Sharpen your recruitment skills. Learn to attract top talent, conduct effective interviews, and build a strong, diverse team with real-world insights.

"I can't resist creating a survey. So, would you please fill out What Should Hiring Librarians Do Next? to share your requests, suggestions and/or opinions?"

"My organization hasn’t hired much lately. Some of it is due to upper administration insisting on “consolidating.” I’ve seen a lot of libraries operating with very lean staff. If a staff member leaves, they’ll do something like promote an existing PT staff member from PT to FT, so it will look good on paper but we wind up with fewer people and fewer hours overall still."

"Occasional travel within the city I can bus or Uber. For frequent travel outside the city… why are you sending the cataloger?"

"We always conduct the first round virtually. Depending on where the applicant lives, the second round may be in-person or virtual."

"I know it's convenient to hire your personal friends who live nearby, but please consider what is going to happen to these people when they cannot move. The consequences are getting dire."

"I've served on hiring committees for the past decade. In recent years, I see many more candidates with solid written materials that did not reflect their performance in first-round interview (or even in email correspondence trying to schedule the first round) -- I'm not sure what the disconnect is, but it is growing."

"I applied for a job and heard nothing, only to find out later the hiring manager had skipped all interviews and hired their friend directly instead. This was for a city’s library position, so the hiring manager did get in trouble and was forced to reopen the search."

"Librarianship is shrinking and I believe the number of available jobs will continue to decrease, but core functions are not easily automated (yet)"

"Selecting and ironing interview clothes, prepping makeup several days before (washing brushes + replacing old or low makeup), applying makeup the day of, studying and practicing answers to common interview questions for 3-5 days beforehand"

My very special guest for this very special episode is - Me! In this, the final and shortest episode of season 2b, I share an affirmation for LIS workers, some thoughts about the current situation, advice for job seekers, advice for people who hire, and a brief update about the likely schedule for next season as well as a new Hiring Librarians survey.

"We have a strong culture and want people who fit into that culture."

Trade unions for UK library workers

"It was a temporary job for a few months that was not temp-to-hire and had no possibility of moving up or staying in the organization. My current PT job is underpaid, but is stable, and I didn't want to jump from being underemployed to being unemployed in a few months."

"Academic libraries and public libraries may be struggling in some geographic regions but the profession as a whole is still robust. Most of the jobs that have been cut from libraries over the past 20 years have been lower-skilled, repetitive jobs like copy catalogers, acquisitions specialists, print serials, etc. I expect that to continue as automated systems, the shift from print to digital, and the use of AI continue to expand."

“I felt like I should apologize for not having gained more experience in the two hours since I'd most recently been asked those questions.”

"if I find that candidates routinely stumble or misunderstand a specific question, I rephrase it or remove it altogether; usually, this is an indication that it's unclear. I never want to stump or trick anyone in an interview. That's not helpful for anyone. "

My guest this episode is Cristy Moran. She's been sharing her career path with Hiring Librarians since 2013, and it was great to catch up with where she is now.

This survey is for folks in Library and Information Services (LIS) fields. It asks about hiring and careers related interests and solicits suggestions for future content on the Hiring Librarians website and podcast. There are 22 questions, including 7 demographic questions. None are required. I will not collect identifying information unless you choose to provide your email address. This survey is being conducted by me, Emily Weak. I will primarily use the answers for the purposes of planning future Hiring Librarians content. I do not plan on publishing the answers individually or in total, but I may discuss or mention them in future work. I really appreciate your feedback! Contact me directly at [email protected]

"he answer they're looking for is usually something along the lines of reminding the patron of library policy but that tells me nothing about how the library handles disruptive patrons or what kind of support I can expect when dealing with disruptive patrons."

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) established the legal requirement for equal access to employment for disabled Americans, but the processes for inclusion established by the law are rarely dis...

"From the academic library perspective, students are coming into college with gaps in their information literacy knowledge; the spread of disinformation via media; the rise of AI as a tempting tool for writing papers"