It’s Staturday!
It’s time for our annualish check-in with our surveys. This week: What’s the JOB market like nowadays?
Last time we checked in, 204 people who hire librarians had responded to our State of the Library Job Market Survey. Now we’re up to 267! (It’s still open, so if you’ve hired at least one librarian and want to add your voice, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibjobmarketsurvey )
And now, here are the
Results!
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
| 25 or fewer |
116 |
44.1% |
| 25-75 |
98 |
37.3% |
| 75-100 |
24 |
9.1% |
| more than 100, but less than 200 |
16 |
6.1% |
| more than 200 |
4 |
1.5% |
| Other |
5 |
1.9% |
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
| 25% or less |
164 |
62.6% |
| 26-50% |
55 |
21.0% |
| 51-75% |
15 |
5.7% |
| more than 75% |
12 |
4.6% |
| other |
16 |
6.1% |
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
| Yes |
21 |
8% |
| No |
161 |
61.2% |
| Other |
81 |
30.8% |
The Workplace
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
| 0-10 |
45 |
17% |
| 10-50 |
109 |
41.1% |
| 50-100 |
40 |
15.1% |
| 100-200 |
36 |
13.6% |
| 200+ |
35 |
13.2% |
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
| 1 |
58 |
22.1% |
| 2 |
61 |
23.2% |
| 3-4 |
53 |
20.2% |
| 5-6 |
32 |
12.2% |
| 7 or more |
27 |
10.3% |
| Other |
32 |
12.2% |
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
| 1 |
41 |
16% |
| 2 |
39 |
15.2% |
| 3-4 |
53 |
20.6% |
| 5-6 |
29 |
11.3% |
| 7 or more |
40 |
15.6% |
| Other |
55 |
21.4% |
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
| There are more positions |
90 |
34.2% |
| There are fewer positions |
94 |
35.7% |
| There are the same number of positions |
56 |
21.3% |
| I don’t know |
15 |
5.7% |
| Other |
8 |
3% |
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
| Yes |
73 |
27.7% |
| No |
167 |
63.3% |
| I don’t know |
16 |
6.1% |
| Other |
8 |
3% |
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
| Yes |
73 |
27.7% |
| No |
167 |
63.3% |
| I don’t know |
16 |
6.1% |
| Other |
8 |
3% |
Is librarianship a dying profession?
| Yes |
76 |
28.9% |
| No |
165 |
62.7% |
| I don’t know |
15 |
5.7% |
| Other |
7 |
2.7% |
Demographics
Where are you?
| Northeastern US |
54 |
20.5% |
| Midwestern US |
66 |
25% |
| Southern US |
70 |
26.5% |
| Western US |
60 |
22.7% |
| Canada |
5 |
1.9% |
| UK |
1 |
0.4% |
| Australia/New Zealand |
0 |
0% |
| Other |
8 |
3% |
Where are you?
| Urban area |
107 |
40.4% |
| Suburban area |
97 |
36.6% |
| Rural area |
51 |
19.2% |
| Other |
10 |
3.8% |
What type of institution do you hire for?
| Academic Library |
144 |
55.4% |
| Public Library |
99 |
38.1% |
| School Library |
1 |
0.4% |
| Special Library |
4 |
1.5% |
| Archives |
1 |
0.4% |
| Other |
11 |
4.2% |
Are you a librarian?
| Yes |
189 |
93% |
| No |
3 |
1% |
| It’s complicated |
9 |
4% |
Are you now or have you ever been:
| A hiring manager |
214 |
81.7% |
| A member of a hiring or search committee |
233 |
88.9% |
| Human resources |
14 |
5.3% |
| Other |
7 |
2.7% |
Would you like to have information about you or your organization shared ?
| No, I prefer to remain anonymous |
229 |
86.7% |
| Yes, and I’ll give you my email address on the next page |
35 |
13.3% |
I also have a post about the answer to I want to hire someone who is: here
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Hiring Librarians 
The answer combo that continually perplexes me: when 25-75 people apply for a single position, and fewer than 25% of them are hirable, where that means “meets the basic requirements like having a degree and 2 years’ experience, and has a cover letter addressed to the right library”. Who are all these other applicants?? If they do not meet the basic requirements, why do they apply? (Following on that, a nagging “Should I have applied to positions where I did not meet all of the qualifications, on the off chance that I would have been put through on other strengths instead of being laughed out the door?)
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When I have been privy to the applicant pool for a couple public library jobs, I have seen something similar to this. There are people that just really want to work for the government, people that don’t realize that the special skills and education required to be a librarian are required for a reason, and then people who are just swinging wildly at any possible librarian job…There are also a lot of people who don’t tailor their applications, so they may have the qualifications/skills, but they fail to
Personally, I think targeting your search to only positions that really interest you, and then taking the time to really show how you fit in is the way to go. I think you can apply to “stretch” positions, but it’s a nebulous line about how seriously you will be taken – and it varies among employers.
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