[Publib] RE: Re: Residency requirements

[James Casey]

To the best of my knowledge, the Chicago Public Library has a residency requirement (all employees must reside within the City of Chicago) and even some of the suburban public libraries maintain such a requirement for their own comparatively small municipalities and/or townships for at least some key positions.   Such a requirement can severely cramp the ability of a Library to attract quality talent at the professional and executive levels.   I know of one instance where a highly qualified and experienced administrator was selected to be the director of one of the larger suburban libraries and he refused the offer because of the residency requirement.   He already held a fairly good job as director of another public library about 15 miles away and the salary differential provided by accepting the offer didn't offset the considerable hassle and expense of selling his current home and buying another amid this questionable housing market.   There have been several highly qualified folks I know who indicated that they didn't even apply for that otherwise excellent job specifically because of the residency requirement.

Despite a gigantic concentration of public libraries and qualified librarians in the metropolitan Chicago area, a search process that would otherwise be extremely advantageous for all parties concerned when it comes to finding the best qualified person to fit the job and not involve major moving expenses, could be absolutely derailed by a residency requirement amid a tricky housing/credit market.

James B. Casey - My own views
Director of Oak Lawn Public Library
ALA Council Member





From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Babel, Elisa (DCPL)
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 1:45 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Re: Residency requirements

I noticed an earlier thread on residency requirements.
If I can remember correctly from job searching three years ago, I believe the residency requirement for public librarians is throughout MA.  I once heard Philadelphia had a residency requirement for its public librarians.
I agree with earlier posters on the subject, it can be a problem.  Finding a place to live from online postings is the easy part.  It can be challenging if you don't know anyone there.
DC doesn't have a residency for its public librarians although certain job classes do.

Elisa Babel, MLS
Adult Librarian
Popular Library Division
Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library
901 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
"To the historian, libraries are food, shelter, and even muse."~ Barbara Tuchman

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