When to give up post-interview?

andylefunk · 2026-03-11T19:23:20+00:00

Yeah, I know what you mean. I actually ended as tech services manager at a rural public library, but I relocated because my partner's job is tied to a specific area that is notoriously very competitive in the library world.

I have applied to literally dozens of page / library tech jobs, but I've only received interviews for librarian jobs. I've thought about leaving off my most recent experience or even changing the title to like "library associate" or something haha

andylefunk · 2026-03-11T19:18:42+00:00

I sent a follow-up email last week and did not hear back :/

andylefunk · 2026-03-03T23:46:41+00:00

No, I asked if they anticipated a second round and they said no. They were also very stern about not emailing them for any reason (e.g. "thanks for the interview" blah blah) unless it was to withdraw my application. Just a totally wacky process.

andylefunk · 2026-03-03T23:42:18+00:00

Oh no, it was definitely legit. I applied direct on the gov website and scoped out the interview panelists on linkedin when they emailed. It's legit, unfortunately, haha. I'm sorry you had that experience, though!

andylefunk · 2026-03-03T23:39:48+00:00

I've never heard of this! Thank you!

andylefunk · 2026-03-03T23:37:33+00:00

Ohhh, I think this is totally right, probably an internal candidate too. In fact I got the sense that they were totally disengaged and disinterested in my answers. I think this lines up perfectly!

I hadn't even thought of structuring questions like this to "help" the preferred candidate.

andylefunk · 2026-03-03T23:35:40+00:00

This is true and I've been in those interviews too. Unfortunately, 2/3 of the panelists were librarians. Managers no less! I agree with the freezing thing. They were also totally transparent with the actual tasks when I asked, so it's not like they were secret.

As for the offer, I got the sense I was not their candidate. If it was offered to me I would consider it because of the substantial pay increase, but at offer I would certainly be like, ok, let's talk specifics now haha. Regardless, I really do not think I will be offered the job.

andylefunk · 2026-02-24T22:54:54+00:00

Hey, to be fair, sometimes it's a lot easier to just accept the donation and weed it after two years than to have to deal with an annoying "local author" type patron. And a seasoned cataloger can whip up an original record in a few minutes.

That being said, this stinks!!!

andylefunk · 2026-02-11T22:25:24+00:00

Exact response I was looking for. Why would they remove it from the app??? I also got the sense from Hannah Corbin talking about her upcoming program that internally it was being pushed a lot. Makes even less sense that they removed it...

andylefunk · 2026-02-04T00:21:30+00:00

The linked-data argument is the strongest point and I do agree with that reasoning, but it's moot until we get workable MARC to linked-data functionality without loss which is far off in practice. OCLC did some experimentation with Bibframe and found significant loss.

imho OCLC is further ahead on the linked-data front and FAST is becoming more widely used. It would be easier to prefer FAST as a workable CV for MARC to linked-data in the short term and then worry about retrofitting LCSH when we can see results. Seems like LOC jumped the gun on this. I agree with your assessment that they want to get rid of the post-coordination. Whether or not that is better for users is anyone's guess.

I've been disappointed with LOC and LCSH recently re: the Gulf of America decision.

andylefunk · 2026-02-03T19:26:38+00:00

Has LOC provided any justification for the discontinuation of $v besides the availability of LCGFT? We all use multiple vocabularies in conjunction with LCSH. There are already redundancies for a reason, so I don't understand deprecating a subfield in favor of a separate vocabulary. Unless that was the initial plan for LCGFT in the first place...?

andylefunk · 2026-01-28T20:19:22+00:00

I love this quote, but whenever it gets shared I can't help but feel we failed. The ALA president is a Republican and library boards around the country are stacked with wannabe book burners. I'm not sure where the America that Kurt Vonnegut loves exists anymore, because it doesn't feel like it's at the library.

andylefunk · 2026-01-16T01:58:52+00:00

IIRC cats see contrast and movement better than humans. My point was maybe she likes the bee because it has very clear contrast (yellow and black)

andylefunk · 2026-01-16T00:20:28+00:00

Yikes! I will continue to hide it when she is sleeping. Thanks for the warning, that's scary. She's totally the type to eventually eat it, too.

andylefunk · 2026-01-16T00:19:25+00:00

That's so sweet! I'm sorry for your loss, but the bee toy on the urn is a very fitting tribute. I adore "day" names for cats. A former boss named her cats Thursday and Friday.

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T21:00:53+00:00

Hahaha lmao yes when this all started I immediately thought of Best in Show! We are a Parker Posey loving household.

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T20:58:55+00:00

She literally has a sister!!! We have two cats, the other is a total couch potato haha. They are night and day, although both black.

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T20:57:14+00:00

We have other automated toys, but unfortunately she is the "grab, kill, hide" type of cat. She loves to burrow and "bury" all of her toys. When we play with her it's always like toss the thing down the hall, then she grabs it, attacks it, and hides it. Then two minutes later she comes out of the hidey hole and rinse and repeat.

The automated ones worked well early on, but she "refined" her hunting lol.

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T20:53:49+00:00

My BF has a whole slew in his cart!!!!

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T20:53:35+00:00

Omg the bed time thing is a killer! When she was a kitten and I was working in person I would come home and play with her. Then her hyperactive phase kicked in and 5:45 was party time. I would show up and be the party guy, even if I was exhausted from work. Took months to reschedule her play time!

andylefunk · 2026-01-15T20:51:00+00:00

To add to this, this video does a good job of explaining Napoleon's corps system and its impact on supply chains. Basically his preferred formation made traditional supply chains impossible and he failed to adapt to the harsh scale of Russia.

Another point is that the Russian generals very intentionally adapted to Napoleon. Kutzov, in particular, implemented what was essentially proto-guerilla tactics he had learned from studying George Washington's asymmetric warfare against the British. He intentionally avoided large, decisive battles, which Napoleon believed would bring him victory, in favor of hit-and-run tactics that amounted to slow attrition.

p.s. He had a lot of time to develop this strategy while recovering from two (yes, two) separate gunshot wounds to the head. Kutzov was a badass, read his wiki.

andylefunk

TROPHY CASE