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When I had an interview it was much more formal than I expected; I was anticipating just a little one on one chat, but instead I was interviewwed by the head librarian and a bloke from the city council 
. To be fair it wasn't particularly daunting but it did throw me off a bit!
Basically they focused on my skills and what I could contribute to the library. Questions on computer skills, and the importance of libraries in the community and for children, were also asked. I'd recommend thinking about what situations you've been in that you can cite as examples of such skills, e.g. for the community question I think I said something about being a library prefect at school and experiencing kids getting out books and stuff for themselves, their siblings, that kinda thing. For the technology questions (they seem to be quite big on this btw) I just told them about my ICT GNVQ and the stuff that I did that pertained to the job (searching, the internet, pretty basic stuff really).
They also did an (unintentionally lol) amusing role-playing part, where they were a 'couple' coming into the library, and I had to recommend a book to them. This was where my English lit came into handy, I first recommended them a William Blake anthology,then of course they played devil's advocate and said "don't like poetry". Then I blabbed on about Catcher in the Rye and then the role play ended lol.
It was quite a lengthy interview, about 20 mins? Seemed long anyway. I didn't really prepare for it too much, I suppose though that I've applied for English at universities for 2 years running now so talking about books, in fact talking fluently and coherently overall, in interview situations is something I've done a lot of. If you're really keen on the job and care about libraries (and the community!! It always comes back to the community!) then hopefully that'll show through, and you'll be able to answer more easily as well.
Good luck! If you need any more tips or anything just ask
.
. To be fair it wasn't particularly daunting but it did throw me off a bit!Basically they focused on my skills and what I could contribute to the library. Questions on computer skills, and the importance of libraries in the community and for children, were also asked. I'd recommend thinking about what situations you've been in that you can cite as examples of such skills, e.g. for the community question I think I said something about being a library prefect at school and experiencing kids getting out books and stuff for themselves, their siblings, that kinda thing. For the technology questions (they seem to be quite big on this btw) I just told them about my ICT GNVQ and the stuff that I did that pertained to the job (searching, the internet, pretty basic stuff really).
They also did an (unintentionally lol) amusing role-playing part, where they were a 'couple' coming into the library, and I had to recommend a book to them. This was where my English lit came into handy, I first recommended them a William Blake anthology,then of course they played devil's advocate and said "don't like poetry". Then I blabbed on about Catcher in the Rye and then the role play ended lol.
It was quite a lengthy interview, about 20 mins? Seemed long anyway. I didn't really prepare for it too much, I suppose though that I've applied for English at universities for 2 years running now so talking about books, in fact talking fluently and coherently overall, in interview situations is something I've done a lot of. If you're really keen on the job and care about libraries (and the community!! It always comes back to the community!) then hopefully that'll show through, and you'll be able to answer more easily as well.
Good luck! If you need any more tips or anything just ask
.
I work part time in a library in Nottingham (have had the job nearly three years now!)
Obviously every where will be different but mine had a couple of sections. First was a 'trolley test' or something (can't remember exaclty what they called it). The had a trolley with some fiction books on and another with non-fiction books. I had to put both sets in order, so fiction are just in alphabetical order of surname, (just look out for double barrelled names, and names like 'Daphne Du Maurier' etc, which can trip people up.) There are usually a few with the same first letter so you have to look at the second one etc. Non-fic are normally in the dewey order (the numbers on the spine), which is pretty easy. I also had to fill out a cash form, which had various numbers in for denominations of money, I just add to add them up, again pretty easy really!
Then there was the interview (mine had three people, the senior library assistant for the library I would be at, the area librarian and someone from the council.) Questions were similar to Moniker, like her I was a library prefect at school, so they asked a bit about that. They wanted examples of what I could bring to the library, why I wanted the job, what type of person I felt I was (strengths and weaknesses etc). Also, talked about what I thought the role of libraries is/should be. Stuff about equal opps, they wanted examples of what the library had done/could done - things like a lift, hearing loop thing (can't remember the name of them!), large print books, spoken word, language line translation service, shelves low enough for everyone to be able to reach etc.
I didn't have a role play, but they did fish around for info on what books I had read etc. I have done my duke of edinburgh award and they asked me about what I had gained from that, and what I had done for it, they used that to lead onto what I like doing and as soon as I mentioned reading they jumped on it and asked what I liked reading. Mentioned a few books, which they talked fairly 'casually' about. I would guess though that a lot of people would talk about books at a library interview because they think they should, and it felt like they were checking that I wasn't making them up. Obviously, of anything like that comes up just talk about books you have read, not things you think will look good.
Thats all I can think of! As moniker said, ask if you have any more questions!
Obviously every where will be different but mine had a couple of sections. First was a 'trolley test' or something (can't remember exaclty what they called it). The had a trolley with some fiction books on and another with non-fiction books. I had to put both sets in order, so fiction are just in alphabetical order of surname, (just look out for double barrelled names, and names like 'Daphne Du Maurier' etc, which can trip people up.) There are usually a few with the same first letter so you have to look at the second one etc. Non-fic are normally in the dewey order (the numbers on the spine), which is pretty easy. I also had to fill out a cash form, which had various numbers in for denominations of money, I just add to add them up, again pretty easy really!
Then there was the interview (mine had three people, the senior library assistant for the library I would be at, the area librarian and someone from the council.) Questions were similar to Moniker, like her I was a library prefect at school, so they asked a bit about that. They wanted examples of what I could bring to the library, why I wanted the job, what type of person I felt I was (strengths and weaknesses etc). Also, talked about what I thought the role of libraries is/should be. Stuff about equal opps, they wanted examples of what the library had done/could done - things like a lift, hearing loop thing (can't remember the name of them!), large print books, spoken word, language line translation service, shelves low enough for everyone to be able to reach etc.
I didn't have a role play, but they did fish around for info on what books I had read etc. I have done my duke of edinburgh award and they asked me about what I had gained from that, and what I had done for it, they used that to lead onto what I like doing and as soon as I mentioned reading they jumped on it and asked what I liked reading. Mentioned a few books, which they talked fairly 'casually' about. I would guess though that a lot of people would talk about books at a library interview because they think they should, and it felt like they were checking that I wasn't making them up. Obviously, of anything like that comes up just talk about books you have read, not things you think will look good.
Thats all I can think of! As moniker said, ask if you have any more questions!
Cathie86
I work part time in a library in Nottingham (have had the job nearly three years now!)
Obviously every where will be different but mine had a couple of sections. First was a 'trolley test' or something (can't remember exaclty what they called it). The had a trolley with some fiction books on and another with non-fiction books. I had to put both sets in order, so fiction are just in alphabetical order of surname, (just look out for double barrelled names, and names like 'Daphne Du Maurier' etc, which can trip people up.) There are usually a few with the same first letter so you have to look at the second one etc. Non-fic are normally in the dewey order (the numbers on the spine), which is pretty easy. I also had to fill out a cash form, which had various numbers in for denominations of money, I just add to add them up, again pretty easy really!
Then there was the interview (mine had three people, the senior library assistant for the library I would be at, the area librarian and someone from the council.) Questions were similar to Moniker, like her I was a library prefect at school, so they asked a bit about that. They wanted examples of what I could bring to the library, why I wanted the job, what type of person I felt I was (strengths and weaknesses etc). Also, talked about what I thought the role of libraries is/should be. Stuff about equal opps, they wanted examples of what the library had done/could done - things like a lift, hearing loop thing (can't remember the name of them!), large print books, spoken word, language line translation service, shelves low enough for everyone to be able to reach etc.
I didn't have a role play, but they did fish around for info on what books I had read etc. I have done my duke of edinburgh award and they asked me about what I had gained from that, and what I had done for it, they used that to lead onto what I like doing and as soon as I mentioned reading they jumped on it and asked what I liked reading. Mentioned a few books, which they talked fairly 'casually' about. I would guess though that a lot of people would talk about books at a library interview because they think they should, and it felt like they were checking that I wasn't making them up. Obviously, of anything like that comes up just talk about books you have read, not things you think will look good.
Thats all I can think of! As moniker said, ask if you have any more questions!
Obviously every where will be different but mine had a couple of sections. First was a 'trolley test' or something (can't remember exaclty what they called it). The had a trolley with some fiction books on and another with non-fiction books. I had to put both sets in order, so fiction are just in alphabetical order of surname, (just look out for double barrelled names, and names like 'Daphne Du Maurier' etc, which can trip people up.) There are usually a few with the same first letter so you have to look at the second one etc. Non-fic are normally in the dewey order (the numbers on the spine), which is pretty easy. I also had to fill out a cash form, which had various numbers in for denominations of money, I just add to add them up, again pretty easy really!
Then there was the interview (mine had three people, the senior library assistant for the library I would be at, the area librarian and someone from the council.) Questions were similar to Moniker, like her I was a library prefect at school, so they asked a bit about that. They wanted examples of what I could bring to the library, why I wanted the job, what type of person I felt I was (strengths and weaknesses etc). Also, talked about what I thought the role of libraries is/should be. Stuff about equal opps, they wanted examples of what the library had done/could done - things like a lift, hearing loop thing (can't remember the name of them!), large print books, spoken word, language line translation service, shelves low enough for everyone to be able to reach etc.
I didn't have a role play, but they did fish around for info on what books I had read etc. I have done my duke of edinburgh award and they asked me about what I had gained from that, and what I had done for it, they used that to lead onto what I like doing and as soon as I mentioned reading they jumped on it and asked what I liked reading. Mentioned a few books, which they talked fairly 'casually' about. I would guess though that a lot of people would talk about books at a library interview because they think they should, and it felt like they were checking that I wasn't making them up. Obviously, of anything like that comes up just talk about books you have read, not things you think will look good.
Thats all I can think of! As moniker said, ask if you have any more questions!
Ah, one problem is that I don't really read books (only in my literature lessons). And if I do, they tend to be history books. I am not really up-to-date with the top books and such.
Thanks for the advice
^^ I wouldn't worry too much about that, I got the feeling in my interview that they were more bothered about if you were honest about you intrests etc, and didn't just include reading because you felt that you should!
There are a fair few people at the library I work at who don't really read at all. In fact the best one I heard was a guy who worked on saturdays with me (he was about 19 I think), someone rang up and I could only hear one side of the conversation obviously, but could see he was searching for jane eyre, but had put it as the author and was trying to tell the customer that no library in nottingham had a book written by jane eyre and wanted to know if it was a new book. In the end after this had been going on for a couple of minutes I managed to sort the computer screen out so he could see what it was they actually wanted and could then tell the person we had loads of copies of jane eyre. I was pretty surprised that he had *never* heard of jane eyre at all - but maybe thats just me.
Anyway...my point is, it shouldnt be a problem if you don't know much about books etc, just don't try and make out you do if you don't. They will see through it straight away and will just make you look worse. Try and focus on your good points and what you can bring to the library instead.
There are a fair few people at the library I work at who don't really read at all. In fact the best one I heard was a guy who worked on saturdays with me (he was about 19 I think), someone rang up and I could only hear one side of the conversation obviously, but could see he was searching for jane eyre, but had put it as the author and was trying to tell the customer that no library in nottingham had a book written by jane eyre and wanted to know if it was a new book. In the end after this had been going on for a couple of minutes I managed to sort the computer screen out so he could see what it was they actually wanted and could then tell the person we had loads of copies of jane eyre. I was pretty surprised that he had *never* heard of jane eyre at all - but maybe thats just me.
Anyway...my point is, it shouldnt be a problem if you don't know much about books etc, just don't try and make out you do if you don't. They will see through it straight away and will just make you look worse. Try and focus on your good points and what you can bring to the library instead.
Hey, i had an interview at my local library yesterday and it wasn't too bad. They only asked if i got on with kids and the elderly, what work experience i have and what i was currently studying. It was formal but relaxed and the people there were very nice. I was probably only there 15 minutes if that.
Hope that helps someone and that i get the job!!!! lol
Hope that helps someone
and that i get the job!!!! lolWoah, it must have went better than I thought, they rang me up today to offer me the job! 
The position is for a saturday library assistant and they said its only 6 hours, 9-4 with a one hour break for lunch, and that its £6 per hour. Not bad for my first real job! I'm only 16 too.
So yeah, good luck to anyone going for a library position
Jamhead
The position is for a saturday library assistant and they said its only 6 hours, 9-4 with a one hour break for lunch, and that its £6 per hour. Not bad for my first real job! I'm only 16 too.
So yeah, good luck to anyone going for a library position
Jamhead
lol. that was quick. your posts were only 6 hours apart. congrats
Jamhead
I'm curious to know whether I will be paid weekly or monthly...
Well it may be different where you are, but for me I get paid every month (I work Saturdays in a library in case you didn't guess!)
Libraries seem to pay pretty well as far as I can work out, I get £8 an hour! You can use it to annoy your friends as much as possible.
Jamhead
Haha thanks
I'm curious to know whether I will be paid weekly or monthly... I guess the employer will tell me that lol
I'm curious to know whether I will be paid weekly or monthly... I guess the employer will tell me that lol
how much do you get paid jamhead
hermaphrodite
how much do you get paid jamhead
According to the letter I got the other day I get £6.00 an hour.
Just had 5 nasty forms to fill in. I guess it's because it's a council job or something. Took hours! lol
I reckon I'll be starting after new year or something, doubt they will make me start so close to christmas, and there's apparently a 2 hour training thing beforehand aswell. Eek!
Can't wait though
And as for annoying friends with the pay Peanut, it really does work hahaRelated discussions
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