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:
Generalists, library assistants
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 staff members in an urban area in the Northeastern US.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 75-100
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
Meet the minimum requirements for the job.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
HR does a first pass, usually looking for the minimum requirements (i.e. an MLS). Then, the rest of the applications come to the search committee. We individually rank our top 5-7 candidates and see who overlaps.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
No MLS, poorly written cover letter or resume, applying from a distant state without explanation.
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?
Well-written, grammatically correct cover letter and resume that fits the job being applied for.
I want to hire someone who is
professional
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
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-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 more 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?
Yes, we do require experience. It can vary, and it doesn’t have to be a set number of years full-time experience, but we’re not looking to hire someone right out of a grad program with no work experience.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ I don’t know
Why or why not?
I hope not, but if it isn’t going to die, it needs to train and nurture professional managers in the field much better.
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For some context, look at the most recent summary of responses.
Hiring Librarians 