Recourses over broken academic search
October 21, 2017 11:15 PM Subscribe
How to ascertain and pursue options related to broken promises and possible discrimination in academic library management job search?
My wife works at a specialized academic library in California. Prior to the departure of the director and the assistant director, she performed the functions of the assistant director. After the departure of the assistant director, she was named as interim assistant director. She was assured that filling the position was being fast-tracked, and when a new director was hired, that director assured her that she was in line to be formally appointed assistant director.
After over a year of being told that this promotion was imminent, she declined to renew the contract that had appointed her as interim assistant as it became clear that with her working both that job and her primary job, there was no impetus to follow through on the promise of formal appointment. When she asked for the verbal commitments that had been made to her to be written down, she was told that was inappropriate.
The job search proceeded and, over the course of a year, ended with a failed search. Specifically, she was told that she could not be hired for the position because she lacked management experience.
After another eight months, another job search was initiated. Both my wife and her colleague from the department who had applied previously were discouraged from applying this time around. Both of the applicants whom have been invited for interview by the search committee also fail to meet the same criteria that my wife was explicitly told prevented her from being hired, but the gossip is that it has been decided that this job search cannot fail again, and one of them will be hired.
Outside of the formal process, my wife has been told that one primary knock against her is that she is more blunt and aggressive in communication than a woman should be. This may be complicated by the fact that it has been women who have told her this.
With the belief that one of the less-qualified candidates is due to be hired, my wife would like to explore her options regarding labor law.
My wife works at a specialized academic library in California. Prior to the departure of the director and the assistant director, she performed the functions of the assistant director. After the departure of the assistant director, she was named as interim assistant director. She was assured that filling the position was being fast-tracked, and when a new director was hired, that director assured her that she was in line to be formally appointed assistant director.
After over a year of being told that this promotion was imminent, she declined to renew the contract that had appointed her as interim assistant as it became clear that with her working both that job and her primary job, there was no impetus to follow through on the promise of formal appointment. When she asked for the verbal commitments that had been made to her to be written down, she was told that was inappropriate.
The job search proceeded and, over the course of a year, ended with a failed search. Specifically, she was told that she could not be hired for the position because she lacked management experience.
After another eight months, another job search was initiated. Both my wife and her colleague from the department who had applied previously were discouraged from applying this time around. Both of the applicants whom have been invited for interview by the search committee also fail to meet the same criteria that my wife was explicitly told prevented her from being hired, but the gossip is that it has been decided that this job search cannot fail again, and one of them will be hired.
Outside of the formal process, my wife has been told that one primary knock against her is that she is more blunt and aggressive in communication than a woman should be. This may be complicated by the fact that it has been women who have told her this.
With the belief that one of the less-qualified candidates is due to be hired, my wife would like to explore her options regarding labor law.
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Libraries are collapsing these days. My spouse is a retired academic law library director. I have watched the field shift and twist. The AALL is always a good resource - assuming that the librarian is not already specialized in a differing field.
posted by grolaw at 12:26 AM on October 22, 2017 [1 favorite]