Alumni - Publishing internship in Geneva

Helen Swain, a student on the master’s in publishing programme, writes about her internship in Geneva in the publications department of the International Labour Office …

I heard about the internship at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva from some friends who had already completed the internship. At that time, I had commenced my second year of the European Master in Publishing at Oxford Brookes and was doing an internship at les Éditions Play Bac in Paris. The ILO internship sounded like a very interesting opportunity, as well as a very different experience from those I had had in commercial publishing houses in Oxford and Paris. For example, the fact that the ILO is an international non-profit organization means that the marketing, sales and dissemination surrounding the books are very different from what happens in commercial publishing. I was absolutely delighted to be accepted to the internship in July 2009, mainly to do editorial work, largely on books published and co-published by the ILO, but also to look at digital publishing with regard to ILO publications. I had the pleasure of interning at the ILO along with Christian Manco, another Brookes Publishing student, and we worked together to write reports, prepare the ILO’s first foreign rights catalogue and help with the preparation for the Frankfurt Book Fair, which we subsequently attended to help with meetings and gather information. I am finding this internship to be a truly stimulating educational experience and have met a number of very interesting people. Above all, I am enjoying it immensely.

Posted on 27 Oct 2009 around 2pm