Human Resources: Job Ad

Reference Librarian (Literature Specialization)

Description
The Reference Librarian’s duties include teaching library instruction classes, answering questions online, via telephone, and in-person, particularly about literature topics, assisting students in navigating the library’s resources and finding the information they need, maintaining the reference stacks, and working with the Information and Web Technology department to create and maintain electronic subject guides or pathfinders. A typical day might include responding to a question sent by a message in Facebook, searching several of the university’s databases to help a senior find additional resources for paper for her Faulkner seminar, conducting an extended reference interview at a scheduled meeting with a sophomore just beginning an American Literature paper, teaching a class of first-year English students how to use Refworks, and staffing the reference desk, answering questions asked by walk-in students or over instant messenger.

This position offers varied and interesting work in a quickly growing academic library as part of a team of reference librarians interested in making good use of new technology and methods without neglecting the old. As an employee of Barrett University, you have access to the university’s athletic facilities and walking trails as well as the opportunity to attend one university class a semester without cost. Jones Library provides additional opportunities for professional growth, such as reimbursement for travel expenses to conferences or tuition for some distance-learning courses. Benefits include health insurance, annual leave, and sick leave. Salary is in the range of $43,000 – $45,000, depending on experience.

About Jones Library
Jones Library is the main campus library of Barrett University and serves the university’s undergraduate students, as well graduate students, staff, faculty members, and members of the surrounding community. Located near the center of Barrett’s idyllic campus, our recently-remodeled library holds over three million items and subscribes to nearly forty collections of electronic resources, each proving access to hundreds of periodicals. Barrett University itself is located in Pleasantridge, a scenic Colorado college town only an hour west of Denver and a half a day’s drive from a number of ski slopes.

Requirements

• MLS or MLIS from an ALA-accredited program
• BA in English literature or related subject (MA preferred)
• 2+ years library experience (reference and/or academic experience preferred)
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to use a computer
• Enthusiasm, patience, persistence, and self-motivation

To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to the Hiring Committee:
Jones Library
Barrett University
3322 Monet Rd.
Pleasantridge, CO 80999
Fax: (717) 555-0800
joneshiring@barrett.edu

Personal Career Development: Interview Exercise

I did the interview exercise with E, someone who is not a member of the class but who has been in management positions and on both sides of the interview before. My experience with interviewing was much more limited. I have been interviewed several times for part-time positions, but I have never interviewed anyone nor, before this class, given much thought as to what questions I would ask. For my interview with E, I chose questions from the lists posted on Blackboard and on the Career Services website.

I learned more from the discussion I had with E after the interviews than I did from the exercise itself. E emphasized that the purpose of the interview wasn’t to gather data not on the resume–that could be done in other, more verifiable ways. Instead, the interview was to get a feel for the candidate’s personality and whether they had the personal qualities for the job. That much I knew, but E and I then talked about how to craft interview questions or answer interview questions to really ask or answer the question behind the question. E compared it to a trial lawyer questioning a witness. Each question the lawyer asks is designed so that the witness’s answer make some sort of point. As an example, we broke down the ad for a Technology Initiatives Librarian, starting with the description “energetic.” While interviewing someone for that position, I would want to pay attention to how enthusiastically they answered questions and to ask questions to learn whether they sought out projects and offered input or whether they waited for instructions from a manager. Likewise, were I interviewed for this position, I would want to make sure I expressed enthusiasm for working at the library and taking initiative on projects and so on. (Of course, if I am not energetic or interested in coordinating others, close reading of a job ad can help me realize that this is not the position for me before I go through the process of applying).

E also gave me examples of questions an interviewer might ask to learn how the interviewee responded to different situations. E suggested that an interviewer might ask if I’d read a recent article published about the library to see how much research I had done prior to the interviewer. An interviewer might purposely be early or late to see how I reacted (was I there and ready to go? did I blame or take out my anger on the receptionist?) or ask me a purposely confusing question. When the topic of illegal questions came up, E pointed out that there were a number of ways interviewers could get the information without actually asking an illegal question point-blank. As a hypothetical example (not necessarily one an interviewer would ever ask), instead of asking how old I was, E asked me where I was on 9/11 and then where I was when the Discovery blew up. Though this might be an odd question in an interview, E told me there was nothing illegal about it.

E and I also did a kind of reverse interview, in which I asked questions and E showed me how I could answer them in an interview. E also suggested possible interview questions and then helped me come up with answers to them. What I learned here was staying on message. E compared it to being interviewed by the media or perhaps a presidential debate (although E did suggest that I try not to be quite so blatantly on message as candidates are). If I didn’t have an answer to a particular question such as “Tell me about a crisis situation and how you dealt with it,” I could reframe the question slightly by answering, “One particularly stressful situation was…”

Talking with E about how interviews work and the range of questions from typical interview questions to “questions” that take place before the interview begins taught me a lot about both sides of the interview. As an interviewee, I have a better idea of how to prepare for interviews and how to give answers that will help demonstrate why I am the best person for the job. As an interviewer, I now know more about how to ask questions that will give me the information I want (the question behind the question) so that I can find the best candidate.

Organization Description

I am now the library director of Jones Library, the main campus library of a small university (about 5000-6000 undergraduates). The library is used primarily by undergraduate students and faculty but also serves graduate students, staff, and members of the community, especially genealogy researchers. The university also has several small subject-specific branch libraries located inside academic buildings, a library holding the universities rare books, manuscripts, and other special collections, and a library primarily serving the law school. In addition to providing access to numerous print and electronic materials, Jones Library offers assistance with research questions through instant messenger, phone, e-mail, reference desk, and scheduled meetings with librarians, instruction on library resources, physical space for students to study or collaborate on group projects, a website providing information about the library and allowing users to search the catalog, renew materials they’ve checked out, and access electronic resources without coming to the library building, and other services designed to fulfill the information needs of university students, faculty, staff, and, to a lesser extent, members of the surrounding community.

As library directory, I answer to the Dean of the University Libraries, who oversees Jones Library and the other university libraries. Above the Dean are the Provost and the university President.

Jones Library employs around fifty full- or part-time staff members and forty to fifty student workers in the following departments:

Circulation

Responsible for circulation and user services, including supervising stacks, managing course reserves, handling fines, and

Inter-library loan

Responsible for overseeing inter-library loans to and from Jones Library

Reference services

Responsible for information services including library instruction, assisting with research questions, and supervising the reference stacks

Government documents

Responsible for supervising the government documents collection and for assisting users in accessing those materials

Acquisitions

Responsible for adding and removing materials to the library collection

Serials

Responsible for adding, removing, and maintaining Jones Library’s subscriptions to periodicals

Preservation

Responsible for binding, repairing, and otherwise preserving the library’s collection

Information and web technology

Responsible for servicing the library’s information systems and maintaining the Jones Library web page

Cataloguing

Responsible for cataloguing library materials

Serials and preservation are the smallest departments, employing only one or two full-time staff members. Interlibrary loan and government documents, with about two full-time staff members each, although interlibrary loan also includes two part-time staff members. Information and web technology is also a small department at present but is growing steadily. Most of the student workers work in the circulation department, although a few work in interlibrary loan, government documents, and information and web technology.