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South Pasadena trustees refine interview questions, set panels for library director search
Summary
Trustees discussed narrowing candidate questions, agreed to multiple interview panels so all trustees can participate, and asked the city manager''s office and recruiter to narrow the applicant pool before panel interviews in early December.
Trustees of the South Pasadena Library Board of Trustees on Nov. 18 continued work on the recruitment process for a new library director, agreeing to narrow and combine overlapping candidate questions and to participate across multiple interview panels rather than as a single full board.
The discussion centered on producing a concise set of open-ended prompts that would let finalists describe management experience, program design and how they would measure success. Trustees directed the subcommittee — Annie Chang Long and Dean Serwin — to meet with City Manager Todd Heilman and the recruiting firm to review applications and identify the candidates who will advance to panel interviews.
Board members said they expect a relatively large initial applicant pool and discussed organizing three panels so that no more than two trustees sit on any single panel. The board emphasized four topic areas it wants on the interview list: leadership and staff supervision at a small library, collaboration with other city departments (specifically the adjacent senior center), experience with fundraising and capital projects, and approaches to collections and intellectual freedom.
Trustees debated whether to require a strict scripted set of questions for all finalists or to allow standardized follow-ups to clarify or expand candidate answers. They settled on a shorter list of multi-part questions that encourage exemplars and metrics: for example, asking candidates to describe their experience running a library of comparable size, how they would "hit the ground running," and how they would measure program success.
The subcommittee will revise the draft question list, consolidate overlapping items and circulate a version to all trustees. Staff and the city will also poll trustee availability for interviews tentatively scheduled on Dec. 5 or Dec. 12; panels will be scheduled so the city manager and participating staff can attend. The board asked staff to confirm whether all panels must ask exactly the same scripted questions or whether standardized follow-ups will be permitted.
Next steps: the subcommittee meets with city staff to winnow applicants, staff will collect trustee availability, and the board will reconvene after interviews to debrief and, if necessary, consider returning finalists to the trustees or conducting a second round of interviews.
