Volunteer opportunities in the Southwest Chicago suburbs

[Ovid]

Hi, I have just found out I have been accepted into grad school. It was always a long shot, but now I am in. I have already taken several LIS courses at U of I and am now officially enrolled in the program starting fall 2014. The question is what to do now. I do not have experience in libraries and every job opportunity I have applied for did not consider me a good match. I have been looking for volunteer opportunities but so far every library I have visited either does not have volunteer positions available or only accepts high school students. So my question is, does anyone know of any opportunities in the greater Chicago area (preferably southwestern suburbs)?

 

I am very happy to have been accepted into the program, now the real work begins.

[betafish]

If you're going to be at GSLIS, try reaching out to Roy Brooks. I don't know if you can do so before officially starting classes, but he's really good at letting you know about opportunities, and can give you pretty good advice about setting up a practicum. Also, you'll be given access to the GSLIS forums, and a lot of opportunities will be posted there. Are you going to be in the LEEP program, or on-campus?

[Ovid]

I applied for the LEEP program but now that I think about it I think I would rather be on campus. I will contact Roy Brooks. Right now I have a choice between U of I and Wayne State University in Detroit. I applied for the distance learning programs but now that I think about it I think I would rather be on campus and will see if I can get a change of status approved. I will be visiting both campuses in the first week of April. My undergraduate GPA did not technically meet the admission standards at either university but so I took some classes at U of I as a non-degree student, got some very good letters of reccomendation, aced every class that I took and did very well on the GRE. I did asked about practicum and they told me that I had to have so many credit hours before I could apply.