The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners' New Library Director Search Process Guide

Example 1: Trustees hired with a search consultant, made a recommendation to Town Manager who had final appointing authority

Interview 1 (Screening): Virtual 20-minute virtual interview with Assistant Town Manager, mix of town department heads, human resources director, and some Trustees (6-7 people total in the panel)

Interview 2 (Screening): Virtual Interview, 20-minute Presentation on Libraries and Community and 1 hour of Questions with the same mix minus the Assistant Town Manager

Interview 3 (Final): In-person with 3 panel

• Panel 1: Town Manager and Assistant Town Manager
• Panel 2: Staff
• Panel 3: human resources Director and mix of Board members from Friends, Foundation, Trustees
  About 30-45 minutes with each panel, a total of about 2 hours.

6 days after Interview 3: Call for References and Candidate informed they were the selected candidate

Example 2: Broad of Trustees appointing authority

Interview 1 (Screening): 3 members of the Board of Trustees, the acting director, and the human resources director. About 1 hour.

Interview 2 (Final): 3 members of the Board of Trustees, the acting director, and the human resources director, along with the President of the Foundation. About 1 hour.

Example 3: Trustees hired with a search consultant, made a recommendation to Town Manager who had final appointing authority

Interview 1 (Screening): Virtual interview with town department head, the director search consultant, and four trustees (the trustee personnel committee)

References were checked prior to the final interview (this is not typical)

Interview 2 (Final): In-person tour of library and introduction to library staff. Coordinated by the library director. I met with the department heads of each department and was given a few minutes to talk with each.

Interview 3 (Final): Virtual interview with Board of Trustees in Open Meeting. Meeting included assistant director, library admin assistant, a staff member, and an IT staffer. Meetings were streamed live.

7 days after Interview 3: The Trustees met, deliberated, and selected a new Director. Contract negotiations began.

Learn more about the steps of the Action Plan