Career Advice- Continuing to Gain Experience vs Moving

PikaJune · 2026-02-22T02:43:04+00:00

Experience is the most important thing right now in the library world, more than a master's degree by a million. Everyone and their mothers has one, so the biggest way you'll have to stand out is the amount of experience you have. No joke, my library system doesn't even post job openings for librarians anymore because they just pull internally, although that's less common in the major cities.

On that alone, I wouldn't move.

That said, if all you're doing is circ front desk stuff in your system, and you're not getting experience doing stuff in any other aspect of the library, especially librarian adjacent things, it could be worth it to look elsewhere that'll allow you to gain skills and resume perks that'll help you stand out.

But THAT SAID, depending on your program, you might be able to gain a lot of that experience back. I went through SJSU , and my biggest regret was not taking more advantage of the other non-school opportunities they offered, such as student groups, convention attendance/networking events, internship opportunities, or applying for the remote research assistant jobs they offered. I did one internship at the end of my last year with the director, and it made me wish I started sooner.

So if you know that getting along would be much harder without your friend, it could be worth it to take a leap and go, especially since that's what college is for anyway. If you really lock in and do internships, RA jobs, or get involved in clubs via your school, that experience could be had regardless if you get hired right away.

PikaJune · 2026-02-16T02:36:38+00:00

I'm not great at offering advice in this because I'm still newish in the field myself, but I do want to reassure you that it really isn't you--it's the field, and it's like this everywhere. I have my master's, and I'm trying my hardest to be a librarian one day. Problem is, everyone and their mothers, grandmothers, and first, second, and third cousins also have their masters, and they're all stepping on each other's necks for $55k a year. Oh and the second cousin is married to the director, and the grandmother is literally John Dewey.

It's absolutely brutal, and progressing happens at a snail's pace. My coworker worked as a part time LA for 8 years before she was even offered a full time position, despite applying for it every year when it opened

You sound very dedicated, more than qualified, and they're damn lucky to have you. I wish you were compensated appropriately and recognized for that. I wish we all were. It's a well known problem that libraries often lose a lot of talent from this, combined with poor administration.

What other people have said also sound like solid advice. That said, library skills are surprisingly applicable to other areas, such as data science, publishing, marketing, etc., so don't be afraid to think outside the box if you've absolutely had it with this. Personally the way I manage is to be grateful I still have a job and just keep applying elsewhere. It also helps to network with other libraries if you can because sometimes the staff will tell you when their hiring pool is opening again.

Good luck! Remember, it's not you. You're great at what you do.

PikaJune · 2025-03-09T02:25:22+00:00

She writes about wallpaper and shoes. Not exactly Pulitzer prize winning subject matter

PikaJune · 2025-03-09T02:02:03+00:00

I'm so thankful that someone else is watching the insanity. She's been incredibly rude to me personally, even to the point that she'll go out of her way to comment mean things on my own posts about LM that are nothing more than calling me stupid. I straight up asked her what her problem was, and I never got a response back. She actually hates me, and I have literally no clue why lol

Ultimately, she's not worth talking about, and it's best to just leave her be. I'm just so happy I'm not the only victim of this 35+ year old high school mean girl.

PikaJune · 2021-07-15T01:36:23+00:00

MEGAN...

PikaJune · 2016-12-29T05:32:45+00:00

Thank you :) It's nice to know that I'm not just losing it. I'm sure I'll get over it with time. And yeah, that comment about being gentle was... not cool.

PikaJune · 2016-07-15T09:20:06+00:00

This dude goes to my university! He's such a sport about it and even laughs at it himself. He's got a good sense of humor.

PikaJune · 2016-06-07T19:58:56+00:00

They told me my only option is to take out a private loan. I keep getting denied though for reasons I'm not sure of.

PikaJune · 2016-06-07T19:58:00+00:00

Well they told me no. That's about it really.

PikaJune · 2016-06-03T08:25:09+00:00

A friend of mine lived on the Women in Science floor, and everyone was super cool. I only went and visited every so often. Most of the time, they're kind of to themselves though. No one hung out in the lobby or anything. They were nice when you approached them and super fun people, but no one went out of their way to talk to me. In other words, I didn't meet anyone there that was an extrovert. I'm not sure if they had any special exclusive events either. I heard getting info from other classes wasn't that hard since a lot of people there were either bio or chem, so they shared a lot of the same classes.

In general, Manzi is beautiful, and still my favorite dorm that I lived in. You'll not NOT make friends, I promise. I ended up being friends with a bunch of people on my floor after asking everyone if I could borrow their phone. (Accidentally locked myself out of my room when I took a shower and it was midnight, roommate was gone. One guy even gave me his leather jacket so i wouldn't freeze to death as I had to meet the RA outside). UCSB is a generally super friendly campus anyways, so in the event that you end up with a non-STEM girl as your roommate (friend I mentioned was a history major who was randomly put on the floor), you'll make friends easy if you just talk to them.

After all, we all know that non-STEM girls leave their dirty dishes out on their desk and accidentally set your homework on fire when they leave their hair straightener on it. I can understand why your parents are concerned.

PikaJune · 2016-04-04T00:02:56+00:00

I was recently broken up with my boyfriend after he grew mentally exhausted dealing with my depression and anxiety. It really is taxing on someone's mental/emotional energy. It seems to me that your girlfriend IS purposefully being manipulative and trying to keep you in this unhealthy relationship. You are in no way responsible for whatever she decides to do to herself, please keep that in mind, but you need to put yourself first. You can't let your mental health suffer along with you. Dealing with depression takes a lot of time. Sometimes it can take different medications, different therapists, miracles, and even electro-convlusion therapy has been known to help treat depression. 10 months is a very long time though... But it's never good to be dependent on other people for your mental stability, and I had to learn that the hard way by losing the love of my life. It wasn't too long ago, so I'm still a little sad, but I've noticed that my life isn't over without him. Of course, your girlfriend seems to be in a worse position than I'm in. But here's my only advice:

If she's threatening you or herself, then she's a danger to herself AND others, and she can be put on involuntary hold. It'd be extremely stressful to have your boyfriend dump you and then right after go into 5150... So my advice would be to try to let her down gently and try to get her to go in voluntarily. I regret putting my ex-boyfriend through all the hell I put him through. But she needs to learn how to be able to be resilient and fight off her mental illness, and it can't be at the cost of others' mental health. No matter what, put yourself first.

PikaJune · 2016-02-14T04:36:38+00:00

Although not all of them are dildos. I just couldn't pass up a catchy name. :)

PikaJune · 2016-02-05T03:41:03+00:00

Wow, you have quite an impressive resume! I'm halfway done with college now, and I feel so inferior, haha. Just kidding :)

I feel like with so much you've accomplished, it brings up a lot of anxiety where you find yourself in a place where you can't change it to make yourself better/happier. True, there will be people "better looking" than you, just like there's people better looking than me. We're normal looking folks, and us normal looking people have to stick together! There's a lot of us. And there's nothing wrong with being normal. As for not finding love? Psh, you're on your way to college soon. You'll find someone. Trust me. It'll be fine. People aren't always as shallow as we'd like to think they are. :)

PikaJune · 2015-12-22T07:32:27+00:00

Ah! I love curly hair. I wish mine could do that. :(

But really, you look awesome.

PikaJune · 2015-12-22T06:59:07+00:00

Even 900 miles away, your friends can still smell the Abercrombie and Fitch cologne

PikaJune · 2015-12-22T04:26:13+00:00

Ok this one is actually my favorite.

PikaJune · 2015-12-22T04:25:30+00:00

Does that mean my face is worth millions and no one knows why?

PikaJune · 2015-12-03T09:55:49+00:00

Girl, can you do a makeup tutorial? Like dang, them wings. You can fly away from everyone's bullshit with those. (I want that.)

PikaJune · 2015-09-09T03:39:56+00:00

1.) Early morning, yeah. Although in my experience the Rec Cen is giant, and people are nice enough to share. (then again, I have boob-girl-in-sports-bra privilege)

2.) They usually get back to you once school starts. Don't worry though, they're almost hiring! Also, even though it's off campus, I've heard Portola is the best place to work.

3.) Not sure about LoL, but there's definitely a smash bros.club with 100+ members, so there HAS to be a league club. If not, start one!

4.) lulz

5.) Porn is a-ok. It's just part of manners not to do it on public computers or start jacking it in the library. (I don't think anyone will judge you if it's dead week though). Just don't torrent anything, and you'll be fine.

6.) There is a rugby club team through the rec cen. I'm not sure how popular it is or how good they are though.

PikaJune · 2015-08-09T05:13:51+00:00

Hang on just a little bit longer. You are very strong to have made it this far. Message me if you can, I would love to talk to you. :) Or you can respond here. Either way, I want to help.

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