Library and information services aptitude

About this practice suite

This suite prepares candidates for library and information services aptitude selection in the education and educational support sector with 5 skill areas: reading comprehension, data checking and clerical accuracy, verbal reasoning, customer-service judgment and critical thinking. Every question was written by Novus editors for this suite — none are taken from live or leaked exams — and the full bank holds 52 scored questions across three modes, plus 8 reserve questions used to vary repeat attempts. Answer keys never ship to the browser: your answers are scored server-side, and results stay on your device.

Skills this suite practises

• Reading comprehension — Understanding passages, instructions, policies, technical material, and workplace documents.
• Data checking and clerical accuracy — Matching, filing, coding, record checking, and identifying discrepancies.
• Verbal reasoning — Drawing conclusions from written information without relying on outside assumptions.
• Customer-service judgment — Service recovery, communication, escalation, and policy application.
• Critical thinking — Evaluating evidence, assumptions, arguments, credibility, and alternative explanations.

Sample questions from the guided bank

Two of the 10 guided-practice questions, shown exactly as they appear in a session. Answers and explanations are not printed here — keys stay on the server — so open guided practice to answer them and see how you did.

1. A patron asks for 'that red book on WWII from last year' with no title. Best first reference move?

   • A. Conduct a brief reference interview: known facts, format, date cues, then search the catalog
   • B. Guess a bestseller and walk away
   • C. Tell them to use only Google
   • D. Refuse help because the query is vague

2. Call numbers on spine and catalog disagree for the same barcode. Best clerical action?

   • A. Ignore the mismatch
   • B. Flag the item, correct the record or relabel after verification, and keep the item from circulating until fixed
   • C. Change the catalog to match whichever looks nicer
   • D. Discard both numbers

Practice modes and timing

Guided practice is untimed-feeling and instructional; the mini-test is a short timed check; the full simulation mirrors a complete sitting. All three draw on separate question sets, so moving up a mode never repeats what you practised.

Study outline

Read the study outline for this suite’s skills, timings, and recommended lessons on one printable page, or download its standalone HTML file. The printable page can also be saved as a PDF from your browser.