Update: Law Library Job Interview & Library School

Wow – it’s been almost a solid three months since I last updated this blog! Time really flies.

As promised (to myself), I’ve been really buckling down in library school and at my job in the law library. The previous semester, I struggled to balance family and motherhood, school, work, and my own self-care (if any). Since then, I’ve been working very hard to focus on being fully present wherever I was needed; this meant reducing my screen time (sorry, social media), keeping an organized yet flexible agenda, and creating workflows to juggle multiple work and school projects. This has done wonders for my productivity! I’m so happy classes are finished, and I’m rewarding myself by taking the summer off.

I also went through my first full-day academic law librarian interview. I love my current part-time position, so when a full-time reference librarian position opened up I didn’t hesitate to apply! I was thrilled to get past an initial Skype interview. The days leading up to the second interview were full of anxiety: What legal topic will I tackle during my presentation? How do I impress people I already work with? How am I going to appear graceful while nervously eating lunch with the search committee?! I made myself a spreadsheet of commonly asked law library interview questions along with my answers, and read up on law library interviews to get a feel for what I could expect.

An admittedly creepy representation of what a panel interview could possibly look like. They’re smiling, but what are they thinking?

Thankfully, the interview went well. I took deep breaths before answering every question, maintained appropriate eye contact, and even told a few light jokes. For me, the most beneficial law library interview prep work was reading current news and hot topics relating to law librarianship. These are my favorite news sources, and being an active reader really came in handy for answering multiple questions:

• AALL’s KnowItAALL newsletter
• LLSDC’s Law Library Lights
• the RIPS Law Librarian Blog
• the Appellate Advocacy Blog
• Legal Research is Easy
• the Ginger Law Librarian; and
• the Law Librarian Blog.

The day was very long, but time passed by quickly. I was happy that: a) I wore comfortable shoes and business clothing that didn’t make me feel stuffy; and b) I organized and wrote down my thoughts and the strengths I wanted to emphasize at least a week before the interview. I felt like I had an internal guide throughout the day.

I will update everyone soon about the position. Cheers to summer!