This anonymous interview is with an academic 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:
reference and instruction, catalogers, archivists, technologists, managers, acquisitions
This librarian works at a library with 200+ staff members in a suburban area in the Southern 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 all the qualifications listed as required in the announcement
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
University HR screens for required qualifications, then a library search committee convened for the particular position under review evaluates applicants
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
better qualified candidates whose experience and knowledge more closely meets the desired qualifications
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?
pay close attention to the position description and demonstrate how her experience, qualifications, and aspirations match our advertised needs
I want to hire someone who is
proactive
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 200+
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 7 or more
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 7 or more
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?
√ No
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?
no
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
the demand for the management of operation of libraries is still strong and the profession continues to adapt to new emphases in service broadly defined (collections can be a service)
Do you have any other comments, for job hunters or about the survey?
the most recent searches I’ve been involved with have been for high-level specialized positions in IT and archival collections, which may explain why the pool was so small
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 