“Positions are part of collective bargaining unit and salary information is public”

Please note: This is an anonymous response to an online survey; I do not have any way of contacting the respondent or verifying responses. Their answers may reflect good, bad, or middling hiring practices. I invite you to take what’s useful and leave the rest. If you are someone who hires Library, Archives or other LIS workers, please consider giving your own opinion by filling out the survey here. 

Current Hiring Practices and Organizational Needs

These questions are about your current hiring practices in general – the way things have been run the last year or two (or three).

Where do you advertise your job listings?

SchoolSpring.com, ServingSchools.com, Simmons SLIS JobLine, Maine State Library

Do you notice a difference in application quality based on where the applicant saw the job ad?

No

Do you include salary in the job ad?

√ Other: Positions are part of collective bargaining unit and salary information is public

Do you use keyword matching or any automation tools to reduce the number of applications a human reads while considering candidates?  

√ No

Do you consider candidates who don’t meet all the requirements listed in the job ad?

√ Other: Yes, when few or no candidates meet all requirements

Does your workplace require experience for entry-level librarian positions? (Officially or unofficially…)

√ No

What is the current most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?

Lack of teaching experience and/or certif

Does your organization use one-way interviews? (Sometimes also called asynchronous or recorded interviews)

√ No

Do you provide interview questions before the interview? 

√ No

Does your interview process include taking the candidate out for a meal?

√ No, and I don’t think we ever have

How much of your interview process is virtual?

√ Other: Only virtual in cases where the candidate cannot meet in person

Do you (or does your organization) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?

√ Other: Upon request

I want to hire someone who is: 

adaptable

Your Last Recruitment

These are questions about the last person you hired (or the last position you attempted to fill). This person may not have been a librarian, and that’s ok.

Think about the most recent time you participated in hiring someone (or an attempt to hire someone) at your organization. What was the title of the position you were trying to fill?

K-5 Resource Librarian

When was this position hired?

√ Between six months to a year ago

Approximately how many people applied for this position?

√ 25 or fewer

Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?

√ 51-75%

And how would you define “hirable”?

Bare minimum qualifications (teaching experience, certification)

Your Workplace

This section asks for information about your workplace, including if you have lost positions in the last decade.

How many staff members are at your library/organization?

√ 200+

Are you unionized?

√ Yes, at least some workers are union members

How many permanent, full time job openings has your workplace posted in the last year?

√ 7 or more

How many permanent, full time librarian (or other “professional” level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?

√ 1

Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?

√ I don’t know

Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?  

√ No

Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with non-librarian, lower paid staff positions over the past decade?   

√ No

Is librarianship a dying profession?

√ No

Demographics

This section asks for information about you specifically.

What part of the world are you in?

√ Northeastern US

What’s your region like?

√ Suburban area

What type of institution do you hire for (check all that apply):

√ School Library 

What type(s) of LIS professionals do you hire? 

School librarians, library paraprofessionals

Are you a librarian?

√ Yes

Are you now or have you ever been: 

√ A member of a hiring or search committee

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