This anonymous interview is with a law 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, Technical Services, Branch Librarians
This librarian works at a library with 10-50 staff members in an urban area in the Midwestern 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?
√ more than 75 %
And how would you define “hirable”?
Meets required minimum education and experience
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
Staff librarian position handled entirely by library staff. Head librarian position (latest vacancy) handled by combination of judges, court executive, and librarian.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Does not meet required minimum education and experience
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ Other: occasionally upon request
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve his/her/their hirability?
Get relevant experience, even if it has to be volunteer work
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?
√ 1
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ Other: None
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?
Yes – official requirement
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
Traditional, book-based librarianship is dying, but there are still opportunities for librarians. Many may not be in actual libraries, or called “librarians)
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 