Abstract
Top performing competitive organizations, including Academic Libraries have a number of traits in common. Among these is a “library culture” that empowers people and gives them the freedom to make decisions and act; establish strong, meaningful values; supports and develops a shared identify and sense of community. The Academic Library that includes these traits will attract exceptional people with an attitude of accomplishment who fit the culture. These individuals are engaged and involved in the workforce and help create a safe and secure environment that allows people to do their best work. 
 
 The first step in either becoming a top performing, competitive organization or to remain one is to review and update the recruiting and hiring practices. Academic Libraries are no exception as they struggle to compete in today’s ever changing market place. Many libraries are losing their top candidates and limiting their ability to become innovative, trend-setting organizations. Traditionally conservative and risk averse in their hiring practices, many Academic Libraries keep positions open for long periods losing top candidates and limiting the quality of their internal talent. To remain, or become, competitive, Academic Libraries need to look internally to their own organizational lethargy to reassess and improve their recruitment structures. 
 
 Because Academic Libraries are part of the larger college or university environment they need to understand the role of the central Human Resource (HR) function in institutional recruitment and create opportunities to have more control over library recruitment. HR needs to be an ally not a hindrance in this process. Academic Libraries must also look externally to embrace new technologies and innovative recruitment concepts from other industries and modern human resource management to identify and attract the candidates that improve their operation.
Highlights
In most organizations, the abundance of effort and attention is given to the interview process, when the candidate is on campus and there is an effort to both get to know the qualifications of the candidate as well as give them a realistic preview of the job and the organization
When comparing academic libraries at a research university to those at a regional comprehensive university or community college, it is evident that research libraries are physically large, have staff that may number in the several hundred, are generally open longer
It is critical that the role of the central campus human resource (HR) function with regard to institutional recruitment is understood by library staff and that the library engage in all opportunities to have more control over library recruitment to ensure a successful outcome
Summary
Recruitment of new employees is a critical element in any academic library’s development into a top performing organization. Because academic libraries are part of the larger college or university environment, it is necessary for those in library administration to know and understand the campus “culture,” and all that entails, in order to effectively recruit and hire talented individuals. The context is critical - private vs public, secular vs religious, civil services vs non-civil service, union vs non-union - all of these details can impact how and where an institution recruits its employees.[2] It is important to remember that every academic library will recruit and hire employees, the processes used will vary greatly between institutions In this aspect, as in many others, “all politics are local.”. A critical step is to ensure policies are up to date and allow the flexibility to quickly get jobs posted and processed
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