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 & Instruction
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?
√ 25-75
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 26-50 %
And how would you define “hirable”?
Met or exceeded the job qualifications and were people we wanted to bring to campus for an interview.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
All applications are vetted by the entire committee using the job qualification grid as the rubric.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Did not meet the minimum expectations in the job advertisement.
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?
Do your homework on the institution and identify ways you can make a contribution. Illustrate how you can make a difference at that institution and how you would be wonderful to work with.
I want to hire someone who is
an innovator.
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?
√ 5-6
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?
√ I don’t know
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
√ Other: I think it has gone the other way, actually, with a parapro position being reclassed as Faculty.
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
I believe most positions require some experience, but it could be via an internship.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
Information management is more important than ever. Librarians are finding new ways to meet the needs of their patrons all the time as community centers, places to learn new skills, custodians of the academic and cultural record, and creators of knowledge in digital libraries. Our service mission will always keep us relevant, regardless of how the information is presented (in print or digitally).
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 