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Permalink Reply by Dr. Nantu Acharjya on February 23, 2011 at 16:40

1. Describe your strengths and weaknesses.

2. Considering your education and work experience, why do you feel you are qualified for this job?

3. What do you see as the value of belonging to professional organizations?

4. Why did you apply for this job?

5. What is your philosophy of collection development?

6. Do you like working with people?

7. Do you have any experience with audio-visual materials?

8. Do you have any experience in setting up displays?

9. How do you feel that your education has prepared you for this job?

10. Where do you expect to be professionally in five years?

11. How would you handle a person who objects to a sex education book on the shelf? 12. How would you handle a question over the phone that you can't answer immediately?

13. Is there any time that you would refuse to answer a patronís request?

14. If we ask your present supervisor what your present strengths are, what would he/she say?

15. Why should we hire you?

16. Name two books you have read within the past two months and describe one of them as though you were recommending it to a patron to read. Why would they want to read it? 17. What qualities do you think we should look for in a prospective reference librarian?

18. Considering your working career, tell about the most stressful event you ever faced, and how you coped with it.

19. Picture this: It is 5:00 PM and you are relieving the day shift. You are the only reference librarian on the desk and the following are waiting for help. In what order would you answer them and why? a. A young child with a homework assignment
b. A trivia question; the contest is on now.

c. A woman who has just read Jannette Daileyís latest book and wants a recommendation for a similar book

d. An elderly couple wanting advice on how to do their genealogy.

e. The city managerís office is on the telephone.

20. What did you do to prepare for this interview?

21. What is your style of leadership?

22. Describe your ideal job.

23. What was your most challenging supervisory experience?

24. What do you like most about archival work?

25. Describe differences among patrons in a public library, an academic library, and a special library. 26. If you were assisting a person at the reference desk and the telephone rang, what would you do?

27. After you have eliminated the backlog, how do you see this job as challenging to you? What will motivate you to come to work?

28. Why did you elect to attend the University of South Carolina?

29. Why did you choose librarianship as a career?

30. Can you tell us about a particularly tense or chaotic situation at the reference desk and how you handled the incident? 31. What would you do if you heard a staff member provide a patron with an incorrect answer?

32. Tell us about a team or group project you have worked on and how you have contributed to it.

33. Tell us about your experience with information technology.

34. Why are you interested in this particular career?

35. What strengths do you bring to a reference position and what areas would you like to improve?

36. What are the things you particularly like about your present job?

37. What was your most important work-related accomplishment in the past year?

38. What contributions could you make to our library?

39. How would you describe your management philosophy?

40. What type of management style do you prefer?

41. What sorts of people do you enjoy working with most?

42. What kinds of situations do you find stressful?

43. What would you do if you were at the desk and both the phones were ringing and there were three or four patrons already waiting and a demanding professor interrupted?

44. Outline your science background, including: science coursework, library school coursework in science reference, and science library experience.

45. What is your public service experience, including bibliographic instruction, reference desk, and collection development?

46. What is your knowledge and/or experience of library technology?

47. How does this position fit into the career path you have set for yourself?

48. Give us an example of a time in which you felt you were able to build motivation in your coworkers or fellow students in school.

49. Describe the most significant achievement or written project/presentation/report which you have had to complete.

50. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a librarian?

51. Give us an example you did in a former job that contributed to a teamwork environment.

52. What would you do if you were unsure of how to answer a reference question?

53. What are your current research interests?

54. The role of the reference librarian and the reference department has changed a lot in the past five years and will probably continue to change. How do you see reference service changing in the next five years?

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Permalink Reply by Kishor Singarkar on February 23, 2011 at 17:13

Dear,

Kamaljeet Kaur has mentioned most inportant questions in earlier discussion.

Common interview questions for Library positions

1. Tell me about your self or describe urself? (Ideally u should start first ur name and going ahead with the last qualification. Do not forget to ur past experience)
2. What r ur qualifications for the job of  librarian? (Quote only that qualification that is desired or relevant for the post)
3. How technically sound are you? Are you comfortable with library management software? (about ur computer proficiency
4. What do you like about your present job for Library field?
5. What do you dislike about your present job for Library field?
6. What are your strengths?
7. Why do you want to leave your current employer?
8. Why have you applied for this particular job for Library field?

Specialized Library interview questions

1. What kind of library attracts students, staff and parents?
2. How do you classify books in library?
3. How to maintain and clean book areas?
4. Does your library host any book clubs? If so, are they based on a certain theme or genre (ie, mystery)? How often do the groups meet?
5. How are books selected? Is a new one chosen at each meeting, or are they chosen for a number of meetings ahead of time?
6. What is library automation? How do you use and maintain a library automation system?
7. What are your daily work at library?
8. How do you develop and maintain a library collection that will meet the needs of our students and staff?
9. What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the groups have read?
10. How are book club meetings kept interesting and fun?
11. What advice would you give to other libraries that would like to start hosting book clubs, or provide resources for ones in the community?
12. What general advice would you give to book club members? Any specific ideas for making reading selections?
13. Are you able to work on several projects at the same time?
14. What kind of salary are you looking for position: assistant librarian ?
15. What factors besides salary are important in making up your mind on a position within different companies for position assistant librarian.
16.Can you provide me with more information about the library staff culture?
17.What are the most challenging aspects of this position?
18.What are the day-to-day responsibilities of the position?
19.What is the organisation’s policy about professional development?
20.Can you describe for me the responsibilities of the position?
21.What do you see the role of technology in the library?
22.In the past year, what has been the libraries’ biggest success?
23.How does the community perceive the library and its services?
24.How do the staff work together?
25.How can the librarian and teacher help each other when it comes to enhancing the education of the students?
26.How do you encourage students to read?
27.What development educational courses do you need to undertake to increase your skills?

 

You can see for further discussion following link also;

 

http://lislinks.com/forum/topics/preparing-for-the-interview?commen...

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