My First Library Interview

Last week, I had my very first interview for an academic library position. Without offering too many specifics, it was for a P/T Librarian I position at a small, academic institution. Despite being P/T, the position would be a full member of the library staff and would operate as the main librarian for a branch campus.

Needless to say, I was nervous. I was also informed there would be a presentation requirement for the interview. Yikes. Talk about "welcome to librarianship." Now, from my past life as an attorney, I've had a few intense (and stressful) interviews. I've been vetted by high powered judges, teams of district attorneys, partners of multi-national law firms -- but never have I been asked to teach.

The presentation topic for the interview was the difference between academic and popular sources. I relied on the recent Hack Library School article on "Acing Your Interview Presentation" for a bit of guidance and ideas. If you guys don't already frequent the HLS site -- you have to check it out (Plus, one of VSU's own, Amanda Davis @iamandahope, is a contributing writer).

I also used Haiku Deck to create my presentation slides. It's a great, free online tool that can really help make your presentations more image oriented. The files are also compatible (and editable) with PowerPoint.

If anyone is interested, here's a link to my presentation. So, what do you guys think?