This anonymous interview is with an academic librarian who has been a member of a hiring or search committee. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Serials and electronic resources
Public Services
Cataloging
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 staff members in a suburban area in the Northeastern 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?
√ 26-50 %
And how would you define “hirable”?
They met the minimum qualifications for the position.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
The entire library staff read the resumes and gave feedback to the director and he narrowed the field to about 10.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Less qualified than others who applied.
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?
Have a clear understanding of the institution and have a positive attitude. One person spent the whole interview badmouthing her last boss. Another one initially impressed the committee, but when interviewed by the chief academic officer, was critical of our director and some of the current policies of our library.
I want to hire someone who is
Competent
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 0-10
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 1
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
√ There are fewer positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ No
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
√ No
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
No. We have hired half of our staff right out of library school and they are great!,
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
It is changing, but we are busier than ever as information and access to it becomes more complex.
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 