Recruitment in Academic Libraries

Being a recent graduate, I attended a session on "Recruitment in Academic Libraries: Current State of Affairs" on Thursday, June 15, 2006. The session started out with research indicating increased demand for academic librarians, particularly between 2003-2008, but the speakers acknowledged budget constraints among CARL libraries and inadequate leadership and management training for librarians who want to step up to fill a position. Although there are some exceptions, such as the University of Alberta, which offers internship opportunities (e.g. 4 to 5 graduates per year since 2000) and the University of Winnipeg (e.g. one internship has been offered since 2001), the speakers agreed that there needs to be more leadership and mentoring available to MLIS graduates. Many applicants report that the recruitment process needs to be sped up, and librarians in the audience pointed out that it was difficult for public librarians to move to academic librarianship; the speakers generally agreed with this statement. One speaker addressed the question about what skills are being demanded by academic libraries seeking applicants: (1) management skills; and (2) leadership potential. The panel agreed that "soft skills" are in demand. Another speaker suggested that everyone needs to be a "systems librarian" these days; every MLIS graduate should know about databases, web sites, XML, etc. One of the speakers asked the audience how they felt about an academic library posting more than one job opening at the same time, and a MLIS student admitted that there may be the perception that something is wrong with the institution, so job descriptions may want to explain why there is an opening. At the same time, MLIS students admitted that they would simply contact a librarian at the institution to ask them why many job positions are being offered at the same time.