Category Archives: Job Hunter Follow Up

Back in 2012/2013 I ran a survey of job hunters (co-authored by Naomi House of INALJ). It had over 500 responses, including 117 people who were at least initially willing to be non-anonymous. In this series, we check in with these respondents to see where they are about a decade later. 

Michael Grutchfield filled out the original survey in 2013 and his answers appeared as I Want to Put my Training to Use. We followed up with him in 2015 and learned he had found not just one but two jobs! Since then he’s had an interesting path and is currently back on the job hunt. He was kind enough to answer my questions below:

Where are you now? What’s your work situation like, and what path did you take to get where you are?

Right now, I’m actually more or less where I probably was when this survey first came out: living in Portland and looking for a library job. I brought that on myself, however. My path has been a complicated one.

For the past eight years, up until the end of September, I’ve been living in Southern Oregon, working over that time in three different libraries. This began with a job offer from the library at Rogue Community College for a part time reference/instructional position. In order to sweeten the idea of moving for a part time job, the director mentioned that the local public library in Grants Pass was looking to hire a part time collection librarian.

I interviewed for that job in May, 2014 and got the job offer while I was down for a visit. So, I moved to Rogue River with two part time jobs – one in an academic library, one in a public library. The public library, Josephine Community Libraries, was at that time managed by a nonprofit after the voters had voted to shut down the County-run system in 2009. We were also heavily involved in campaigning for a library district, which finally passed in 2017. I was then offered the position of Collection Development Librarian full time, and immediately got to work heavily weeding a collection that had been sustained on donations for eight years and upgrading the collection.

Then, in 2019, I learned that the library in my town was looking for a manager, and the draw of being able to walk to work was too much to resist. In 2019, I got the job of Area Manager for Jackson County Library Services, supervising five of the branches in their 15-branch system and working from an office in the Rogue River branch. They were undergoing a similar transition, as they had been managed by the for-profit library company LS&S since a shutdown, and were just putting their district back in charge during 2020, which happened to be at the height of the pandemic. I got to do a lot of different kinds of management work during my time there, including managing the Sub Pool and being on the team to plan expanding hours across the system.

And then, towards the end of this Summer, I got the bug to move back to Portland, where an old friend had space in her house to rent to me. I made the move about a month ago, and have been actively searching for jobs in libraries since then.

Were any parts of your journey completely unexpected?

Most parts! I never thought I would take to Public Libraries, customer-facing jobs, or managing lots of people. But, that’s how it has gone.

Looking over your past answers, what pops out at you? Has anything changed?

One thing that pops out is where I said I wanted a job in or near Portland! That hasn’t changed, but I spent 8 years building my resume to make it (hopefully) possible.

One thing that has changed is that I no longer find INALJ (I Need a Library Job) to be the most useful resource. Luckily, there are a lot of resources for finding jobs. In my area, being aware of the local library associations and their job listings and networking with friends are the most useful ways to proceed now. I never seem to lack job openings to apply for!

What I remember from those times is how often I had to re-type every part of my resume into an online application. More and more libraries and hiring institutions have software now that “grabs” the basic info from your resume and plugs it in automatically, which at least reduces this to an editing process, rather than data entry. This is good. It might not be a bad idea for someone to put together tips on how best to format your resume so that the software can recognize the data accurately.

Have you had a chance to hire anyone? If so, what was that like?

I’ve been on quite a number of hiring committees, including some for my own direct reports. It does give you some perspective on why the process can take too long, and how hard it is for employers to get a handle on your qualifications, and who you really are, from the typical hiring process. It’s a huge leap of faith to invite someone into your workspace (effectively 1/3 of your life!) when all you have is some paper and a very contrived conversation to base the decision on.

The long process of hunting for work gave me (I hope) a good deal of empathy for the people on the other end of it. I tried to be respectful of their time and the stressful process they were going through.

Do you have any advice for job hunters?

Most of what you have already heard: really do craft your application materials (especially cover letter) to the specific job posting, really do follow all instructions and make sure your application is complete, and really do apply only for one or two jobs per employer at one time – it sends a message of “I’ll take anything!” if your name comes up for every open position.

Do you have any advice for people who hire LIS folks?

Just remember what your applicants are going through. Looking for work is a full time job (and some of them are doing it on top of a full time job), and they will appreciate your consideration, even when you can’t hire them.

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

Just that I have loved working in libraries ever since I started, and it’s been a pleasure working with very different communities (and in different jobs!) than I expected to.

Back in 2012/2013 I ran a survey of job hunters (co-authored by Naomi House of INALJ). It had over 500 responses, including 117 people who were at least initially willing to be non-anonymous. In this series, we check in with these respondents to see where they are about a decade later. 

Becca Tansey  filled out the original survey in 2015 and her answers appeared as More library school graduates are going straight from undergraduate into a library program, and might not have three-five years experience coming out. At the time, she was an aspiring children’s librarian, working as a page. When I caught up with her recently, I found that she had taken her career in a different direction! She was kind enough to answer my questions below:

Where are you now? What’s your work situation like, and what path did you take to get where you are?

I work at the Newburyport Public Library as Head of Borrower Services. I’ve been here at Newburyport for the past 7 years. Shortly after the blog post I was hired as a reference librarian and after 5 ½ years in that position, a department head role was vacant and I was encouraged to apply. I’ve been in that role for a little over a year. I love working in circulation services because it’s often the most positive interaction you’ll have with a patron. I greatly enjoyed my role in reference as well and it’s been nice to have the opportunity to really experience all the different departments within the library world.

Were any parts of your journey completely unexpected?

I thought that I was going to be working in children’s librarianship. I initially saw my job as a reference librarian as a way to gain experience before moving into children’s. I ended up falling in love with adult services and the community so much that I’ve never left! Upon graduating I expected that I would bounce around from library to library, like many of my peers and never in my wildest dreams imagined I would still be working in the same library that offered me my first professional job. A huge part of the reason I stayed was the growth and learning opportunities that were available.

Looking over your past answers, what pops out at you? Has anything changed? 

I would say that for the most part my answers have stayed the same. I have noticed a decrease in people who are interested in going straight into an MLIS program from undergrad. In my opinion, COVID really changed the landscape of acquiring advanced degrees. Many people are starting off in paraprofessional roles to get a feel for whether or not they want to pursue a library degree, and if they do decide to move forward they are mostly doing online programs and taking courses one or two at a time. I think it’s a smart and sensible way to approach the profession.

Have you had a chance to hire anyone? If so, what was that like?

I have and it was an interesting experience for sure. As Head of Borrower Services all of my staff are paraprofessionals and the job posting only requires a Bachelor’s. This brings out some colorful candidates and I’m always amazed at how many people think working in a library will be a nice, quiet, easy job! Thus far, picking the right candidate has been easy, because they are a clear standout and the best fit for the role and community.

Do you have any advice for job hunters?

I would say my advice is the same as it was years ago, but I would add that it’s important to maintain a professional demeanor during the interview. I don’t know if it’s people just being burned out after COVID, but in many of the interviews I’ve been in and from what I’ve heard from our administration, people are sharing things that are just not appropriate. Trash talking current co-workers, sharing uncomfortable and extremely personal information, and going into rants about unrelated topics. We’ve had a lot of job openings recently at our library, and many rounds of interviews and it just seems like there is an influx of unprofessional conduct that has shocked many of my supervisors who have worked in libraries for decades.

Do you have any advice for people who hire LIS folks?

I still think it is really important to communicate at every step of the way with applicants. I’ve learned now that many libraries don’t have much say in scheduling interviews and communication with applicants, and that it often falls to town/city HR departments. Unfortunately, this can be detrimental to libraries in that someone from outside of the field won’t see past the black and white qualifications and discard a potentially excellent candidate. We are lucky at my library to have control over the hiring process, and it’s one of the things that impressed me as an applicant all those years ago. Prompt emails and phone calls to inform applicants where they stand at various stages in the hiring process is a courtesy that should be standard practice. I was getting rejection letters from places I’d applied to a year after I had applied! It’s inconsiderate at best, at worst it’s a red flag that the library and community don’t have their act together. If you have the ability to, I would recommend really pushing your town/city HR department to ensure that their actions aren’t creating a negative image of your library to applicants.

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

I just want to send good vibes and positivity to everyone who was working in libraries during COVID. I’ve seen a lot of people drop out of the profession because their experience was so terrible and I’ve seen people who have stayed become so burned out that they’ve lost their former passion for library work. It was a tough time and many communities did not handle it well. Also shout out to school librarians and anyone who is dealing with book challenges right now. The library world has been very crazy the past couple of years, but I have hope that we will get through these tough times. 

Back in 2012/2013 I ran a survey of job hunters (co-authored by Naomi House of INALJ). It had over 500 responses, including 117 people who were at least initially willing to be non-anonymous. In this series, we check in with these respondents to see where they are about a decade later. 

Mark Hall filled out the original survey in 2014 and his answers appeared as At this point, I’m leaning towards blood sacrifice. He was working as a Library Service Specialist and had been looking for positions which better suited his MLIS for about 18 months. 

Mark is still in libraries, and has found that librarian title in a new location. He was kind enough to answer my questions below. 

Where are you now? 

I have since changed cities, working for a public library as an Adult Services Librarian/Assistant Manager, under the job title “Librarian II”. For a time at Houston Public Library, I was one of three degreed librarians in my branch working as “Library Service Specialists”… essentially, non-degreed librarians, working on a non-leadership track, for a lot less money. For 2017 and most of 2018, I worked in the Pasadena Public Library as the Teen Services Librarian, but left that and eventually came here in September of 2018. I’m now at my second branch in the system; the new one was much closer to home.

Were any parts of my journey unexpected? 

Pretty much all of it. In 2014, I assumed that getting a degree in Library Science would allow me to move up in HPL, my organization at the time. I left HPL because they were unwilling to promote from within; as mentioned, we had 3 of us getting underpaid for Librarian work, with Librarian credentials. Pasadena was a poor fit; incredibly long commute, and a system that did not support professionals, nor acknowledge infrastructure and demographic changes (i.e. they stopped having busses to get kids from the high schools, and cheaper internet meant fewer kids drawn there after school). My new city was hiring, however.

Was blood sacrifice actually necessary?

On the advice of my attorneys, I am invoking my 5th amendment rights against testimony that may incriminate me.

Looking over your past answers, what pops out at you? Has anything changed? 

I don’t think much has changed. I’ve said for years that librarianship is, in many ways, a gerontocracy… It’s the kind of job you can do into your 80s if your mind stays sharp, and so getting a new job is pretty much a matter of waiting for someone to die… or get hired elsewhere. One thing I did not note was how big of a place governmentjobs.com played in my application process… I know I was reluctant to apply somewhere I had to fill out a paper application and mail it in.

Have you had a chance to hire anyone? If so, what was that like?

I’ve been involved in a couple interview panels; you read your assigned questions (assigned within a group, in a round-robin situation), and make notes, then collaborate with the panel as to who should be hired, and why, and by whom. Since we’re a good sized city, it’s a matter of doing an interview then making a recommendation, rather than direct hire. Also, as a city, all of the salaries are relatively accessible; jobs have a job code, which corresponds to a salary range.

Do you have any advice for job hunters?

You want an r-selected strategy… throw out TONS of resumes and applications for any library job that meets your needs. Most will not get back to you. Don’t be afraid to talk about your accomplishments and hobbies in “professional” language… there’s nothing wrong with calling D&D an exercise in strategy, tactics, and logistics. When they ask about experience, interpret broadly if the requirement is 3 years or less. Worked as a sub? That’s education. Take some kids to the library while subbing? Shoot, that’s some library experience. Your purpose is to get to the interview.

Do you have any advice for people who hire LIS folks?

Be honest about experience requirements and salary. We may like the work, but we’re here for the money.  While salary codes are great, numbers talk better. Realize that some people are going to be entry-level, with little experience. Promote from within; I know it means you then need to fill the vacant slot but, for fucks’ sake, your internal hires know the system, and promoting from within breeds loyalty.

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

• Join a union. Public Library work is usually municipal, and a union will protect and promote you. 
• Make sure to know your policies, and where they bend and where they break. 
• Never piss off your city’s fiscal department.
• Document the fuck out of everything you do; when reviews come around, be able to say “I ran this program and collaborated on these things.”  
•  Don’t kill yourself for work; there’s a job posting next week if you do. 
• Don’t tug on Superman’s cape. 
• Don’t spit into the wind. 
• Develop strong opinions about one or more parts of the Dewey Decimal System; I love that 973 is often code for the US, even in other sections (i.e cookbooks are 641.5973 if they’re about American cuisine), and think the 200s need to be aggressively reorganized, no matter the manpower cost. 
• Don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
• Have a signature program that works everywhere; mine is D&D. 
• If you’re a public librarian, remember that is ALL of the public. If you think you can’t put books on the shelf about trans people, if you’re not willing to look for diverse fiction, go fuck yourself, and find a church library to rot in. You have no place in public libraries, and everyone else makes fun of you.
• It is impossible to be moral and a Republican (or Tory, or insert-your-country’s-ethnofascist-party here).
• Always smile at babies and wave. Not only is it good practice and makes them happy, it makes parents happy, and they’re the ones who vote and write glowing reviews to your supervisors.