One of the most critical elements of achieving a successful career, interviewing with poise and tenacity, is a skill to be learned-and this practical guide leads readers through that process, step by step.

In a competitive job market, all candidates need to prepare to succeed. This certainly applies to job seekers looking for professional librarian positions in public, academic, and/or special libraries-especially recent MLIS graduates and mid-career job-changers. Designed for today’s competitive job market, this practical guidebook provides job applicants with practical tips and effective strategies for successful interview preparation and execution specific to seeking librarian positions.

Unlike generic how to interview guides, this book recognizes that there is no one-size-fits-all interviewing method and teaches the techniques for excelling at the unique aspects of interviews for specific librarian positions such as reference librarian, electronic resources librarian, outreach librarian, youth services librarian, and adult programming librarian. The book opens with an overview of what is expected during today’s librarian interview followed by descriptions by four experienced library directors of what makes an interview truly great. This guidebook includes 100 actual library interview questions to help readers best prepare for the specific position they seek and also contains a chapter that identifies mistakes all rookie librarians should avoid making.

Provides a librarian-specific job-interviewing guidebook that guides candidates through the strategic and targeted interview preparation process for today’s highly specific librarian positions

Presents contributions from library leaders such as Rivkah Sass (Sacramento Public Library), Brett Bonfield (Collingswood Public Library), Anne Langley (Princeton Library), and John Danneker (Odegaard Undergraduate Library, University of Washington) who explain what can make or break an interview

Includes a helpful job application tracking chart as well as an interview preparation checklist (for remote and in-person situations) and an interview presentation checklist