in her YouTube presentation.

Application Process

Up to three students will be selected.

• To apply, submit an application.
• The application is due by 12pm CT on January 5, 2026.
• Applicants will be informed of their acceptance by 12pm CT on January 9, 2026.
• If you have any questions please reach out to Region6-RML@uiowa.edu.