Big Tent Librarianship, Part 2, by Becky Yoose

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In Part One I talked about to move from one part of the Big Tent of Librarianship to another. In this post, I’ve turned the focus on those on the hiring committee, the ones who decide who can join them in their part of the Big Tent. If you took a close look at your workplace, you will probably find that the majority of your coworkers share similar life and work experiences. They will probably look similar to you too. Unless you have the power and authority to definitively change hiring practices at your place of work, you might be wondering how you can make room for folks from other parts of the library field when you are just another search committee member. How do you sway the recruitment process to venture away from the cultural “fit” default?

A major part as to why you see a homogeneous workplace is implicit bias. Implicit bias is about our attitudes toward stereotypes - both positive and negative - that are held on an unconscious level. While you might have worked on correcting attitudes and stereotypes you held in the past, chances are you only worked on the external bias that you hold, since external biases are easier to spot in everyday thinking and behavior. In short, you are biased, your search committee members are biased - and you all might not even know it. If you are sceptical that you are biased - even after all those hours and work you put in not being actively biased - take the test on the Project Implicit site. Implicit bias is a reflex that takes active, consistent work in recognizing and addressing over time on a personal level. You have probably seen implicit bias mentioned in conversations about race, gender, age, and ability, but implicit bias also plays into someone’s judgement of another person based on their school or workplace.

Combating the implicit bias present in the search committee can take on many forms. The first place to start is awareness - your HR or organization might already have an implicit bias training in place, or have a section on implicit bias in the materials that the hiring committee receives for the hiring process. If neither of those are the case, talking to HR and the hiring committee chair about addressing implicit bias in the hiring process will start the conversation in your organization.

Moving on to the job post that your committee is drafting, pay attention to the tone of the post. Look at any key words or phrases are you using that might turn off qualified candidates from applying. Take this example phrase in a required qualifications section of a job post - “experience in an academic library”. Widening the net and changing the phrase to “experience in a library setting” (or another broad phrase) opens up the candidate pool to those who have the skills but not in the setting of an academic library.

Another strategy to combat implicit bias is blind reviews. This will take some buy in from the committee and HR if your organization does not perform blind reviews already. Usually blind reviews take the person’s name or any gender or racial identifiers off of the application materials, and this is where a good portion of the literature regarding blind reviews focus on. Removing school and employment identifiers is not as commonly practiced as removing name, gender, or racial identifiers; nonetheless some organizations have taken that route. A non-library example of this is with an UK law firm who stripped out the names of educational institutions on resumes to ensure that the evaluators will judge the candidates on their skills and not the reputation of the school the candidates attended. Another company that specializes in the blind review process found that when they removed educational institution identifiers that applications from community college graduates rose 15%.

You might not be in a position to have your HR department develop a blind review process. You might not even have a say in what the job posting says when it goes out to the public. In those cases, when you see candidates who have the skills and experience but not in “right” type of library, advocate! While it is on the candidate to ultimately show that they have the skills to succeed in the position, it is on the hiring committee to evaluate candidates without penalizing for experience gained at the ‘wrong’ part of the Tent.

Further Reading on Implicit Bias

• Is This How Discrimination Ends?
• Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention
• State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review 2015 [PDF]
• For a longer, related read about how racial bias has shaped our profession - including who is part of the profession - and ways to address this problem, I recommend Topographies of Whiteness: Mapping Whiteness in Library and Information Science.

Becky Yoose is the Library Systems and Applications Manager at The Seattle Public Library. This is her second post for LtaYL. The first was "Fitting” into the Big Tent: The Role of “Fit” and Moving Between Library Types She tweets at @yo_bj.

Tell Me About Yourself: How to Handle the Dreaded Elevator Speech

It's something I've heard so many times and kind of thought was bunk - that you need to have an elevator speech ready to go whenever you meet someone who could help your career and/or has power over your job. But as I've been introduced to different parts of my new community, I realized that the "bunk" of elevator speeches isn't that you need to have one - it's thinking that you need just one.

This all came to a head last night as I was introducing myself to our board of trustees, who are essentially my boss' boss' bosses. They have hella power over my building, my department, and my job. When I spoke to that group, I talked a little about my previous job and how I came to be here, but focused more on why I'm happy to be at my new job. "I've been nothing but impressed with this school since the moment I came for my interview all the way to today." On the other hand, when I've had get-to-know-each-other meetings with peers like deans and associate deans and similar, I've spoken more about my passion for student success and spent more time talking about my education. Another group I've spent time with recently is peers at nearby libraries. With them, I spend a lot more time talking about my path to my current job and have even been talking about leadership training I've done.

What I'm doing in each instance is establishing my credibility.

Here is how I decide what to say to whom - I...

• Ask myself, "who is this person to me?" If they are a possible partner it's a very different speech from how I'd speak to someone who might be working for me, and both of those are very different from how I introduce myself to people who have power over my budget. 
• Highlight appropriate accomplishments. The fact that I've been a librarian for 14+ years or my second master's degree might be important, but other times it will be the path I took to an administration job. If you're newer to the field, it might be a project you accomplished in your graduate program or the particular focus you took with your classes.
• Keep it as short as possible while still getting across needed information. With the BoT, there had been time to mingle before the actual meeting started, so I was able to abbreviate my introduction to about a minute. When I attended a meeting of all the math, science, and career education faculty...? It was five minutes.
• Make it stick. A good turn of phrase will take you so far with these things. One I've used over and over again, because it's so true of me, is, "I'm persistently cheerful, but also cheerfully persistent." It captures, in seven words, a main tenet of my approach to librarianship. It's not to say that I never get mad or anxious, but that over all I can turn on the happy face. Also, I am stubborn when I have an idea I want to see in action.
• Make it resonate. When I can do a little recon about someone ahead of time, I try to figure out what works best with that person or group. Sometimes numbers works best, other times stories. Smiling and positivity work with almost everyone.

I can come up with these things mostly off the top of my head at this point in my career, but thinking on my feet and being able to communicate clearly are two of my biggest strengths. Don't be afraid to practice these things with peers or even with close friends (who will be willing to give you honest feedback). One of the first questions you get asked in every single interview process is, "Tell me about yourself," and you want to be ready.

How I Interview

We're getting ready to do another round of hiring for a library associate position (works at the circulation desk with other assigned projects), so I'm revisiting how I've hired in the past. One thing I'll never change is that I don't look at an applicant's name until I've looked at their resume - it's one way I've found to fight unconscious bias against names that don't sound Caucasian. Another thing I'll never change is to have someone besides me (aka the boss) give candidates a tour of the building. But, as much as I like the questions we've asked in the past, I'm considering changing them up. Below is a list of the questions along with a brief explanation of why we ask them:

1. Can you tell me why you’re interested? I'm pretty sure we've asked this because everyone asks this. I think I'm going to cut it, actually.
2. How do you handle a bad customer service interaction? (Give example.) Students, faculty, and staff don't always act their best when they are stressed, and the person working at the front desk is the front line. I need to know that they aren't going to take it personally when people get angry.
3. When you use libraries, how do you use them? To be honest, this is more of an intro to something I want all candidates to know - that this library is an academic department and a physical location and that we do plenty of things that are traditionally seen as student life. I want to give them a head's up about the things that aren't necessarily in the job description.
4. How do you like to learn new work skills? We give preference to people who have either experience in a library or in a public facing role in higher ed, but regardless of what they bring to the job - there's a lot of learning for them. We need to know how to tailor what we teach to how they learn.
5. How do you handle projects you’ve been given? This is a way to get at how they approach things when they aren't supervised. 
6. Tell me about a previous job — what did you love and what didn’t you like? This is another question we ask as a way to introduce a topic I want to discuss, namely my management style. 
7. How do you respond when you don’t know the answer to a question? We need people who are willing to admit they don't know everything and know how to handle that.
8. What is good customer service? We're looking for people to talk about respect. Most of our students are first generation college students, so making sure our students feel comfortable coming in the building is important.
9. How would you handle it if the phone rang right as a line formed at the circulation desk? Trying to figure out how they handle stressful situations - hypotheticals are good for that.
10. How do you handle it when you disagree with coworkers? How about with a boss? This is important information, but yet again it's an opportunity to talk to them about my management style - about how I want people to let me know when I've made a mistake.
11. What questions do you have for me? You can learn so much about a person by the kinds of questions they ask.

What do you all think? Anything you'd change? (Feel free to borrow these questions if you like them.)

Dressing for Interviews: An Extended Answer

I've been an on-again-off-again contributor to the "Further Questions" series on Hiring Librarians. The "off-again" part is because sometimes I don't have any experience from which to answer or I'm just too busy, so I'm glad I had a moment when the question that was published yesterday showed up in my email.

The question:

"Which outfit is most appropriate to wear to an interview with your organization? Please pick one for women and one for men, and feel free to provide commentary as to why you chose one over the others (or share how you might change an outfit). Bonus question: Can you share any funny stories about horrifying interview outfits?" (There are options from which respondents chose at that link.)

My answer:

"Since gender isn't a binary, I say you wear whatever you feel is appropriate to the level for which you're applying. In general, dress just a little bit nicer than you think you would dress if you got the job. If you feel unsure, check with a friend/contact who already has a job in the kind of library where you are interviewing. Don't know anyone? Feel free to reach out to me and I'll get you in touch with someone who can help."

I feel the need to expand upon what I wrote there, partially because I'm still angry at the assumption of gender as a binary and partially because of the great discussion that happened on Twitter and other places after that Hiring Librarians post was published.

Here are some things that I know are true:

• I've talked before about my privilege (or lack thereof), but it's important to note that since I'm caucasian and mostly cisgendered I can bend or even break some of the so called interview outfit fashion rules with relative impunity. YMMV.
• Performance of gender and performance of race factor into this in a big way.
• I already have a job in a library, so in some ways it's easy for me to talk.
• But I am also fat, and fat prejudice is a problem.

Having explained all that, I still stand by my answer. Wear what feels appropriate. Wear an outfit that makes you feel confident but that is also comfortable. I suggest you avoid high heels unless you are super used to walking around in them all day, because you will be walking much more than you expect to walk. I also suggest you dress appropriate for the weather, for the most part. If you don't think you can dress following my advice and still stand a chance at getting a job offer, please consider turning the interview down. Remember you're going to be at this library a lot, and if you won't feel comfortable dressing the way you normally dress while at work, you will not be happy there.  

One last thing... If I'm ever lucky enough to interview you for employment at my library, please rest assured that "it don't matter what you wear, [we're] checking out your savoir faire" and - of course - your qualifications.

(I hope you'll forgive the light hearted videos that are bookending this post. I needed to find a way to laugh about this and thought you might need a laugh, too.)

Brace Yourself: An Invitation to Join a Search Committee is Coming, by Erin Milanese

If you’ve been at your job for a year or more, then brace yourself: you will probably be asked to join a search committee in the near future. In May, I will hit my three year anniversary at the small liberal arts college where I work, and I am currently serving on my 5th search committee. This includes 3 search committees for librarians, 1 for a staff position, and 1 for a teaching faculty position.

This post is about what to expect after you agree to be on a search committee, though your mileage will vary.  While this post is not written for job hunters, I hope that those on the market can see through this post how systematic and difficult search committee decisions can be. And, knowing more about the behind-the-scenes process can definitely help applicants.  

So. You’ve been asked to be on a search committee. Should you do it? YES!

What to expect:

1. Meetings - so many meetings!

When the committee first forms, you will likely meet with Human Resources to go over policies and procedures. There will be meetings to write the job description (or review the old one) and discuss where it should be posted, then meetings to clarify job requirements and create a grid to rank applicants, then meetings to review candidates, then meetings to create interview questions, and finally meetings to discuss final decisions. [Editor’s note: And, if you’re very lucky, you won’t have a failed search which will necessitate doing it all over again.]

2. Lots of waiting

Search committees vary in length - one search committee I am on has been working to hire someone for almost 18 months! Others move much more quickly. It depends on the type of library and the type of position you’re filling. Regardless, there will be lots of waiting. After the job ad is posted, you wait for applicants. After the initial review, you wait to hear who will accept invitations for phone interview. When your committee makes a job offer, you wait to hear if that offer will be accepted. Finally, you wait for the new employee’s first day of work!

3. Grids & Lists

Not until I served on my first search committee did I realize how systematic and organized the process of hiring is. At an early meeting, the search committee will create a grid or checklist that prioritizes the qualifications the job requires. For my last librarian search committee, these qualities included education requirements (MLS), reference desk experience, instruction experience, problem solving ability, and institutional fit. This grid was used to write the job description, develop interview questions, and to rank applicants.

As you review applicants, it is helpful to create your own list, ranking the candidates and their qualifications. The search committee will do the same as a group, likely creating three piles of applications: yes, no, and maybe. In my experience, for each “no”, we had to give HR a reason. This was where the grids & lists came in very handy. Usually the reasons were things like “candidate does not meet the educational requirements” or “lacking experience in reference which is essential to the job.”

4. The development of odd personal passions

When there are lots of applicants for a position, narrowing it down can be really tough. The grids & lists help, to an extent. However, as you look through application packets, you’ll start to develop some personal preferences and annoyances. My big pet peeve? A poorly formatted resume (come on, it is not that hard to have all your bullet points line up!). I also tend to ding candidates if they submit materials in a format other than PDF. This is why hiring is done by committee: one person’s pet peeve could be another person’s holy grail.

5. Decisions: tough ones, easy ones

I have been on search committees where the final decision was incredibly easy: the candidate came to campus, nailed the interview, had great references, and seemed like a great institutional fit. Usually, though, the decisions are much more difficult. What if one candidate leads a great instruction session but bombs the Q & A with the search committee? Sometimes, after multiple rounds of interviews, two candidates seem equally qualified. As a committee, you’ll meet (again!) to discuss and decide who to make a final offer to.

Serving on a search committee means a fairly substantial time commitment, but it’s a valuable professional service. You will collaborate and engage with colleagues in other departments, learn a ton about the hiring process at your institution, and most importantly help shape the future of your organization. And don’t worry, if it’s your first time, people will be happy to help you through it all.


Erin Milanese is Head of Learning Technologies at Goshen College in Goshen, IN. She tweets about libraries, technology, and her super fat cats @tad_overdue.

When the Interview is Over

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We recently had a couple of part time openings in my library. If you've never been the interviewer, you have no idea how much work it is. Even more than interviewing, in some ways. For us, the openings were both circulation aide positions. That means the interviews are more about the kind of person they are and the energy they put forth than their qualifications. Circulation aides are the first - and sometimes last - people who are seen by members of our community. They are also the first and last to be seen by prospective students and their parents while on a campus tour. It's easy enough to help someone learn computer skills and library culture, but you can't really teach an outgoing, calm personality. 

It doesn't stop there, either. Sometimes you end up feeling like you interviewed one person but then end up working with their evil or lazy twin, the behavior and affect can be that different. This means you need to dig deeper: you need to check their references. I've skipped that step before, and let me tell you: it's a big mistake. We got left, high and dry, when a night person quit with no notice. We close relatively early as academic libraries go, but I still feel incredibly uncomfortable having someone close the library alone at midnight. I don't even like leaving people alone in the building if I can help it. So more diligence ahead of time is a must.

Now that I am on the other side of a round of hiring, I thought I'd share the questions we asked of the reference given by our recent slate of applicants:

I did solicit input on this, both directly from colleagues and on Twitter, but a lot of this was the work of me and my reference librarian (who is helping me conduct the interviews):

• “What kind of employee was X?”
• “Are they good at asking for help? Can you give me an example?”
• “Would you hire X to work for you?”
• “How would you describe your relationship with them in terms of management?”
• “What one thing could they improve upon? What one thing would you tell her/him to keep doing?” 
• “Are they a good team player?” 
• “How are they at working unsupervised?”
• “Is there anything else you could add that would help us to understand X?”

The truth is, if someone is bad enough, current employers might be tempted to lie to you in order to get rid of them. It's unethical, but I know people who have done it. There is no real way to 100% protect yourself from someone who ends up not working out, but you can do a lot while building up to the job offer. 

If you're an employer, what kinds of questions do you ask when you call references? If not, what kinds of questions do you think you would ask? (Or, if you are at an organization where human resources does this part, what kinds of questions to you send to them?)

Square Pegs: On "Fit" in the Hiring Process

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I responded to a survey for Hiring Librarians recently, and my response was published yesterday. I always learn a lot from Hiring Librarian posts, although it is frequently of the "what not to do" variety, so I recommend clicking through and looking around at what I said and what others have said.

Three notes before I get into what I mean by fit, and how I've learned to test for it:

1. I know 'fit' is sometimes a way for people to hide their biases. This has been and will continue to be an issue in academia and libraries in general, one of which I am very aware. What I'm talking about is organizational culture and organizational values.
2. I have experiences with looking for fit from both sides of the interview table, and this post is informed by all of those experiences.
3. I know it might sound dismissive for me to advocate looking for fit in your job search. After all, here I am comfortably employed, right? But the truth is I have made the mistake of taking a job just to get the experience and been unhappy as a result. I've also turned down an opportunity, at a time in my life when I was feeling a little desperate to find a job, because I didn't think the fit was right. (In both cases they were lovely people, great schools, just a bad fit for me.)

Anyway, in no particular order, here are some of the questions I ask myself/the interviewer(s)/the interviewee and things I look for when interviewing.

• As I mentioned in my response to the Hiring Librarians survey, I pay attention to what kinds of questions am I being asked? There are lots of ways this can play out, but here are some examples... An interviewee asking "What's your favorite thing about working here?" shows me that they are curious about the culture. Conversely, an interviewer asking something like "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?", and doing so seriously, worries me.
• Are people smiling? Of course they are going to smile when they face you, but try to see their expressions when they don't notice you looking.
• How risk averse/risk seeking are they? This can be hard to tease out, but asking questions like, "How do you like to keep up with new developments in the field?" or "How comfortable are you with taking on new projects?" can help. Remember: this is about fit. If you are a risk taker, that's what you want for an employer. If you are risk averse, likewise. You just want to avoid being the person who likes cutting and/or bleeding edge who is working for a long tail organization.
• Is there joking going on? Personally, I like to be able to laugh at work. I spend way too much of my waking life at my job for it to be constantly serious. I think a lot of people feel the same way, but I know not everyone does. From the interviewer perspective, I look to see if the person laughs at my jokes. Yeah, I get that sometimes people will laugh as a way to kiss up, but I've learned to look at someone's eyes to see whether or not the smile extends there. (It's hard to fake a genuine laugh.)
• Do our politics match or at least come close? No, I do NOT look for this from the interviewer's perspective. Politics are a DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT $200 situation if you are the interviewer. However, if you're the interviewee... it could be a make or break kind of thing. For example, I decided not to apply for a job based on the fact that the school was hosting a Republican Presidential debate series.

Two other pieces of advice: read Joe Hardenbrook's piece, "Interview Red Flags," which has lots more suggestions of how to interview your interviewer; and consult GlassDoor.com, which has reviews by employees and interviewees of employers (I've never looked for a public library in their database, but I've rarely not been able to find at least a couple of reviews of colleges/universities).

How about you? How do you judge for fit? Or, if you've never thought about it before, how do you think you will in the future? If you've never thought about it before, you really should. I've been that proverbial square peg trying to fit in a round hole, and it really never works.

Break Down the Box: Serving Populations, not Clichés, by Jessica Smith

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About six years ago I interviewed for a part-time position at a non-profit. I’d already been through one interview with the man who would be my direct superior—the interview lasted more than an hour and was congenial, so I had high hopes for getting the job. The second interview was with a woman from human resources. She seemed to have a list of questions from a “how to interview job candidates” book. She asked me what I would say about myself to convince her I wanted the job if we were in an elevator together and I had thirty seconds to sell myself. As someone with experience working in non-profits and academia, I’d never heard this question, so I said: “I wouldn’t talk to you about myself in an elevator; that would be awkward.”

Then she asked me, “Has there ever been a time when you had to ‘think outside the box’? Can you describe what happened?” …And I knew, even more clearly than I knew when I bungled the elevator question with my “outside the box” answer, that there was no way I would get the job. 

“Thinking outside the box” has become such a cliché that there’s really no easy way to answer the question. It seems to mean, “what kind of innovation can you bring to our company?” But the people who interview for jobs in libraries, non-profits, teaching, customer service, and similar humanities-heavy jobs are probably not great at thinking inside the box. Every day on the job requires synthetically rethinking the job and how to serve the patron/student/customer’s specific needs. There is no box. There are relationships between people.

When I interviewed for the librarian position I currently have, I knew it would be a good fit because no one asked me questions about my feelings vis-à-vis elevators or other boxes. There were sincere concerns about the way the library worked, or didn’t, and how I could help.  No one said “innovation.” No one said “tradition.” They indicated that the system was broken and needed to be fixed. I listened.

The library had been poorly maintained for almost three decades, although some serious innovations had occurred—one faculty member had spent a summer organizing the school archives, the previous librarian had weeded about 10% of the collection, and the librarian before that had converted the paper catalog and circulation to an electronic catalog. The collection was astonishingly out of date; the average age of the collection was 1977 and there were almost no books purchased after 2000 (I took over in 2011). No one checked out books, but hundreds of books were “lost” every year. It took a lot of listening to understand what the problems were and how to fix them. The budget had been inadequate for years, but the board of trustees was ready and willing to help. The faculty wanted to be able to use the library for research, but the collection was too outdated. The students wanted to check out traditional paper books to read, but the fiction collection didn’t have any of the books they wanted. The circulation system was difficult to use; the library wasn’t part of the school culture. The library needed to continue to be a fairly traditional library, but it needed to be a functional library. 

“Thinking outside the box” doesn’t necessarily mean “innovate.” It may be shorthand for “the system is broken and needs to be fixed.” By listening to the population I served, I established that the library itself needed to be “inside the box” – the straightforward book-based research library one imagines. I had to “think outside the box” by thinking about the complex web of relationships between faculty, students, staff, the current collection, the potential collection, the labor force I had, the labor force I needed, and the budget.

If I interview again in the future and someone from HR asks me about a box, I will take a deep breath. Then I’ll ask: what is the box and what do you need it to do? What do your patrons want out of the box? In what ways is the box broken, and how do you expect someone in this position to help?

Jessica Smith earned her B.A. and M.A. in Comparative Literature and M.L.S. at SUNY Buffalo. In addition to teaching Composition and German literature, she worked as a freelance archivist for the Poetry Collection and Charles Bernstein's correspondence for the Mandeville Special Collections Library; she also archived materials for NYPL through Internet Archive. She currently works as the librarian at Indian Springs School, a private school near Birmingham, AL. Learn more at about.me/jessicasmith.

Recruitment-From the Other Side of the Table, by Kathy Bradshaw

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Recently, I attended ACRL in Indianapolis and I volunteered to do resume reviews. While I was waiting for resumes to review, I noticed there were several books about resume writing, cover letter writing, career preparation, etc. If you go to Amazon.com, there are literally pages and pages of books advising people on the “correct” way to apply for a job. There are countless websites devoted to this topic, as well. So, with all this help available, I wonder then why so many applicants don’t seem to heed any of this advice.

In my position, I serve on all librarian search committees and coordinate the hiring for non-librarian employees. From all this experience, I can tell you that search committees and hiring managers want to get a large pool of qualified applicants. People who are responsible for evaluating job applicants want to have a difficult time selecting candidates to be chosen for telephone interviews and in-person interviews. This usually does not happen. I’d like to change this, so here are some suggestions to increase your chances of getting an interview (which is the first step to getting hired). Although I work in an academic library, many of these tips are applicable to all types of libraries.

1. In your cover letter, please state the title of the position for which you are applying; don’t make us guess. Often times we have several positions open, so sending us a cover letter and resume will not help your chances for being selected without telling us the specific position you want.
2. Follow the instructions in the posting for submitting your materials. If the ad says to include contact information for three professional references, don’t go overboard and submit letters of recommendation. If the posting says submit your documents in PDF format, then that is what you should do. And so on.
3. Make sure that your cover letter and all its references are for the position at my institution. You might be surprised at the number of applications I receive that are addressed to a different institution or have been used for a previous job application. Since most open positions receive anywhere from tens to hundreds of application, not taking the time to proofread to ensure your cover letter is actually for the job that was advertised at my institution is a good way to get your application materials to be put in the “Not Considered for an Interview” pile.
4. In addition to making sure your cover letter is addressed to the correct institution, proofread your application documents. Better yet, have someone else proofread your materials for you. Job hunting is time consuming, so it is very easy to overlook small mistakes such as typos. Those are the things that will get you (fair or not) branded as careless and reduce your chances of being seriously considered for the position.
5. Your cover letter should also specifically address the qualifications that are listed in the posting. Descriptions of your terrific work ethic, long sentences that promote that you learn quickly, are a self-starter, and had a 4.0 grade point average in your MLS program, will not help your chances of getting an interview if you have not addressed the required qualifications of the position posting and described how can perform the duties outlined.
6. If you have been selected for an interview (which, in most libraries, will likely be conducted by telephone) in order to increase your chances of being invited to a second round, make sure to prepare. A recent LIS grad I know got hired for an academic librarian position after interviews at several institutions. After the first couple of interviews, she noticed that the questions were very similar at each institution. So she kept refining her answers to the questions and eventually received an offer. The questions in the interview will (or should be) based on the type of position available.  For example, for a position in archives interviewers will often ask about familiarity with a specific format, such as photographs or paper and/or ask about trending topics within archives. Candidates should also be prepared to answer questions about the ability to successfully work in a team; the ability to successfully juggle multiple priorities; knowledge of technology and customer service skills. Applicants who don’t answer those questions well don’t get invited for in-person interviews.
7. Search committees and hiring managers want to speak with candidates that have researched our library. In your cover letter, and especially in your interviews, let the interviewers know that you have done your homework. Our search committee once interviewed a candidate by phone that looked like they met all our qualifications based on her CV and cover letter. When we spoke with her on the phone, she did not really know where we were located (she lived in a different state and would have had to relocate to take the position) other than the general region of the country. Based on her answers over the phone, she knew nothing about our library, let alone our institution. It is perhaps needless to say that she didn’t move forward to the next round of interviews.
8. In all interviews (especially in a telephone interview, where people can’t see you) express enthusiasm for the position. While enthusiasm does not translate to competence, hiring committees are usually looking for candidates that seem to want to work with us.
9. Interviewers want candidates to ask us questions. When I am interviewing a candidate, I always make a note of the questions the candidate has for us. Good questions tell me that the candidate has done some research and wants to learn more information about the position and to determine if the job is a good fit for him or her. I can’t post everything about the job or the library or the institution in a job posting. Remember, as candidates you are interviewing the interviewers.
10. Not all questions are appropriate, however. It’s not a good idea to ask about salary, benefits, or relocation during an initial interview. During the initial interview process, hiring committees are often interviewing numerous candidates. Candidates who demand a specific salary up front (or ask immediately what the position pays) or tell us that you need relocation expenses probably won’t progress further in the hiring process.
11. While many candidates (and interviewers) will use social media to research the library and the people who work there, be careful about sounding like a stalker. Mentioning the award the library has won that was mentioned on the library’s Facebook page is fine; this may be an opening to ask a question. However, attempting to “friend” a search committee member on Facebook or connect on Linked In is not a good idea.
12. Speaking of social media, clean up your web profile. Lock down your privacy settings, and delete pictures or references that may tag you as unsuitable for the position. Drinking over age 21 is legal; however, pictures of you drinking in public places repeatedly may harm your chances of being hired for a position such as a school media specialist. You are not breaking the law, but the hiring committee may see you in a negative light. Is that fair? No. No one will come out and say that you were not hired because of your Facebook wall, but it can happen. 

I know what you might be thinking, but no, I did not exaggerate in my examples.  Most of the applications I receive contain generic cover letters and resumes/CVs that are not tailored to the specific position. It is then hard to assess how that applicant is suitable for the position and if hired, can make a contribution to the library.  That being said, only one person can be hired for each opening. Often when a person sees a position posting, they may feel they are the perfect candidate. Maybe they are, but the applicant is operating from one perspective: that of the candidate. Candidates have no idea who else applied for the position and the qualifications of the other candidates. Even if an applicant meets all the qualifications advertised, the hiring committee may still select someone else for any number of reasons. However, those applicants that take the time to submit customized materials for positions for which they are suitable (I’m a librarian, but I have no experience in cataloging, so applying for a cataloging position would be a waste of time for me) should eventually get an interview and eventually receive an offer. In other words, it’s worth your time to put in the effort.

Kathy Bradshaw is the Human Resources Librarian at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. She can be reached at akbradsh@uncg.edu.

The Full-Day Academic Library Interview, From a First Timer's Perspective, Part 2, by Alex Barton

Source

In my first post, I described the full-day interview process at an academic library from a first-timer’s point of view. At the end of my post I promised to let you know the results of the interview. The hiring committee has now made a decision, so here we are.

At the end of my day long interview, they had let me know that they’d make a decision in two to four weeks. About four weeks after the interview, I heard back. More precisely, I heard back right after I followed up with them via email right after the four-week mark. Within the hour the head of the hiring committee sent me an email asking when it would be a good time to call. Nerves aflame, I let her know that any time was fine.

She was very nice as she explained that they’d offered it to another candidate and the offer had been accepted. She made a point of letting me know I was one of the top contenders and then she wished me luck with my career and sounded genuine as she spoke. That was a nice touch, the call; I expected an email given how much of the coordination took place via electronic communication.

As it happens, a letter was already in the mail. A considerably colder letter. No “best of luck in your career” at the end, just “thank you for your interest” and “regards.” It certainly did not give me the impression that I was a strong candidate. It is safe to say that the phone call provided a soft landing; the letter did not. On the whole, I felt a bit deflated.

But then I started to wonder: did I get a call because the committee intended to both phone and send letters to all candidates? Or because the content of my email made it clear that I had yet to receive the letter? Whatever the reason, I am grateful that I had the chance to speak with the head of the committee. I took advantage of that chance: I offered congratulations for finding the best fit and my gratitude in general.

So, why do I think I wasn’t offered the position? And how do I feel about it? My reflections:

This was my first full-day interview and I think I had a few missteps. Even if they weren’t outright fumbles it came through loud and clear that I was new to the industry and particularly new to the liaison role.  As I speculated earlier, there were probably a number of candidates with more experience than me. I imagine that’s who they hired.

I think my presentation was fine, but if I can offer any advice to any new professionals it is this: even if it is your first time, do not obsess over your presentation. I’d been warned by my colleagues not to do it and yet I did. As I said in my first post, I was given six days total to prepare for my interview; I spent about 30 hours on the presentation alone. This in addition to working full-time and prepping for a three-hour guest lecture I had committed to prior to being called for the interview. I know it’s hard to walk away from your PowerPoint slides, but if you don’t you will not have the time you need to review possible interview questions and come up with your answers, scenarios, and any questions you might have for them. The presentation takes up only one hour of the day. And it’s a long day.

Here’s the one other thing I need to mention: Looking back, I now see that several red flags went up and stayed up right from the start. While I am unable to offer specifics, I do suggest you read Joe Hardenbrook’s post on this blog, “Interview Red Flags,” for some general ideas. I honestly don’t know if I would have accepted the position had they offered it. This might make other new professionals gasp in dismay – “Wait, you would turn down a job offer?!” – or they might think that this is a case of sour grapes. It’s not. In fairness, I am lucky to be employed and I do like my job. It is a contract position (as opposed to a more permanent one) that might be coming to an end, but there might be opportunities. More importantly, though: I had to trust my gut. I did not have a good feeling.

I don’t wish to sound negative about the whole experience. The members of the committee, and other staff, were very nice people who treated me well throughout the day. Besides, I am thrilled that I had the chance to have a full-day interview at an academic library and I know that I can only improve from this point.

And I think I have: I had an interview for a similar position at a different institution a few days ago. Like this one, it included both an interview and a presentation component. But there’s no question I felt much more confident about it and not a single red flag went up. Fingers crossed they feel the same way about me.

Alex Barton (a pseudonym) is an e-learning librarian at a university in Ontario. She worked in book publishing prior to her current position.

The Full-Day Academic Library Interview, From a First Timer's Perspective, Part 1, by Alex Barton

"12: 365 Interrogation"

The position I hold right now, my first, focuses on e-learning information literacy initiatives at an academic library. For this position, I had a single interview that ran about an hour and the total hiring process took about three months from application to offer. Up until now, that was my only experience.

I submitted an application some months ago for a liaison librarian job at a different library. (Note: all identifying details, including my name, have been made vague or changed outright to keep things anonymous.) I was contacted for a phone interview with the hiring committee about seven weeks later, and then, shortly after that, I was invited to a full-day interview at the campus. Hurray! My first!

Some librarians new to the profession may or may not know this particular drill, so here it is: the full-day visit includes a teaching demonstration, a panel interview, tours, a talk with human resources, as well as some informal meet-and-greets with various people on campus. This, and the phone interview, amounted to the polar opposite of the hiring process for my present position. It was new; it was scary; I needed help.

I've often found interview advice or anecdotes comes from veterans of both sides of the table. While this advice has been invaluable, I'd yet to read about experiences from new librarians who just went through the all-day interview process for the first time. But here I am in that position, so, as a big fan of this blog, I’m filling the gap. Here’s how my experiences went:

Like a good librarian, I prepared for the phone interview and by the time they called, I had a lot of notes spread out across my desk. We got started: there were three people on the hiring committee, each of whom asked three or so questions. I’ve listed most of them here. You will see they are a combination of what I would call standard-issue with some specific to the position:

• What do you see as your teaching techniques and how do you measure success? 
• What is your experience with collection development? 
• What are the methods and tools you use for competing demands? 
• Describe a project where you collaborated with colleagues. 
• A problematic assignment in your subject area keeps popping up at the reference desk. How do you approach the instructor to address the assignment? 
• What do you see as the current and major trends in librarianship?

The interview lasted about 90 minutes and, at the time, I thought I had done pretty well. It seems that the feeling was mutual, since they asked me to come for an in person interview shortly after. During the conversation in which they invited me to visit, they let me know what the day would look like. I received the agenda and the topic for my teaching presentation a couple of days later. As I’ve already mentioned, the agenda was absolutely packed. The information they provided to help me design my teaching demonstration was similarly detailed:

Dr. Jane Smith has invited you to give a 50-minute library instruction session for her 2nd-year Sociology course. The major assignment is a literature review on some aspect of consensus-building in not-for-profit organizations. The professor would like you to teach her students how to:

• find articles using discipline-specific databases
• understand and properly utilize controlled vocabulary
• recognize and understand different types of scholarly articles
• evaluate sources

You are to design a lesson plan for this 50-minute session to give to the panel, and come prepared to present a 20-minute excerpt, with the audience members acting as your students. The physical space includes a projector and internet connection only, no lab.

My elation at making it past the phone interview gave way to panic, primarily about the teaching demonstration. I had less than a week to build the lesson plan, complete the PowerPoint presentation, and write the script for the portion I would present. In all, I’d say I spent about 30 hours on it.

On that day, I arrived on time and met with my official escort for the day, who was also one of the committee members. [Editor’s Note: If you are coming from a long distance, the interviewing institution will typically pick you up at the airport, put you up in a local hotel, and drive you around.]  I was given a bit of time to caffeinate and prepare for my presentation. When the audience arrived, I began. I gave the 20-minute slice with an initial preamble about the choices I’d made. After polite applause and a few questions from the audience members (who had their student hats on), I was told that each attendee would fill out an evaluation form and submit it to the hiring committee.

I had a quick break and then it was time for the panel interview with the same people who interviewed me by phone. There were a few repeat questions with some minor variations, but there were plenty of new ones:

• What sorts of scholarly resources would you consult for [subjects a, b, and c]?
• What do you consider effective ways to reach out to faculty who are resistant to an information literacy component to their courses?
• A student approaches you and wants to know about self-medication and the frontal lobe. How do you begin?
• Please describe an element of service excellence and provide an example from your own experience.
• What is your philosophy of modern librarianship in an academic context?
• How would this position fit in with your short- and long-term career goals?

I tripped over a couple of questions (and initially drew a complete blank on the first one) and very likely rambled throughout but on the whole I felt fine.

After another quick break it was time for lunch with the committee and other library staff. This turned out to be a smaller crowd than I expected, with only one member of the committee there, and it was primarily intended for small talk.

After lunch I spoke with a higher-level library representative who filled me in on assessments and competencies for librarians at that institution, especially as they are considered members of the faculty. Interestingly, although this position is a contract one, not only would I receive health benefits, sick days, and vacation days, I would receive funding and “research days” for a variety of professional development opportunities (courses, conferences, papers, and so on).

Then it was a campus tour with my escort, after which I talked with the human resources representative about general nuts and bolts like pay schedules, benefits, and institutional policies.

After a meet and greet for coffee-and-cupcakes with various drop-ins, I was cut loose with promises to contact me 2-4 weeks later. And now I wait.

How do I think I did? Fine, but not outstanding. As the minimum experience required was indicated in the job ad in months, not years, I’m sure there were quite a few candidates like me. Also, given the current economic climate, quite a number of people with more experience probably applied, as well. Bearing that in mind, I’m very happy that I made it past the first round and won’t be devastated if I’m not the successful candidate. Well, I say this now. Since this is going to be a two-part post, I’ll let you know how I feel after I hear the committee’s decision.

Alex Barton (a pseudonym) is an e-learning librarian at a university in Ontario. She worked in book publishing prior to her current position.

Say This, Not That: Public Library Edition, by Cari Dubiel

"Gerbils - Schimmels" is a Creative Commons licensed picture  by  benmckune.

Despite my long history in public libraries, I have only recently been a part of the hiring process.  I was promoted to manager of a growing department in the library where I've worked for the last six years.  For the first time, I've been asked to sit in on interviews for other departments, as well as conduct interviews for my own department.  I have even interviewed candidates over Skype while on maternity leave. 

What I have noticed during this introduction to hiring is that the pool of candidates is varied and talented.  It’s impossible to hire everyone, so if you’re looking for a library job, it’s even more important to say the kind of things your prospective employer wants to hear (so long as it’s the truth).  You can’t just be a good candidate – you have to be the best candidate. 

David Zincenzko’s Eat This, Not That!  series makes it easy for people who are watching their weight to make quick eating decisions.  In the same vein, here are some Say This, Not That situations to help you make quick interviewing decisions.

Question: 

What do you know about Smallville Public Library?

Say This:

“I think it’s great that Smallville is the top-rated library in its population category according to the HAPLR index.  The library is positioned well with the community, and patrons say it’s one of the best around.”

Not That:

“I saw on the electronic sign that you were having some sort of program about gerbils.  I like gerbils.”

Here is a secret: I can tell when you haven’t done your homework.  If you are scrambling to answer this question, as in this “not that” answer, I’m marking it down.  In any interview, you should always research the company where you have applied.  The library is not an exception.  If you think a library job is the type you can just walk into and do without any prior research, you are wrong.  If anything, you need to do more research before applying at a library.  Our spidey-senses will sniff you out if you don’t.

Question:

What are your short-term goals?

Say This:

“In the short term, I want to work at Smallville Public Library.  I feel that I would be an excellent candidate for this position because my skills fit exactly what the Library is looking for.” 

Not That:

“I want to get married someday and have children.  So this job would be great.  I wouldn't have to do anything too hard.”

There are several things wrong with the “not that” answer here.  First, when an interviewer asks about your goals, s/he wants to learn about your professional goals.  Bringing the personal into the interview may seem like a way to build rapport with the interviewer, but in reality, it is a distraction and takes the focus off the job.  The “say this” answer shows that you are driven and motivated to do well at this specific library.  Second, you should never make an assumption about the job you are applying for, especially a negative one.  Calling a position “easy,” even if it’s a shelving position, is the number one way to irritate a public librarian.  After years of defending ourselves to our friends and family by explaining how we don’t read books all day, we don’t want to do the same with a job candidate.   

Question:

Why do you want a job at Smallville Public Library?

Say This:

“Smallville Public Library is one of the best in the area, and I can bring a great number of skills to what seems like an already strong team.  I can help increase circulation, improve workflow, and overall contribute to the efficiency of the library.”

Not That:

“I've always wanted to work in a library.  It seems like a nice, quiet place.  And I just love to read.”

If I hear one more person say that they want to work in a library because they love to read, I think I will scream.  Corollary: when someone says they want to work in the cataloging department because they want to see all the new materials when they come in.  The interviewer does not want to hear what the library can do for you.  She wants to hear what you can do for the library.  And once again, you’re making assumptions about the job when you say the library is quiet.  Our department may be busy and noisy, and we’re not looking for someone who likes quiet – we’re looking for a people person who is focused on customer service.

I can’t guarantee that following these rules is going to get you a job, at my library or any other library, but I also know I’m not alone in the pet peeves I've listed here.  I hope it will give you a start towards placing yourself in that top spot on your interviewer’s list.

Cari Dubiel is the Computer Services Manager at Twinsburg Public Library in Twinsburg, Ohio. She has two blogs of her own: a personal blog, Walking Identity Crisis, and an official Twinsburg Public Library one, The ABC Book Reviews: A Beth and Cari Production. This is her second post for Letters to a Young Librarian; the first was “Give ‘Em What They Want: How to be a Great Public Librarian.”