Since 2016, 917 interns and volunteers have contributed over 30,000 hours of metadata work to Library of Congress legal collections.
The fully remote, asynchronous structure accommodates MLIS students, law students, retirees, military spouses, and working librarians across every time zone.
Participants gain published writing credits, with 82 blog posts and 9 story maps produced over the program's first decade.
Its scalable design offers a replicable blueprint that other academic and special libraries can adapt for their own remote internship programs.
On May 14, 2026, the Law Library of Congress held an online celebration marking ten years of its remote metadata internship program. In a profession where hands-on experience at a federal institution is difficult to access, the program has quietly logged 917 participants and more than 30,000 contributed hours since co-founders Jill Reilly Corbett and Jennifer González launched it in May 2016.1
The scale of that output is notable, but the more instructive story is structural. The program operates fully remote, asynchronously, and across time zones, a design that makes Library of Congress-level metadata training accessible to MLIS students, law students, military spouses, retirees, and others who could not take a traditional on-site internship. González has managed the program continuously across all ten years.
For the broader library profession, the program's decade-long run offers something more useful than a single success story: a tested, scalable model for how institutions can build remote internship infrastructure that advances real collections work while giving participants publishable credits and professional credentials.
What Is the Law Library Remote Metadata Program?
What does the Law Library of Congress remote metadata program offer that traditional internships cannot? Launched in May 2016, this fully remote, asynchronous internship gives participants flexible access to real metadata work on some of the nation's most important legal collections, without requiring relocation to Washington, D.C. or fixed office hours. The program has operated continuously for 10 years under the leadership of Jennifer González, who has shepherded it from inception through its May 2026 anniversary celebration.1
Core Mission and Collections
The program's mission centers on improving digital access to the Law Library's extensive legal collections through metadata creation, enhancement, and standardization. Participants work on operational metadata for high-profile digital resources including Statutes at Large, Foreign Legal Gazettes, U.S. Reports, Congress.gov, the Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, and U.S. Treaties. Unlike simulated exercises or practice datasets, every record participants create or improve goes live in public-facing systems, making the work immediately meaningful to researchers, legal scholars, and the public. For students pursuing an MLIS in digital libraries, this kind of hands-on cataloging experience is difficult to replicate in a traditional classroom.
Real Work, Real Impact
Participants contribute substantive operational metadata work that directly enhances discoverability and access. Over the program's 10-year history, interns and volunteers have logged more than 30,000 hours of metadata creation and enhancement across these collections.1 Beyond record-level cataloging, participants also publish original research on the Law Library's blog, In Custodia Legis (82 blog posts to date), create interactive story maps (9 produced so far), and develop research guides that help users navigate complex legal digital collections. The program has also hosted nearly four dozen culminating academic projects, including capstone papers, directed fieldwork assignments, practicum reports, and theses for MLIS students who need to integrate practical work into degree requirements. These outputs translate directly into tangible portfolio pieces that strengthen library science careers.
Leadership Continuity
Jennifer González co-founded the program with Jill Reilly Corbett in 2016 and has managed it for the entire decade, providing consistent mentorship, quality standards, and institutional knowledge. This continuity has allowed the program to refine its remote workflows, expand its participant base, and maintain a reputation for rigor and real-world relevance.1
10-Year Milestones: The Program by the Numbers
Since its founding in May 2016, the Law Library of Congress Remote Metadata Program has grown from a small pilot into one of the most enduring remote internship models in the library profession. The figures below capture a decade of sustained, volunteer-driven impact on some of the nation's most important legal digital collections, from the Statutes at Large to US Reports and Congress.gov. More than 30,000 hours of metadata work translates into tens of thousands of catalog records improved, descriptions standardized, and digital objects made discoverable for researchers worldwide.
How the Program Works: Structure, Schedule, and Remote Logistics
Nearly four dozen MLIS students have completed capstone, practicum, or thesis projects through the Law Library's remote metadata program since its founding in 2016.1 This milestone underscores the program's role as a legitimate, high-impact fieldwork site that integrates academic requirements with real-world metadata work in a national library setting. For working professionals, international participants, and students with unpredictable schedules, the program's design removes traditional barriers, allowing a diverse cohort to contribute meaningfully to digital collections.
Asynchronous and Time-Zone-Friendly Design
The program operates entirely remotely, asynchronously, and without real-time meetings, making it accessible to participants across the globe.1 This structure matters profoundly for military spouses who frequently relocate, MLIS students balancing coursework and employment, and international volunteers in time zones from New Delhi to Tokyo. The flexibility means there is no required login time; participants complete tasks when it fits their daily rhythm, collaborating through shared workspaces and email rather than scheduled calls. Since 2016, 917 interns and volunteers from backgrounds as varied as law students, PhD candidates, retirees, and undergraduates have joined, with two-thirds enrolled in MLIS programs.1 The asynchronous model ensures that life circumstances never disqualify a motivated contributor.
Onboarding, Training, and Weekly Rhythm
New participants begin with a structured onboarding sequence that introduces the metadata standards and tools used by the Law Library. Training materials are self-paced, often involving guided exercises on sample records. Communication flows through a dedicated online platform where supervisors post assignments, answer questions, and provide feedback asynchronously. The weekly time commitment is designed to be manageable: most participants contribute a handful of hours each week, fitting tasks around coursework, jobs, or caregiving. This low-barrier, high-support entry allows individuals new to metadata to build confidence before advancing to more complex work, developing the skills you learn in an MLS program in a practical setting.
Skill Progression and Culminating Projects
The program follows a deliberate skill-progression model. Participants initially work on straightforward metadata tasks, such as reviewing titles, dates, or subject terms for consistency, under close mentorship. As accuracy and speed improve, they take on independent assignments that may involve creating original metadata for digitized documents or auditing entire collections for quality. Over time, many interns move from data entry to content creation: they have published 82 blog posts on the Law Library's blog, developed 9 story maps, and produced research guides that serve public users.1 For MLIS students, this progression often culminates in a formal academic project. Nearly four dozen have used the program for directed fieldwork, practica, or capstones, with the Law Library serving as an approved fieldwork site. These culminating experiences frequently include creating toolkits, assessing metadata workflows, or designing documentation, work that demonstrates both technical skill and professional readiness to future employers.
Metadata Standards and Tools Participants Learn
Metadata work in 2026 has shifted decisively toward web discovery: the question is no longer how a record displays in a catalog, but whether a researcher anywhere on the open web can find a 19th-century statute or a foreign legal gazette through a search engine. The Law Library's remote program is built around that reality, and the skills it teaches reflect a discovery-first orientation rather than a traditional cataloging curriculum.
Descriptive Metadata and Controlled Vocabularies
Participants work primarily with Dublin Core-style descriptive metadata, applied to historical legal materials in collections such as Statutes at Large, US Reports, and Foreign Legal Gazettes.1 Subject and keyword assignment draws on Library of Congress vocabularies and legal thesauri, giving interns direct exposure to the controlled-vocabulary work that underpins findability across federal digital collections.2
Notably, the program does not provide formal training in MARC, MODS, or EAD, nor in cataloging platforms like OCLC Connexion, ArchivesSpace, Voyager, or FOLIO.2 Interns who want full MARC cataloging experience will need to pair this program with a course or a separate practicum. What the program does offer is a deep, repeated practice loop in the descriptive and access layer that increasingly defines metadata librarianship outside the ILS.
Why This Matters for Legal Materials
Legal documents carry descriptive challenges that general collections do not: jurisdiction, date ranges spanning centuries, citation formats, statutory versus regulatory distinctions, and multilingual gazettes from dozens of countries. Assigning useful keywords to an 1880s federal statute or a Spanish-language official gazette requires both subject judgment and an understanding of how legal researchers actually search. Interns build that judgment through volume, working through hundreds of items asynchronously with feedback from program staff.1
Transferable Skills for Metadata Roles
The core competencies (subject and keyword analysis, search behavior, and retrieval concepts) map cleanly onto job descriptions for metadata librarians, digital collections specialists, and discovery analysts.1 These positions increasingly emphasize linked-data thinking, controlled vocabulary application, and user-centered description over traditional MARC production. For students weighing what you can do with a library science degree, the program offers unusually tangible evidence to bring to a job search: a concrete portfolio of public-facing metadata contributions tied to one of the world's most recognized legal collections.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Do you need hands-on metadata experience but can't relocate to Washington, D.C.?
The Law Library's fully remote program delivers practicum-caliber work without geographic barriers, ideal if family, work, or finances keep you from moving.
Are you an MLIS student looking for a practicum site that offers real publication opportunities?
Interns here have published 82 blog posts and created story maps, building a portfolio you can leverage early in your career.
Would asynchronous, flexible scheduling let you balance this with other commitments?
With no fixed meeting times and participants across time zones, you can fit metadata work around coursework, a job, or caregiving.
Who Can Participate and How to Apply
Two-thirds of the program's 917 participants over the past decade have been MLIS students, but the Law Library of Congress Remote Metadata Internship Program is deliberately designed for a much wider pool.1 PhD students, law students, undergraduates, retirees, military spouses, and working librarians have all contributed meaningful work to the program's digital collections. If you have been wondering whether non-MLIS students can participate, the answer is a clear yes.
Eligibility: Broader Than You Might Expect
The program welcomes students, recent graduates, and volunteers.2 There is no requirement for prior metadata experience, and participants come from a range of academic backgrounds including law, library science, history, and other humanities or social science disciplines.3 In practice, the program operates two distinct tracks: an internship track geared toward students and recent graduates seeking structured professional development, and a volunteer track open to anyone with an interest in legal materials and digital collections.
Because the program is unpaid, it tends to attract people motivated by skill-building, resume credentials, and the prestige of a Library of Congress affiliation rather than compensation. MLIS students frequently use the internship to satisfy capstone, directed fieldwork, or practicum requirements at their home institutions, with nearly four dozen such culminating projects completed since 2016.1 Students interested in MLIS informatics programs may find the program's metadata focus especially relevant to their coursework.
Application Process and Deadlines
The program admits participants in two cohorts per year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Applications are submitted online through the Library of Congress internship portal and require a resume along with short narrative responses.3 The current deadline for the Fall 2026 cohort is July 31, 2026.
There is no GRE, portfolio, or prerequisite coursework required. The narrative questions are your primary opportunity to demonstrate fit, so treat them seriously.
Tips for a Strong Application
Based on what the program values and what past participants have contributed, a few practical strategies can strengthen your candidacy:
Show genuine interest in legal materials: Reference specific Law Library digital collections such as the Statutes at Large, Foreign Legal Gazettes, or US Reports. Familiarity with these resources signals that you understand the program's mission.
Connect metadata to access: The program exists to improve discoverability of digital legal collections. Frame your motivation around making information accessible, not just learning technical skills.
Highlight flexibility and self-direction: The program is remote, asynchronous, and designed for participants across multiple time zones. Demonstrating that you can manage your own schedule and work independently matters more here than in a traditional on-site internship.
Mention relevant coursework or interests: Even if you lack formal metadata training, coursework in cataloging, information organization, digital humanities, or legal research can help position you as a strong candidate.
Note any writing or research skills: Past interns have published 82 blog posts on the Law Library's blog, In Custodia Legis, and created research guides and story maps. If you enjoy writing or have experience with public-facing scholarly communication, say so.1
For current application details, the Law Library of Congress internships page is the most reliable source. The program's 10th anniversary celebration in May 2026 confirmed that recruitment continues on the same fall and spring cycle, so prospective applicants should plan accordingly.
Career Outcomes: Where Program Alumni End Up
Over the course of ten years, the Law Library of Congress Remote Metadata Program has helped hundreds of participants translate hands-on metadata experience into meaningful library and information science careers. While the internship is unpaid, the professional dividends it generates can be substantial, particularly for MLIS students entering a competitive job market.1
Where Alumni Are Working Now
Alumni of the program have gone on to hold positions at notable institutions, including the Library of Congress itself and the U.S. Copyright Office.1 Reported job titles among former participants include reference librarian, archivist, and digital specialist. Those interested in the archivist career path will find that the program's emphasis on descriptive work for historical legal materials provides especially relevant preparation. These roles reflect the breadth of skills the program cultivates: online legal research, metadata creation, and keywording for historical legal materials all translate directly into the day-to-day responsibilities of catalogers, metadata librarians, and digital collections specialists across academic, government, and special libraries.2
Because participants work with real collections such as Statutes at Large, US Reports, and Foreign Legal Gazettes, their experience goes well beyond theoretical coursework. Hiring managers in library and archives settings recognize the difference between classroom exercises and genuine descriptive work performed on nationally significant materials.
Building a Portfolio That Stands Out
One of the program's most distinctive features is the opportunity to produce published, citable work. Across the program's history, interns have authored 82 blog posts on In Custodia Legis, the Law Library's official blog, and created 9 story maps that enhance public access to digital collections.1 For job seekers, these outputs function as concrete portfolio pieces that demonstrate research ability, writing skill, and subject expertise. Including a link to a published Library of Congress blog post on a resume or in a cover letter offers a level of credibility that few other internships can match.
Nearly four dozen participants also completed culminating academic projects, including capstones, directed fieldwork, and theses, through the program. These projects give MLIS students a way to fulfill degree requirements while simultaneously gaining professional credentials.
A Credential That Carries Weight
Having the Library of Congress on your resume is a significant differentiator in the library profession. The institution is widely regarded as the flagship of American librarianship, and any professional experience connected to it signals competence to prospective employers. For MLIS students competing for entry-level metadata or cataloging positions, this association can help a resume rise to the top of an applicant pool. Understanding the full range of MLIS degree jobs available can help candidates target the roles that best match the skills they developed during the program.
Value for Non-Traditional Participants
The program's flexible, asynchronous, remote structure also serves participants who fall outside the typical MLIS student profile.2 Military spouses, for example, can maintain career continuity and build transferable skills regardless of where they are stationed. Retirees exploring a second career in information work gain practical experience alongside formal credentials. Because the program accommodates participants across time zones and life circumstances, it functions as a career accelerator for people who might otherwise struggle to access traditional, on-site internships.
Whether you are an MLIS student aiming for your first metadata librarian position or a career changer looking to break into library work, the professional outcomes associated with this program suggest it delivers lasting returns on the time invested.
Completing this program gives participants something rare at the entry level: verifiable Library of Congress experience, published writing credits on a professional blog, and demonstrated metadata competency across real legal collections. Those three assets together can set a new graduate apart in a competitive job market before they have even held their first professional role.
How This Program Compares to Other Remote Metadata Internships
The Law Library's remote metadata program is not the only option for aspiring metadata librarians, but its ten-year track record and flexible structure make it a distinctive choice. Understanding how it stacks up against similar opportunities at other federal cultural agencies and university libraries can help you select the internship that best matches your schedule, career goals, and learning needs.
Library of Congress Remote Metadata Internship: The Law Library Model
The Law Library program operates on a semester-based schedule (spring and fall), requiring 10 to 20 hours per week and running for approximately 15 weeks.1 It is fully remote and unpaid, making it accessible to participants worldwide but requiring students to secure academic credit or arrange their own financial support. Participants work with a rigorous set of metadata standards including MARC, BIBFRAME, Dublin Core, MODS, and Library of Congress Subject Headings and Name Authority Files.1 The program is cohort-based, meaning you work alongside other interns and receive group training and feedback. Eligibility is open to current students and recent graduates, with a majority of participants enrolled in MLIS programs. The resume value is high: you gain Library of Congress credentials, hands-on experience with federal digital collections, and the opportunity to publish blog posts that remain publicly visible on the Law Library's website.
Smithsonian and University Digital Collections Internships
The Smithsonian Institution and many university digital libraries offer comparable remote or hybrid metadata internships, though the structure and compensation vary widely.2 Smithsonian internships typically run for eight to ten weeks full-time during the summer, or part-time during the academic year, and some positions carry a stipend. These programs focus on digital collections description, digitization support, and metadata entry, with standards including Dublin Core, MODS, MARC, RDA, and visual resources standards like VRA Core and CDWA for museum collections. The Smithsonian's scale and subject diversity (art, history, science) mean you may work with Getty vocabularies and specialized thesauri not commonly encountered in law libraries. Eligibility extends to undergraduates and graduate students, making some Smithsonian opportunities accessible earlier in your academic career. University library internships follow a similar pattern: project-based work, flexible duration, and a mix of paid and unpaid positions depending on institutional funding.
Evaluating Fit: Which Program Matches Your Situation
If you need geographic flexibility and a part-time schedule that accommodates coursework, the Law Library program's asynchronous, fully remote model is hard to beat. If you prefer a paid opportunity or want to explore metadata in visual or scientific collections, Smithsonian and university internships may offer better compensation and subject diversity. For MLIS students seeking deep immersion in bibliographic standards and legal digital collections, the Law Library provides unmatched specialization and a clear pathway to publishing your work. Students weighing these options should also consider how to choose a library science program that aligns with the type of internship they want to pursue. No single program is universally best; the right choice depends on your timeline, financial situation, subject interests, and whether you prioritize hands-on MARC cataloging or broader digital stewardship skills.
A Replicable Model: What Other Libraries Can Learn
The Law Library of Congress remote metadata program proves that a lightweight, asynchronous internship model can deliver massive institutional impact while training the next generation of information professionals. Over ten years, the program refined design principles that any library can adopt without large budgets or dedicated physical space. By focusing on real project work, flexible scheduling, and genuine professional development, it has created a blueprint that benefits both the institution and a diverse participant pool.
Design Principles That Scale
The program's scalability rests on a handful of deliberate choices. First, it operates entirely online and asynchronously, so participants in any time zone can contribute. This eliminates the need for physical workspace and synchronizes workflows around shared digital platforms rather than meetings. Second, the work itself is authentic: participants improve access to real collections such as the United States Statutes at Large and the Foreign Legal Gazettes. The tasks are not busywork; they require critical thinking and produce visible public impact. Third, eligibility is intentionally broad. While about two-thirds of the 917 total participants are MLIS students, the program also welcomes PhD students, law students, undergraduates, retirees, military spouses, and practicing librarians. This flexible entry point taps a wide talent pool and reduces administrative screening costs.
A Genuine Dual Benefit
The program advances institutional goals while building participant careers, a balance many internship models struggle to achieve. Participants have contributed over 30,000 hours of work to enhance digital collections, directly supporting the Law Library's mission to expand access to legal information. At the same time, participants publish blog posts on In Custodia Legis, create story maps and research guides, and complete nearly four dozen culminating projects such as capstones and theses. This public portfolio of work becomes a career launchpad, showcasing exactly the kind of MLIS degree skills that employers value. As a model, it demonstrates that volunteering need not be exploitation when the experience provides clear, documented professional growth alongside meaningful institutional contributions.
Practical Steps for Library Administrators
For administrators considering a similar initiative, the Law Library's experience suggests a practical starting point. Begin with a single well-defined collection that needs metadata remediation or enhancement. Create a set of clear training modules that cover the specific metadata standards and tools required, so participants can self-onboard at their own pace. Build in publication opportunities from day one: encourage blog posts, project summaries, or community guides that participants can list on their resumes. Finally, invest in a dedicated program coordinator, as the Law Library has with Jennifer González, who has shepherded the program for all ten years. This sustained leadership maintains consistency and institutional memory, even as participant cohorts rotate. Institutions exploring library administration and leadership degree online tracks may find that such programs prepare future administrators to design and sustain exactly this kind of initiative.
Equity and Accessibility by Design
The remote, asynchronous format removes geographic, financial, and scheduling barriers that traditionally exclude promising candidates from library internships. Someone in a rural area, a parent with caregiving responsibilities, or a student unable to relocate can participate fully. This design makes metadata practice accessible to a far more diverse group than an in-person, fixed-schedule model ever could. For libraries aiming to increase representation in the profession, adopting a similar structure is a powerful equity lever that costs almost nothing and yields immediate results. Students weighing their options can browse accredited MLIS degree programs to find schools whose curricula align with metadata and digital collection work.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Law Library Remote Metadata Program
The Law Library of Congress Remote Metadata Program has drawn strong interest from prospective participants since its founding in 2016. Below are answers to the most common questions, drawn from verified details about the program's first decade of operation.
What is the Law Library of Congress Remote Metadata Program?
It is a remote, asynchronous internship and volunteer program founded in May 2016 by Jill Reilly Corbett and Jennifer González. Participants contribute metadata work to improve digital collections at the Law Library of Congress, including Statutes at Large, Foreign Legal Gazettes, US Reports, Congress.gov, and other major legal resources. Over its first 10 years, 917 interns and volunteers contributed more than 30,000 hours of work.
How do I apply for the Law Library remote metadata internship?
Interested applicants should check the Law Library of Congress website and the In Custodia Legis blog for current openings and application instructions. Because the program is remote and asynchronous, it is designed to accommodate participants across time zones. Prospective interns typically need to demonstrate an interest in metadata, digital collections, or legal information and may need to coordinate with their academic program if seeking course credit.
What metadata standards are used in law libraries?
Law libraries commonly work with standards such as MARC, Dublin Core, MODS, and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Participants in the Law Library's program gain exposure to these and other cataloging and descriptive frameworks while working on collections like the Century of Lawmaking and US Treaties. The specific standards applied depend on the digital collection being processed.
Can non-MLIS students participate in the Law Library metadata program?
Yes. While roughly two thirds of participants are MLIS students, the program also welcomes PhD students, law students, undergraduates, retirees, military spouses, and working librarians. This diversity of participants is a deliberate feature of the program's flexible, asynchronous design and has contributed to its broad reach over the past decade.
What skills do you gain from a remote metadata internship?
Participants develop practical skills in metadata creation and quality control, digital collection management, and legal information organization. The program also offers opportunities to publish blog posts (82 have been written by interns), create story maps, and produce research guides. Nearly four dozen culminating projects, including capstones, practica, and theses, have been completed through the program, giving participants portfolio-ready work.
How does the Law Library remote metadata program compare to other library internships?
Its scale and longevity set it apart. With 917 participants and over 30,000 contributed hours across a decade, few remote library internships match its track record. The combination of asynchronous flexibility, meaningful work on nationally significant legal collections, and built-in publication and research opportunities makes it a distinctive option. Many traditional library internships require on-site attendance and offer fewer chances to contribute to public-facing digital projects.
Is the program paid or volunteer?
The program operates primarily on a volunteer and academic credit basis. MLIS students often participate as part of directed fieldwork, practicum, or capstone requirements at their home institutions. Because the work is remote and scheduling is flexible, many participants balance the internship alongside other professional or academic commitments. Prospective applicants should confirm current compensation details directly with the Law Library.
