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:
Catalogers and metadata specialists, e-resource librarians, special collections, collection development.
This librarian works at a library with 10-50 staff members in an urban 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?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
Met qualifications with appropriate education and experience.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
A committee reviews each application, comparing to a checklist of qualifications based on the position description.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
No appropriate experience.
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ Other: if they ask
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve his/her/their hirability?
Read the ad! Write a cover letter that demonstrates you understand the position. Highlight appropriate experience.
I want to hire someone who is
self-starter
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 10-50
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 3-4
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 5-6
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?
We require at least some relevant experience, such as an internship.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
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 