Public librarian interview

After 20 years as a school librarian, I've got an interview later this month for Youth Services Librarian for a rural regional library. It's been 20 years since I've worked at a public library. What are some questions I should anticipate, or what should I ask? When I worked 1984-1997, my job mostly consisted of story time and running Summer Reading Club.

Are you serving ages 0-18 and their caregivers? Or one age group in particular?

Technological knowledge, both what you know and what the libraries use (or hope to use) would be good things, I think. "Youth" services also make me think above children by below teen as far as age range, but it might vary per library. The one I did my practicum act would do storytimes with the under 10 set. Older ranged kids would have events oriented towards them such as experimenting with technology or having specific reading clubs for their age group.

I would go in with some idea of how you hope to draw kids into the library.

There should be situational questions: How would you handle an unscheduled group, disruptive story time attendants, book challenges, etc.

Early literacy efforts are at the forefront, right now. Check out toosmalltofail.org, thebasics.org, and 1000 books before kindergarten.

scrambled formatting...

hmm, I think I might have written too much :) I'll try it in sections.

it doesn't like copy and pasted text either.
hmmm.

I've been a small branch librarian in a rural-adjacent area for 11 years now (rural enough that I go to ARSL and get more out of it than the state conference a lot of times) and here are my thoughts.

rockinrhombus' suggestions are awesome

First off, try to find out how big your system is, and what their attitude is towards "wearing multiple hats." In my current system, I'm the branch manager, but I also design and implement our childrens, teen, and adult programs, and am the outreach point person despite there being those departments at our central location. At my previous system, it was more centralized and the departments at HQ handled everything for the whole system themselves. Try to find out where they fall, and be prepped for questions about multitasking, about delegating to paras, about working with committees, and about working as "part" of departments that you technically aren't a part of (for my example, we have Children's, Teen, and Adult Programming librarians and I work closely with all three of them).

Next: audience attraction and retention:
Focus on how you're going to be attracting Gen X and Millenials with their young kids (there are articles and books on this you should be able to access and decide on what your opinions are about a few different approaches), and Gen Z (teens and workforce-prepping "early adults" who often fall into the purview of a Youth Department's teen program) especially in a rural area with not a lot of options for entertainment or free personal development opportunities. This is also where you'd talk about working with other departments for larger programs, "event" programming, community involvement, networking, and co-developed projects with civic partners and all that fun stuff. I wouldn't focus too much on Summer Reading for this, research has shown its pretty generally a crapshoot for attracting and retaining attendees for other programs and services.

Next: Support and outreach for parents and kids
I've seen lots of interesting outreach ideas:
Storytime for pregnant teen moms is a cool one I've seen a lot of: basically you partner with a local hospital or health center and offer opt-in child-literacy services to new moms (especially younger or at-risk moms), and also ask to have library and literacy materials be put into their "new parent" packet they give to everyone who delivers with them, and the pregnant moms come to a "Preparing Parents" storytime that's half "here's how you read with your baby" and half medical/mental health support and information, and then the moms when they have the child transition into attending the baby&toddler storytime (which you WILL have at least one of those, right?) :)

Lots of rural libraries do a lot of work in their local school systems and with local day-care providers with the captive audience there - you've been a school librarian so you should be able to network with some current media specialists and see how their work is evolving and how to support and interact with them effectively, and try to figure out how the young-child care and after-school and summer-care situation works in your area so you can speak to how to effectively reach those groups.

Summer Reading is your single biggest outreach effort and there's been a LOT of controversy. Do some reading and try and gauge where your system falls on the main issues right now, and judge how you want to approach it. If you want to talk about it more in depth, I'm happy to message you with some of the basics, or talk more here. Just be aware that it's VERY important and it's also an ideological minefield right now. Exciting!

Next up: budgeting
At least be prepared for a pie-chart or percentages-level breakdown of how you'd spend your department money and staff hours. I have NO idea what's normal for a youth or children's department, but I'd imagine you can find that info through networking just to get a ballpark idea of what the ranges are. Books are STARTING to become less centralized in favor of multi-media (DVDs and children's computers) and programming opportunities, but with a very rural library (or local attitudes) that may not be the case yet - try and feel them out on this one if you can beforehand.

Relatedly to budgets and purchasing: book challenges/bans/angry parents/board members getting upset about And Tango Makes Three or Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress or George by Alex Gino (I'd recommend you read all three) Be careful about your own attitude towards what materials you'll be purchasing, and how you'll defend them if they are challenged. I hate to say it but a lot of rural systems can be a bit reactionary in the interests of pre-protecting themselves from angry parents and preserving community goodwill, so you want to have a solid ALA-based answer down pat and try to move on quickly.

Finally: the dreaded "what would you change" (ie the "here's your chance to shoot yourself in the foot" question)
So for this one you REALLY need to get a feel for whether they LIKE what they have now, or they're hoping for a transition into something/anything else (they'll SAY "more modern" or more "big-city" or whatever, but they just mean "we don't like what we have now") so that you can hopefully answer this without having to resort to weaselly non-answers that don't show your personality or ideas. General thoughts: slow change is usually a safe answer, having one or two "big" ideas that you're confident in presenting even if they don't end up being used shows that you're excited and future-minded and self-confident, focus on how you'll change the "impact on the community" rather than changing internal library systems/people as that is less upsetting to the status quo (even if they say they WANT change, no one WANTS change, you know what I mean?)

Scattered bits:
Have an idea of what your staff makeup and size and responsibilities would be and how you'd manage and hire for that mix in regard to duties and fairness and team-building and "flexibility" (that's a big keyword for job seekers now).

I'd be sure to be familiar with a good set of RECENT popular picture books, easy readers, juvenile books/series, teen reads and "early adult" or "emerging adult" books.

Likewise, be aware of that library's offerings as far as internet resources/apps/computer games, and be at least familiar with the names and what they do. If they don't have any, I'd look up some basic children's-safe websites, games, and "edutainment" apps and technology. A company named Playaway makes all-in-one audiobook pods and durable age-and-themed "educational" games tablets (they're horrifically expensive, but really fun), likewise a company named AWElearning.com has some fun computer-based systems. Stuff like that.

Consider unfortunately loaded language choices like "inclusiveness" and "diversity" carefully right now - I'm not saying you DON'T want to be inclusive or diverse, but look at your hiring audience and potentially be careful about how you phrase things so people hear what you intend to convey. Again, I'm not trying to throw shade or get political or presume anything about your area, but it can be a concern.

Don't forget to use yourself as a primary resource - use your own experiences and your knowledge base and your ideas and your preferences to guide your answers, and be confident about ascribing those things directly to YOURSELF as a confident and competent professional who is up-to-date and cool and collected. (even if you've got to fake it a bit)

A breathing exercise I learned in school is an excellent way to catch a sneaky pause while collecting your thoughts for an answer: A deep breath IN through your nose for a 3-count, while changing your posture a little: either sit up straighter and settle your shoulders, or lean back confidently and open your arms out to your sides. This gives you literally a breathing space to pause for a moment without it LOOKING like a pause, so you can unscramble your brain and start off without stammering or having to backtrack.

Ask if they mind you taking notes during the interview, and that way when they get to the end "do you have any questions" you can use your notes to come up with something coherent and related, if nothing you thought of beforehand seems appropriate or has fled your mind.

Bring 3-5 extra paper copies of your resume/CV, and also a flash drive with it saved in at least three formats: .rtf, the latest Word, and .pdf so that if they're needed you can provide.

Be confident in your computer/internet/social media/digital abilities. If it's in the Office suite or a mainstream library ILS, then you can Google just about any problem and find your answer. If you're online, you're fine. Don't sell yourself short thinking that the younger "digital natives" are going to be more familiar with tumblr or Insta or Snapchat. All they want to know is if you're competent and willing to learn/figure out what you need to do your job. I'm CERTAIN that you are. Project that certainty. (If you have active social media accounts, do be aware of what's on them and curate/delete things if necessary to present a professional front.)

Thanks for the advice. Several questions asked may have thrown me for a loop if I hadn't read your responses. The interview went well; they even responded "good answer" to a few of my responses. I have a call back for a second interview next week, which will consist of performing a story time. As this is something I've done for the past 40 years (in public and school libraries), I feel confident. My only worry is my age (60), and they did refer to that. ("Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"). The director is at least my age, so maybe it's not the issue I fear.

Librarians are taking care of the homeless these days. The homeless and the troubled and usually two for one. Libraries are so important in this way now. It is not how it use to be .. it was a bit like that before but an actual concentrated effort now

>15 theretiredlibrarian: "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" is a fairly standard recruitment question. They may well have asked it of all candidates. I recall seeing it on applications back decades ago.

The "5 years" thing is really standard. They're mainly trying to see if you're angling for promotions/directorship, or to be a conference-hopper and get super-involved in state/ALA-level organization, or if you're going to be potentially happy mainly doing the every-day job that they're hiring you for. Neither trajectory is WRONG per se, but it's good for you both to be aware of what your career goals are, and it's important that they mesh.

It's just as important to them to know if the young thing straight out of library school is determined to move to the big city as soon as she has some experience on her CV as whether or not you want to retire soon. In fact, if you want to retire locally and might be available to fill in, they might prefer that.

I got the job! Start September 1. Thanks for all your help. I will be the Youth Services Librarian at Ozark Regional Library in Ironton MO. It services 4 small towns in 2 counties. It's been over 20 years since I've been in a public library setting, so any advice/ideas/input will be greatly appreciated. They want me to concentrate on story time, elementary and YA programming, and outreach. Though these 4 towns have actual library buildings (two are open only 8 hours a week), there are several tiny towns/villages they would like to service as well. Beyond excited to be going back to my roots...in both my home state and career.

Congratulations! And lots of fun and success in your new position.

>20 theretiredlibrarian:

That’s wonderful!

Sounds like a fair bit of coordination among all the libraries and towns will be necessary. Do the libraries in those 4 towns have children’s librarians with whom you can work, or are you it?

I'm it. So I'll use the library's vehicle to visit each library to do story time and other programming.

>23 theretiredlibrarian:. You’ll want to read Library on Wheels!

Congrats! Sounds like lots of fun.

Congrats!! Enjoy!

>23 theretiredlibrarian: I did some of that when I was on practicum. Felt boards are a staple, and easy to make if there are budget concerns.

Congrats on the job!

Yay congratulations! I'm so happy for you!

Also: I don't know what sorts of things you're interested in (or if you even want to ask given my tendency to over-excitedly blab on forever) but I've been doing branch public library storytimes and programming for 11 years now, so hit me up with a direct message if you ever want any "boots on the ground" anecdotes or commiseration. I can't promise I can help, but I'll do my best!

>20 theretiredlibrarian: Congratulations!

Congrats!

Congratulations and I am sure you will be superb, as well as an asset to those you serve.

>20 theretiredlibrarian: Heck yeah! Congrats. And welcome (back?) to the Public Library dark side.... :)