CUNY Librarians and Faculty Status: Past, Present, and Future
Librarians in the City University of New York system have held faculty ranks since 1965, but their faculty status dates back two decades further. How did they achieve faculty status and faculty ranks? What role did their professional association (LACCNY, later known as LACUNY) play? Is their status secure?
Faculty status of librarians at U.S. research universities
Abstract This survey of 124 library directors reveals that 52% of U.S. research universities grant nominal faculty status to librarians. The proportion granting faculty status has declined since 2008. Further survey results are provided for 12 distinct components of faculty status: nominal faculty status, tenure, professor ranks, peer review, scholarship, faculty senate, other committees, sabbaticals, flexible work, 9-month year, research funds, and equivalent salaries. Certain components of faculty status are substantially more or less common than faculty status itself, and nominal faculty status does not correspond to a clear-cut set of working conditions, rights, or responsibilities. A 5-tier hierarchy of faculty status indicators can be identified, and factor analysis can be used to create a single faculty status index that fully represents 9 of the 12 components of faculty status. The individual components that correspond most closely to the faculty status index are peer review and sabbaticals—not nominal faculty status.
Assessing Technology-Based Projects for Promotion and/or Tenure in ARL Academic Libraries.
Little is known about how technology-based projects (computer software, articles in electronic journals, Internet-based materials, videotapes and audiotapes) are reviewed for promotion and/or tenure purposes in academic libraries. Reviewers might evaluate projects with traditional criteria or attempt to revise criteria to accommodate computer-related work. To address this issue in more detail, the authors conducted a study to assess how technology-based projects are evaluated in the promotion and/or tenure process for academic librarians in Association of Research Libraries. Survey results show that, while projects, particularly World Wide Web–based materials, are being evaluated in some ARL academic libraries, little has been developed as a core set of measures or assessments for promotion and/or tenure decisions.