Five Questions (The Intern Edition): Mykhailo Kryvoruchko

1.  What is your background?

I was born and raised in the small provincial town of Cherkasy, Ukraine. I graduated from the Cherkasy Banking Institute with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and auditing.  During my studies in Ukraine, I participated in research activities, national olympiads, and presented my student papers at national and international workshops.  At the end of my graduate studies in Cherkasy I became a finalist for the Edmund Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program – a program funded and administered by the U.S. Department of State. Under this program, I was placed at Virginia State University (Petersburg, VA) to study economics (2009-2011).  I successfully defended  my master’s thesis on the problems of institutional development and investment climate in Ukraine, and interned at the Library of Congress and the Danville Regional Foundation (Danville, VA).  I have a broad range of interests, but my major ones are Christianity, philanthropy, history, and theology.

2.  How did you learn about the intern program and why did you want to work at the Library of Congress?

I learned about the internship program quite accidentally.  In 2010 I applied for a summer intern position at Open World, an organization located on the premises on the Library of Congress, but was not selected.  However, my application was forwarded to the Business Reference Section, and I received an internship offer from them.  I was very glad to have an opportunity to intern at the Library.  I enjoy doing research, and my assignments in the Business Reference Section had a research nature.

3.  How would you describe your internship?

I actually interned in the Business Reference Section twice, in 2010 and again in 2011. During my internships I assisted the Section with creating research guides on economic development in Ukraine and the non-profit sector in the United States.  I worked with printed and electronic resources available at the Library as well as web-sites maintained by governments, and private and international agencies and organizations.  The internship involved reading and assessing the contents of books, articles, and web-sites in terms of how useful they could be for research.

4.  What has amazed you the most about the Library?

I was amazed by the volume of the book collections and by the architectural design of the Jefferson Building.

5.  What have you learned about the Library that you didn’t know before you started your internship?

I learned that the Library has a huge collection of books written in foreign languages.  I was surprised to know that one can come to the Library of Congress and request a book in the original language written by a Russian classic writer; or that one can find a book (in English) on coal-mining in Western Ukraine in the 19th century – such materials are not always easy to find, even in Ukrainian libraries.