Librarian & Archivist

Overview

The merit system

What these exams typically test

Civil service written tests usually measure more than raw subject recall—they test how you apply rules, prioritize, and work under time pressure.

• Cataloging principles: MARC format structure, bibliographic description, authority control.
• Classification systems: Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress structures at a conceptual level.
• Reference interview: open and closed questions, clarifying the actual information need.
• Collection development: selection criteria, weeding principles, intellectual freedom.
• Intellectual freedom, censorship, and the Library Bill of Rights.
• User privacy and confidentiality: patron records, government requests for information.
• Records management: retention schedules, disposition authority, legal holds.
• Archival arrangement and description: provenance, original order, finding aids.
• Preservation concepts: environmental controls, handling procedures, reformatting decisions.
• Digital services: metadata schemas, digital preservation, electronic records management.
• Public services and outreach: programming, literacy instruction, community engagement.

Topic checklist

• MARC record structure: fields, indicators, subfields
• Dewey Decimal Classification: main classes and subdivision logic
• Library of Congress Classification: letter schedule overview
• Reference interview techniques: open questions, closed questions, follow-up
• Intellectual freedom: ALA policies, challenged materials procedures
• Patron privacy: circulation records, legal holds, and government requests
• Collection development: selection criteria, budget allocation, weeding
• Archival principles: provenance, original order, appraisal
• Finding aids and descriptive standards: EAD, DACS
• Records management: retention schedules, legal holds, disposition
• Digital preservation: OAIS model concepts, bit-level vs. content preservation
• Metadata schemas: Dublin Core, MODS, and their use cases

How to prepare

• Review the structure of a MARC record at a conceptual level—understand what the various field ranges represent (1xx for main entries, 6xx for subjects, 7xx for added entries) rather than memorizing specific tag numbers.
• Practice reference interview scenarios: read a patron's initial question, identify what additional information you would need, and select the most effective follow-up question. Focus on moving from a broad topic to a specific, answerable need.
• Study the American Library Association's positions on intellectual freedom, patron privacy, and challenged materials. Exam ethics scenarios are almost always resolvable by applying these established professional positions.
• Review records management fundamentals: what a retention schedule contains, how legal holds override normal disposition, and when records are eligible for destruction.
• Study archival principles (provenance and original order) in the context of processing a collection. Practice applying these principles to scenario questions: should you rearrange a collection for user convenience? (No—maintain original order.)
• Read publicly available finding aids from government archives (e.g., the National Archives catalog) to see how description standards apply in practice.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating cataloging questions as requiring memorized tag numbers or class numbers. Civil service exams test the logic and principles of cataloging—why a record is constructed a certain way—not specific memorized values.
• Answering reference interview items based on what you would personally recommend without first completing the interview process. The exam consistently rewards identifying the patron's actual need before recommending any resource.
• Applying common-sense approaches to records disposition that bypass the retention schedule. On government exams, destroying records without following the documented schedule is always wrong, even if the records appear obsolete.
• Confusing preservation and conservation. Preservation is the broader program (environment, policy, reformatting decisions); conservation is hands-on treatment of specific items.
• Skipping intellectual freedom and ethics scenarios because they seem straightforward. These items distinguish between correct professional behavior and well-intentioned but policy-violating responses.

Exam day strategy

• Reference interview questions: identify whether the patron's stated question is their real information need before selecting the answer. A patron asking a surface question may need something more specific—the reference process always clarifies before recommending.
• On cataloging questions, ask what function the described element serves in the catalog (to identify, describe, locate, or collocate) rather than trying to recall a specific rule number.
• For intellectual freedom scenarios, eliminate any answer that involves restricting access based on content, personal discomfort, or community pressure. The correct answer upholds access while following legal procedure.
• Records management items: the retention schedule is always the authority. Answers that dispose of records outside the schedule are wrong, even if the records are clearly no longer useful.
• Archival description questions: apply provenance first (keep records from one creator together) and original order second (maintain the arrangement the creator used).