I’ve had some readers express curiosity about if people who hire librarians actually read Hiring Librarians, and what they think. I’m curious too! Last week I took a Reader Poll; as of 04/25/2013, about 7% of respondees were people who hire librarians. This week I asked my pool of people who hire librarians:
Do you read Hiring Librarians? If so, have you been surprised by anything, or have you changed your mind about any aspect of the hiring process? (I really won’t mind if you say no – this is not a vanity question!)
No I don’t read it.
I don’t mind chirping in once in a while, but I don’t read blogs.
– Christine Hage, Director, Rochester Hills Public Library
I don’t know how I “stumbled” onto “Hiring Librarians” recently, but it was during a search for interview questions and related info.
I am certainly going to look at it on a regular basis, but am more likely to do so when we are actively in a search phase, like now. We only have 40 employees and there is not a lot of turnover. Right now we are about to make two offers for MLS positions, and since one may be internal (if accepted), there will be a cascade of additional openings.I am happy to continue to being a resource; I have over 30 years of experience in library administration and have hired and fired a lot of people.– Catherine Alloway, Director, Schlow Centre Region Library
I do occasionally. Sometimes I click on your links just to see how others answered the same question. So often, we think things should be obvious to jobseekers, but they are not. There are so many differences in the way things work among public libraries vs. academic libraries, private vs. public universities, vendors/contractors vs. libraries. I can usually tell if an applicant doesn’t have any idea how things work in the academic environment and I try to let them know, in a nice way, how we work.
I also try to occasionally look through the other posts. For example, the question I asked the other day about how job seekers would prefer to be contacted in a situation where they have not been hired was answered on your blog! I had always felt pressured to make that awkward phone conversation and now I can be assured that job seekers prefer to be notified by email when they have not been offered the job. I know job seekers must feel powerless in these situations, but there are so many things they can do to make themselves look great. Thanks for providing this space for us to answer these questions.
– Laurie Phillips, Associate Dean for Technical Services, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans
I read it if the question you asked was one I was interested in seeing how others responded. So far, nothing I’ve read has inspired me to change anything but I do enjoy seeing how other library types approach the hiring process.
– Emilie Smart, Division Coordinator of Reference Services & Computer Services at East Baton Rouge Parish Library
Yes I read it.
One, because I contribute at times and I like to know what others think about the same topic.
Two, because management includes hiring and firing and I always like to know what the current situation is like elsewhere.
Three, because it is entertaining and enlightening.
And four, because if a librarian looking for a job reads something I have written and it helps them in the job search, then I have played forward the help I received, many years (not mentioning how many) ago.
– Dusty Gres, Director, Ohoopee Regional Library System
I have it in my RSS feed reader, but that gets checked a couple of times a month, so I would say I am not a regular reader. 🙂
– Marleah Augustine, Adult Department Librarian at Hays Public Library
I’m not currently on a library search committee so I have not had any need to read the Hiring Librarians blog for work-related purposes. I have enjoyed reading the responses to the questions you ask (sorry that I have not submitted very many responses recently L). I was just recently on a non-librarian teaching faculty search committee on my campus and it was interesting to see some of the principles apply to hiring in other disciplines outside of library science.
– Samantha Thompson-Franklin, Associate Professor/Collections & Acquisitions Librarian, Lewis-Clark State College Library
I do read the blog and find it endlessly helpful. I like to read what applicants are thinking and doing and how hiring managers are approaching their tasks. I learn a heap from both. I love the variety of experience and I just keep thinking that, no matter which end of the process you represent, the right job will present itself to the right candidate. Patience is a definite requirement.
– Marge Loch-Wouters, Youth Services Coordinator, La Crosse (WI) Public Library
Thank you as always to our contributors for their time and insight. If you’re someone who hires librarians and are interested in participating in this feature, please get in contact.
Thank YOU for reading!
Bless my heart, bless my soul. Didn’t think I’d make it to comment.
Hiring Librarians 