Interning Woes

I'm nearly done with my library technician degree. I have two classes left. One is the internship. I've been volunteering 6 hours a week for nearly two years now, and asked for an internship where I work. The newly hired librarian, who does not know or care about all the hours I've worked there turned me down "I just don't have time, and neither does anyone else, because I say so." I predict she won't have this job long. If she's this abrasive with me, she'll be worse with the staff (some of whom already quit) and drive off volunteers and cause more friction with FOL, run by the library's founder.

The local academic library also turned me down, as did the branch at the more distant academic college library in Rocklin.

The local high school said no, too. Anyone running a social justice club in a conservative community like this one should probably not be allowed around children, or at least consider therapy for the implied self-destructive trait. Perhaps that is harsh, but I also learned she does not interact with the academic library supporting her students AP program half a mile away, nor does she exchange books with the county library despite the books coming 100 yards from her branch so it would be super easy to do. She sends her students to the other branches, each several miles away so "no car" means "no books". This is unfair to the students in my opinion. That this librarian says she's "ready to leave the county for any library job anywhere" (paraphrased from what she said to me directly) is probably a good thing. In my experience "social justice" is a step towards cultists and sacrificial lambs.

I really hope that my difficulties finding an internship is merely a local problem associated with the Housing Boom crash that's impacted library budgets in schools and public libraries around this part of the state. That would mean I could go to Reno and get paid, or drive down to Sacramento, where there's jobs at the state library, and get paid (once I have my AS degree).

I may have an internship at the library an hour away. I hope so. There's potential work there that nobody else can do, especially extracting reports from their database. I'm experienced at that in some types of databases. If I can find out about their database and track down the report software and fix the breaks, through their IT, and upgrade/smooth their interface so they find it easier to work with, that would help them. And justify my being there without threatening anybody's job. That is important.

UPDATE: I was accepted for an internship at the Yuba College academic library, staring in January. While this is an hours drive each way, and will require me to go there twice a week, costing me a tank of gas every week, it is better than the other college who announced they won't consider library interns with less than half their MLIS completed despite their prior library technology program only two years ago. That is unprofessionally hostile and raised my eyebrow. That is a place to avoid until that employee either retires or gets fired. Placer County has some politics issues I think I'd be happier avoiding.

Students

I talked to a high school student today. He's reading the Dresden Files books and likes them. I told him about Butcher posting to my group back in the day, then leaving soon after saying he was going to focus on a modern-fairie magic setting. Turned out to be a good idea whose time had come. Cyberpunk is strangely common, so ubiquitous as to not matter. Soccer moms with bluetooth headsets recording their kids on tablet computers or smartphones with a faster CPU than my last computer in the 90's.

Still, the kids are so enthusiastic and that's a nice feeling talking to them. My feeling about interacting with teenagers is don't talk down to them. Treat them like they're responsible adults and they generally will be. And when they're enthusiastic about positive things express interest and encourage them. They mostly have good kids around here. Even the ones growing up on dope farms are still working for their own future one day. I'd like to see those kids with a future outside dope, but any kid reading is already making a better future for themselves. Love the books. Love the books! It really IS enough to love the books.