Candidates' Perspective on the Academic Library Interview Experience during COVID-19

Academic libraries have made varying changes to the librarian interview, owing to the swing to more virtual interviews that were necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed recent candidates for academic librarian positions about their academic library interview experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and received responses from 137 individuals who had applied for positions between March 2020 and April 2022. Our respondent feedback captured candidate perceptions that applying candidate-centered design concepts to interviews, centering the process around the needs of the applicant, and increasing transparency is worth considering to provide a better, more accommodating experience for the candidate and greater accessibility in academic library hiring practices.