Teen librarian, second interview

Scheduling nightmares aside, this was actually quite a nice interview. It's the second interview for the position, and I think that's reflected in the kind of questions they asked (more scenarios and hypotheticals). Three person panel, one of whom was a teen volunteer. 45 minute phone call.

• Give an impromptu book talk. It can be anything, aimed at any teen.


• What makes a summer reading program successful?


• Teens come to the library with lots of energy after school. We've tried having a homework area, what other suggestions do you have for after school activities?


• Our teen collection consists of books and DVDs. You have $8500 to spend annually, what materials, sources, and criteria would you use to select materials?


• (the obligatory disruptive teens question...) Some teens are making noise and misbehaving in the library, how do you handle the situation?


• Hypothetical situation: You have some teen volunteers who come in for a two hour shift once a week. You don't really have enough for them to do, and one volunteer is showing up for all the shifts (in addition to his/her assigned shift). What do you do?


• Describe a situation where you have worked in a team. Do you prefer working in teams or independently?


• Hypothetical situation: A teen comes in and asks for help finding information on the "great dismal swamp." You've checked the catalog and didn't find anything. What do you do?


• A parent and teen come up to you with a question. The parent wants the teen to read more "classics," while the teen isn't really interested in reading, even though she has no difficulty reading at that level.

The thing with scenario questions is, I think it's important to figure out what they're really asking. When I heard the "great dismal swamp" question, I realized, oh, this is the reference interview question. The next one with the parent and the classics was obviously the reader's advisory question. Don't get hung up on the particulars of the scenario.

I had a book in mind for the book talk before the interview even started. I made sure it was a book I really liked, and something that I'd read recently so it would be fresh in my mind.