The University Libraries hires graduate assistants each year. These positions, located at the University Park, change yearly with hiring typically occurring in the Spring, and the Libraries works directly with colleges and departments to find candidates. The endowed positions below are hired on a yearly basis; please reach out to ul-graduate-assistantship@psu.edu for more information.
Please note that all Graduate Assistantship positions for 2026-2027 are filled.
Charles L. Blockson Graduate Assistant
This graduate assistant will staff the Blockson Collection Room during its hours of operation; provide reference for the collection; participate in collection maintenance and preservation projects; assist with outreach, including exhibitions, tours, promotion, and publicity. The assistant will provide basic and specialized assistance in support of managing, interpreting, and promoting the Blockson Collection by performing: Bibliographic and archival collection targeted research; Reference, project, and other support; Outreach to promote the collections content to students, faculty, and local communities.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book Graduate Assistantship
This graduate assistant will support family literacy outreach and program development by reviewing Pennsylvania Center for the Book (PACFTB) materials to better integrate Adult College and Career Readiness Standards, PA Early Childhood Education standards, and Adult-Child Interactive Reading Inventory goals, and recommending revisions accordingly. The GA will develop a four-part family literacy lesson series and caregiver literacy tips grounded in inclusive pedagogy, serve on the Baker’s Dozen family literacy book jury to evaluate children’s literature and design related activities, and collaborate with PACFTB staff and community partners to support outreach efforts. The GA will also have opportunities to present at statewide conferences, expanding professional engagement with library and adult education audiences. The assistantship will culminate in a compiled portfolio of lessons and activities, strengthening the GA’s skills in curriculum design, evaluation, and community-based practice.
Archival Collections Graduate Assistantship
This graduate assistant will take part in a documentation project to enhance archival collections and resources focused on student athlete experiences at Penn State. The Graduate Assistant will engage in research within current archival holdings and other resources, develop strategies for oral history interviews, perform outreach with Penn State student and/or alumni athletes, and conduct oral history interviews. The Graduate Assistant will also collaborate with the Sports Archivist in developing creative outreach and engagement efforts geared towards Penn State students and alumni.
Teaching and Learning With Technology (TLT) Faculty Engagement and Learning Design Graduate Assistantship
In 2026–27, the TLT Faculty Engagement and Learning Design Graduate Assistant will support university-wide, high-impact initiatives with a primary focus on faculty programming and program evaluation. The GA will lead a Programmatic Evaluation Redesign by reviewing pre- and post-evaluations with program leads and developing a system to measure overall impact on faculty and students. Additional responsibilities may include supporting research and assessment for initiatives such as the Provost Endorsement program and Teaching with Technology Series, evaluating emerging and AI-based instructional tools, and conducting semi-annual benchmarking and literature reviews on peer institutions’ instructional technology practices. This work will inform technology adoption, workshop development, and cross-university collaboration.
Global Engagement Initiatives OER Graduate Assistantship
This graduate assistant position will work to develop Open Access (OA) and Open Education Resources (OER) learning materials in support of the Global Teach Ag Network (and its associated projects: Educators Empowering Educators Program, etc.) and the United Nations World Food Forum Youth Food Lab North America at Penn State. Working under the supervision of Global Engagement Initiatives, and in close collaboration with Libraries colleagues in OER and Life Sciences, the GA position will research program and network needs and build a repository of resources and materials to meet the needs of these programs and projects. The position would also explore possible OER development opportunities within the Global Teach Ag Network and related programs.
Textbook Affordability Coordinator
This graduate assistant will support Penn State’s Open Education initiatives by expanding the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) through data analysis, targeted outreach, and research, with a focus on advancing student access, agency, and equity. Working with the University Libraries’ new Open Education unit, the GA will analyze and gather course materials and OER data to map high-enrollment, high-impact courses to open and library-licensed resources, enabling more strategic faculty outreach and strengthening existing adoption and authoring grant programs. Additionally, the GA will investigate the impact of open education on teaching and learning outcomes using ongoing quantitative and qualitative data, collaborating on presentations and publications to contribute to the broader open education community and the Libraries’ strategic goals.
Research Data Stewardship Graduate Assistant
This graduate assistant will play a central role in advancing Penn State’s Research Data Stewardship Program and implementing the University’s Data Management Policy through a partnership between the University Libraries and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research. In 2026–2027, the GA will expand user-friendly guidance documentation based on prior needs assessments and compliance trends, analyze institutional data management and sharing plans to better understand researcher practices, promote awareness of new federal public access policies through training, conduct user testing of a generative AI tool designed to support federally compliant data management plans, and develop an interactive onboarding program for institutional data managers. Through this work, the GA will strengthen research integrity, policy compliance, and the long-term accessibility and usability of research data across disciplines.
Research Data Stewardship Graduate Assistant
In response to growing demand for data-driven research support, this graduate assistant position—shared between the Research Data Stewardship Department and the Schreyer Business Library—will help bridge gaps in researchers’ understanding of how to access, manage, analyze, and present data using best practices. Building on a successful cross-unit collaboration, the GA will support students, faculty, and staff with quantitative research design, data collection and processing, statistical analysis and programming, visualization, reporting, and research ethics, while also developing and delivering workshops on topics such as statistical software and research methods. Additionally, the GA will assist library faculty in providing advanced data resource consultations, delivering presentations, and evaluating APIs and analytics tools to enhance research support services across disciplines.
Restorative Justice Initiative Graduate Assistantship
Following the reinstatement of Federal Pell Grants, Penn State’s Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) launched its second bachelor’s degree program for justice-impacted students in Spring 2025, creating an opportunity for the Libraries to build sustainable, equitable access to resources for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners. This half-time graduate assistant position, shared between Common Services and RJI, will strengthen connections with justice-impacted students, assess their research and access needs, and recommend solutions to barriers in both on-campus and carceral settings. The GA will learn library systems and pedagogy for teaching in prisons, co-lead coursework, support curriculum development, map existing library support, and develop assessment questions to improve student outcomes. In Spring 2027, the GA will explore AI applications for re-entry education, collaborate with statewide and campus partners, support new cohorts, maintain a digital exhibition, and assist with Justice Education Month programming, contributing to a sustainable infrastructure for serving system-impacted students.
Teaching and Learning With Technology (TLT) Graduate Research Assistantship
Strategic investment in teaching and learning technologies (TLT) is essential for institutions seeking to adapt to changing student demographics and a complex higher education landscape, with TLT research playing a key role in examining how technology intersects with student, faculty, and staff experiences to generate actionable insights. TLT graduate research assistants, who bring strong methodological training and interests aligned with education and educational technology, contribute to projects that address contemporary educational challenges with an emphasis on innovation and equity. Working under the guidance of a full-time researcher and principal investigator, they support all phases of the research lifecycle—from planning and data collection to analysis, writing, and dissemination—across multiple concurrent projects. Their work advances the University Libraries’ strategic priorities, strengthens TLT’s research agenda, and helps produce timely, relevant scholarship that informs effective teaching and learning practices.