The selection of a competent library director can be the most important single act undertaken by the board of trustees. In the process of selecting and hiring, trustees should be aware of current practices in the profession, competitive salaries, benefits, and state requirements.
When seeking a director, some boards will place more emphasis on imagination and energy; others, on administrative experience; still others, on education and erudition. Local conditions, such as the library’s size, staff, and fiscal resources, are all factors affecting the selection of the library director.
Preliminary Assessment
The board should make a realistic appraisal of the situation. This includes deciding what qualifications the library requires of a library director and what the library and community can offer. It is important to offer the best possible salary to secure the services of a qualified administrator. The board should also consider any added incentives or challenges offered by the job opportunity.
The board begins with a hard look at the state of the library by addressing some fundamental questions, such as:
- What is the role of the library in the community today?
- Have the community’s library needs and expectations changed? Has the library kept pace with those needs and expectations?
- What does the community really want or need in the next director?
- What is the reason for the job opening? An exit interview with the departing director is often useful.
- Are you losing someone upward-bound or to retirement?
- Was the previous director dissatisfied? If so, why?
The answers to these questions will influence the development of the job description. The board may want to redefine the job, elevate the position, and revise qualifications and statements of job responsibilities.
The Job Description
When drafting or revising the job description, it may be helpful to consult the Components of Performance Management section of this Knowledge Base.
Consulting professional literature and the Idaho Commission for Libraries can help ensure that all legal requirements are met.
Discrimination
As with any employer, libraries must abide by federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination in relation to hiring, promotion, and all other working conditions of employment.
Idaho law prohibits discrimination in employment, education, real estate transactions, and public accommodations. Per the Idaho Commission on Human Rights, illegal discrimination may be based on:
- Race
- Sex
- Color
- National origin
- Religion
- Age (over 40)
- Mental or physical disability
- Reprisal for protected activity
Additionally, retaliation against an individual who has engaged in protected activity is unlawful. “Protected activity” means opposing conduct which a person, in good faith, reasonably believes to be unlawful under the anti-discrimination statutes or participating in proceedings of the Idaho Commission on Human Rights, which are set up for the enforcement of the anti-discrimination statutes.
The library’s state Human Resources policies should demonstrate that the library board makes every effort not to discriminate. District library boards have the responsibility for reviewing their HR policies and adopting corrections as appropriate. City library boards follow city HR polices and procedures, when available. See the Employment Laws section for more information.
Genetic Information Discrimination
Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) prohibits genetic information discrimination in employment.
Under Title II of GINA, it is illegal to discriminate against employees or applicants because of genetic information. Title II of GINA prohibits the use of genetic information in making employment decisions; restricts employers and other entities covered by Title II (employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management training and apprenticeship programs — referred to as “covered entities”) from requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic information; and strictly limits the disclosure of genetic information.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title II of GINA. The U.S. Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury have responsibility for issuing regulations for Title I of GINA, which addresses the use of genetic information in health insurance.
Search Committee
It is good personnel practice to advertise a job opening to as many potential candidates as possible. A library conducts a search even if there are staff members eligible for promotion. Qualified staff members are encouraged to apply, and the board stresses that the goal is to select the best person for the job. All applicants receive consideration and due process in accordance with equal opportunity law.
A search committee of the board composes a carefully worded advertisement for publication in professional journals and posting on professional library job sites. Ads published by other libraries serve as examples – some strong and some weak. When composing an ad for the library director’s job, it is fine to borrow wording from the director’s job description. Sticking to the highlights of the job will help keep the ad brief.
- The ad should specify a deadline for submitting applications.
- This can be an absolute deadline, such as, “Only applications received by January 15 will be considered.”
- Or it can be a preferential deadline, such as, “Applications received by January 15 will receive preference.” This means that applications received after January 15 will be considered, but only if none of the applications submitted by the deadline result in the hiring of a new director.
- It is important to request a resume, references, and a cover letter – even if applicants are required to complete an application form. A standardized application form is design to be one-size-fits-all and cannot convey the wealth of information about a candidate that can be contained in a cover letter and resume.
- For libraries that do not have an HR professional, it is a good idea to designate one trustee to receive applications for the director position, such as the board’s chair/president or secretary.
Word of Mouth
Advertising among friends and colleagues helps spread the news of an available position. Sending job announcements to LibIdaho and other regional and national listing services enlarges the pool of potential applicants. The Resources section below lists appropriate professional library job posting sites.
Interviewing and Selection
Prior to conducting interviews, the search committee adopts standards for rating applications as well as a list of questions to be asked for each candidate.
- When each candidate is asked to respond to the same set of questions, there is an equal basis for evaluation.
- It is a good idea to ask library staff if they would like to suggest any interview questions.
- The board must be careful to ask only job-related questions, as it is illegal to ask questions about an applicant’s age, marital status, family life, health history, arrest record, or outside interests.
- The interview will proceed smoothly and legally when only appropriate topics are discussed and the same list of questions is used for each candidate’s interview.
- An evaluation sheet should be used by the interview committee to note the candidate’s responses and committee members’ impressions. This makes it easier to compare the committee’s impressions of each candidate. If your board does not have an evaluation sheet that it uses, you could ask other library boards to share their form. There are also lots of evaluation sheets available online, such as the Candidate Interview Evaluation Form and the Candidate Assessment Form used by Case Western Reserve University.
Other Decisions to Be Made Prior to Interviewing
- Will the new director be offered a contract, schedule, or open-ended agreement?
- How much is the budget for interviewing expenses?
- Will the library be offering a relocation allowance?
- Have all invited candidates been informed of the board’s policy on these expenses?
Interview and Selection Process
- Receipt of all applications is acknowledged promptly. Applicants who do not meet established qualifications – or did not qualify as a finalist – are notified.
- References are checked, using a standard form, being making a job offer.
- The number of applicants to be interviewed, usually three to five people, is decided before finalists are invited.
- The order of preference for interviews is determined and letters are sent to scheduled candidates.
- One person is designated to conduct interviews with others assisting. The interview team is kept to a reasonable size, usually three to five people.
- The interview location, accommodations for the candidate, and a tour of the library and community are planned well in advance of the interview date(s).
- Allowing adequate time for discussion is important, as the interview is a mutual evaluation process. The committee provides the candidate with a fair and accurate picture of the library, working conditions, and expectations.
- Allowing time between interviews to complete evaluation sheets – while the interviewers’ reactions to candidates are still fresh – makes the interview team more productive and efficient.
After All Interviews Have Been Completed
- The candidates most likely to succeed as library director are selected, through discussion and by ranking candidates based on interview evaluations.
- The commitee seeks consensus.
- The top candidate is contacted, preferably by telephone, to make a formal offer. The candidate may then ask for some time to consider the offer before responding. It is considered polite for the candidate to respond within 24 hours to accept or decline the offer or to ask for two or three additional days to give a final response to the job offer.
- The telephone call is followed up with an information letter and/or contract that includes details of appointment, duties, salary, benefits, evaluation, and starting date. It is important to include a second copy for the new director’s signature and to specify the deadline for returning the document(s).
- All other candidates who interviewed are thanked in writing and informed of the committee’s decision only after acceptance has been received from the successful candidate.
- If the committee’s first choice declines or is unavailable, the board can then quickly contact the second choice.
New Director
If the new director is not a local candidate, the board will need to schedule an orientation and assist with relocation. Useful information includes help with school and housing and additional information on the library and the community. A subscription to the local newspaper and back copies of the library’s newsletter are valuable tools to acclimate the new library director.
The library should arrange news releases as part of the new director’s welcome. The library should also promptly schedule personal introductions to staff members, trustees, community representatives, and local government officials. An open house or reception hosted by the board is a standard courtesy.
A trial period of six months to one year allows time for the board and the director to develop a working relationship and to evaluate the library administration. Mutually agree upon short- and long-term goals and expectations early in this period.
Midway through the trial period, the board should conduct an informal review of the director’s performance. There is more information in the section on Performance Appraisal. The board should also developed a “final” trial-period evaluation concerning the decision to retain or dismiss the director. If performance is in doubt, problems are documented carefully. Dissatisfaction is recorded and discussed. The diligent board never retains a director when a majority of its members is convinced that no improvement is possible.
If the board finds itself in this position, it can seek help from on outside impartial consultant.
The above is adapted from the “Georgia Public Library Trustee Handbook,” 1984, published by the Georgia Library Trustee and Friends Association, in cooperation with the Division of Library Services, Georgia Department of Education and Dekalb Library System.
Resources for Posting Director Positions
- LibIdaho – Idaho’s listserv – free of charge, subscription required.
- INALJ – (formerly I Need a Library Job) is a one-stop shop for posting and finding library jobs. This service is free but donations are welcome.
- PNLA – The Pacific Northwest Library Association – PNLA is an organization of people who work in, with, and for libraries in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, and Washington. There is no charge to post employment announcements on the PNLA Jobs page.
- ARSL – The Association of Rural and Small Libraries – ARSL is the premiere professional organization for trustees and staff of rural and small libraries. There is no charge to post to the Job Listings Page. ARSL members in good standing can also post jobs to the member listserv.
- MPLA – The Mountain Plains Library Association – MPLA is a 12-state association of librarians, library paraprofessionals, and friends of libraries in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. For libraries outside the MPLA region there is a $25 fee to post to the Jobline.
- Libjobs – A fee-based job board service provided to corporate, public, academic, and K-12 libraries.
- ALA JobLIST – A fee-based service of the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).