ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ARL Library Faculties and Their Meetings

Joan H. Worley Reference Librarian, Undergraduate Library University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee

Librarians at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) have held faculty status and rank since 1950. They enjoy the same benefits and share the same responsibilities as teaching faculty, with a few major exceptions: unlike teaching faculty, librarians work a 12-month contract year with 24 days of paid vacation; university requirements for research and scholarly activity are not stringently applied to library faculty; and library faculty governance is minimal within an administrative hierarchy of director, associate directors, and department heads. (The library faculty is involved in the administrative decision-making process in an advisory capacity, informally on any issue and formally in tenure and promotion decisions.) The faculty meets once each month during the academic year to hear occasional committee reports; presentations by speakers from within and without the library on professional concerns; policy announcements and clarification by the library administration; or any combination of these. Tenure and promotion deliberations are held at specially called meetings. Regular meetings are moderated or led by the chair or another member of the Faculty Program Committee, appointed by the director.

When the director of the library charged the Faculty Program Committee to review the purpose and scope of faculty meetings, in addition to the committee’s customary charge to plan program meetings for the year, the committee decided to investigate practices of other library faculties. It would be interesting, the committee thought, to know if faculty groups at other libraries meet regularly as a body, and if so, how their meetings are organized and what the subject matter is. A literature search yielded articles on faculty status per se and numerous studies on faculty status and compensation, faculty status and selected benefits, faculty status and publication, and so on. There were no recent articles on the organization of library faculties or their meetings, however.

To satisfy curiosity, the committee developed an informal questionnaire that was sent in February 1983 to the personnel librarians at 39 ABL libraries reporting faculty status for librarians.¹ Questions included the five following:

1. Does the library faculty meet on a regular basis? How often? Who chairs the meeting?

2. For what purpose does the library faculty meet? (Six items and “other” were listed, to be checked if applicable.)

3. Does the library faculty have any formal role in administrative decision-making?

4. Does the library faculty have elected officers?

5. Describe other library faculty activities, including sponsored publications, workshops, social events, etc.

Responses were received from 23 libraries (59%), and four enclosed the bylaws of their faculty organizations. Questionnaires were completed by library directors or deans (7), associate/assistant directors (8), personnel librarians (4), faculty chairs or other faculty members (3) ‚ and by an administrative intern (1).

Results.Most (83 %) of the library faculties met regularly. Three (13%) did not meet, and one respondent (4%) did not reply to the question. Six (32 %) met 1-3 times per year; five (26 %) 4-6 times per year; and eight (42 %) monthly. The director or dean chairs the meeting in twelve (63 %) of the libraries; elected chair in six (32 %); and one respondent (5 %) did not reply to the question.

Faculties met for a wide variety of purposes: discussion of issues, policies, and problems (100%), in-house programs of general professional interest (47%), programs presented by outside speakers (42%), decisions regarding appointment of new library faculty (10%), tenure and promotion deliberations (25 %), faculty business such as election of committee chairs or university governance representatives (65 %), and “other,” which included addenda of bylaw revision, committee reports, budget discussions, monthly reports from the director, and post-conference reports from faculty.

The questionnaire was flawed in at least one respect: its lack of definition of “formal role” in the third question, “Does the library faculty have any formal role in administrative decision-making?” Ten (44 %) said yes; twelve (52 %) said no, and one (4%) did not respond. However, seven (30%) added that the faculty has an informal advisory role, and these seven included both those who answered yes and those who answered no. Additional information noted by respondents mentioned faculty committees again and again, notably budget, policy and planning, travel, and automation committees.

Although the questionnaire was not designed to ascertain library governance, several respondents explained the role of standing committees within the faculty organization and/or the administrative hierarchy of the library. Additional unsolicited remarks indicated that committees and task force groups play a significant advisory role in library administration; moreover, one or more elected faculty representatives serve on executive or administrative policy committees in some libraries.

Sixteen (70 %) faculties have one or more elected officers. Seven (30%) have none. Elected committee chairs were not counted but were mentioned by respondents in both groups.

The last question on “other faculty activities” produced a long list that included workshops, sponsored publications, seminars, speakers, newsletters, and social events. Only three (13 %) respondents reported none, some noting that such activities are arranged by the library administration or other library units rather than by the faculty.

This informal survey was inadequate for any close examination of faculty organization in libraries; however, together with a 1979 survey of UTK faculty that solicited attitudes and preferences relevant to meeting frequency and topics, it provided a useful ground for discussions of the Faculty Program Committee. In May 1983 the committee recommended to the director and to the library faculty that a chair be elected with the following responsibilities: to call and preside at all meetings; to appoint a committee to plan programs; to effect promotion and tenure procedures in cooperation with the Personnel Librarian and the Director; to conduct elections for UTK Faculty Senator(s) and other elections, as needed; to ascertain and represent faculty views to the library administration, when such views are sought or when the faculty wishes such views to be put forward; to act as liaison for the library faculty with other departments, faculties, libraries, etc., locally and at other institutions, when such representation is required;and to appoint other committees and leaders as needed to assist in carrying out the duties of the office.

Further, the committee recommended that meetings continue to serve a variety of purposes, that they be held every four to six weeks, and that a time be set aside at each meeting for questions and reports from library faculty or administrators, as appropriate. Both recommendations were approved by the faculty and the library administration, and will be implemented in 1983-84.

The same survey, with the substitution of the word staff for faculty in each of the five questions, was later sent to the 49 ARL libraries reporting non-faculty status for professionals. Replies (28, or 57 %) generally reflected similar organizational patterns and functions, with two major differences: 1) Non-faculty professionals are less likely to meet regularly—59 % of non-faculty, 83 % of faculty meet regularly; and 2) fewer of the nonfaculty group have elected officers (50 %) than do faculty (70%).

The results of the two informal surveys are inconclusive—there are, of course, factors other than faculty status affecting meeting frequency, for example (size of staff being the most obvious) or group cohesion; nevertheless, they give rise to more questions and conjecture. A comprehensive study of the correlation between faculty status and librarians’ meetings and organization might produce more conclusive results. ■ ■

Notes

1. The 39 ABL libraries where librarians have faculty status were taken from Thomas G. English, “Librarian Status in the Eighty-Nine U.S. Academic Institutions of the Association of Besearch Libraries: 1982,” College & Research Libraries 44(1983): 199-211.