Hey all – just an FYI. An “Office Hours” column from 2016 at Library Journal may be of interest.  It’s all about the questions we ask in interviews. Also see the response from SJSU School of Info grad Jessica Gilbert Redman. It’s in Wholehearted on page 65.

Please consider the following as part of your potential discovery sets for future interviews.

How do you keep learning? Describe your personal learning network (PLN). 

This gets to the heart of what I think makes a great librarian. The nuances of this answer could be telling. Unpack it a bit, too: What blogs do you read? Where do you look for answers about professional issues? Sure, the pages of LJ are an excellent start, but I would argue that a well-rounded future hire would be active and comfortable with a cultivated and well-curated PLN, both online and off. Describing it should be easy. I would want to hear about formal professional groups as well as informal ones. What benefits has your interviewee discovered in these networks?

What are some of your favorite books/TV shows/movies/podcasts? 

I think this can be very telling. Interest in “Cozy Detective Stories” or Stranger Things or the best of the best from the local film festival will come along for the job. I wouldn’t want it any other way. No one should ever be expected to be an expert on everything—that’s what readers’ advisory tools are for.