This anonymous interview is with an public librarian who has been a hiring manager and a member of a hiring or search committee. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Circulation Managers, Adult Services Managers, Youth Services Managers.
This librarian works at a library with 100-200 staff members in a suburban area in the Midwestern US.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 25 or fewer
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
Having the education and qualifications for the job.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
The person who will be the supervisor receives the applications from HR and determines who will be interviewed. This person handles everything up to offering the position.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Doesn’t have the proper education or skill set required for position.
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ No
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve his/her/their hirability?
Be detailed, but truthful; no grammatical or spelling errors.
I want to hire someone who is
the best.
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 100-200
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 3-4
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 3-4
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
√ There are the same number of positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ Yes
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
√ Yes
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
For some positions, yes.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
There is a level of expertise required that can only be filled by a trained librarian.
Do you hire librarians? Take this survey: http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibjobmarketsurvey or take other Hiring Librarians surveys.
For some context, look at the most recent summary of responses.
Hiring Librarians 