Welcome Aboard: A Program for Improving the New Hire Experience for Academic Librarians

Abstract

New hire orientation often consists of a checklist of tasks but does little to integrate a new employee to the organization. Previous research indicates that organizational socialization is key to successful onboarding, but few models exist for libraries to support this aspect of a new hire’s experience. This article shares an onboarding program adopted by one academic library and discusses the results of an assessment of the new program for newly hired librarians. Findings indicate that a structured onboarding program can improve organizational socialization during a librarian’s first months on the job.