Ask Marian by Marian the Librarian

Do you have a question for Marian? Send it to the editor, Deanna Briggs, at dbriggs@copyright.com to forward to Marian.

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Dear Marian,

For the first time, I'm in charge of hiring someone. I started reading through the huge stack of resumes and all I could think about is how unbelievable some of these people's resumes are. Of course, I immediately started thinking about how many people lie on their resumes. How can I verify someone's entire employment history? Am I just being paranoid in thinking that I need to do so?

Checking Sources

Dear Checking Sources,

Hiring someone can be very complicated. It can be difficult sometimes to get a feeling for someone's honesty based on what's on paper. You're probably familiar with the cliche "It looked good on paper." Checking the employment history of everyone who applies, and sometimes even top candidates, can be very time consuming. Many people choose not to do it, which is why some people can get away with lying on their resumes.

Overall, most job candidates are honest. Stretching the truth about job duties a little bit to better fit the description of an advertised job is probably far more common than outright lying about positions and duties. Two good ways to check on someone's employment history are to talk to the person and check her references. Most employers only do that with the finalists, not everyone who applies for the job. You might be able to tell during an interview whether someone is lying about work history if she seems uneasy talking about past positions or what she describes does not match what is on her resume. A reference might be able to tell you about her duties in a past position, but might not know what she has written on her resume. If that person's account of the candidate's job does not sound like what is on her resume, you might have caught her fibbing.

The important thing is for you and your place of employment to do enough investigating of top candidates and the person to whom you offer the job that you feel like you have made a sound decision based on the truth.

Good luck,

Marian

Dear Marian,

I switched from the public library world to a corporate library a few months ago and I'm still learning a lot. Do you think I should celebrate National Library Week in a corporate setting?

Why Let Go of Great Library Days?

Dear Why Let Go of Great Library Days?

Congratulations on your new job in corporate librarianship!

While there are lots of public library practices that might not make sense in a corporate setting, why not celebrate National Library Week (April 13-19)? This year, it’s even the 50th anniversary. Many corporate and special librarians find ways to mark the week that are quite suitable to their environments, like hosting a library open house, playing some kind of trivia about the company or library, holding special training sessions, or displaying special items from the collection. Like all librarians, corporate librarians should be doing what they can to promote the profession at large and the use of libraries.

Best wishes,

Marian