This anonymous interview is with a public librarian. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Catalogers, Managers, Selection Librarians, Teen/Children’s/Adult Librarians, Staff Development Librarians.
This librarian works at a library with 200+ staff members in a suburban area in the Western US.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
HR weeds out the application before they reach the hiring managers.
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ No
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 fewer positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ Yes
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?
Experience is not required, but desirable and those with experience are often the ones hired.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ I don’t know
Why or why not?
Librarianship is definitely still alive and changing, but is it growing? If not, I’d say that is a sign that it is dying.
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For some context, look at the most recent summary of responses.
Hiring Librarians 