College and Research Libraries Editorial Elysian Thoughts on Librarians as Faculty Preceding the American Library Asso- ciation Midwinter Conference in January 1992, the Association of College and Re- search Libraries (ACRL) Committee on Academic Status invited twelve aca- demic librarians to participate in a Think Tank on Faculty Status. The participants were Mignon Adams, Joan Giesecke, Kathy Jackson, Beverly Lynch, Olivia Madison, Bede Mitchell, Barbara Moran, Jim Murphy, Lester Pourciau, Gloriana St. Clair, Janet Steins, and Rebecca Watson-Boone. Think Tank Task Force Sub-Committee members were Irene Hoadley, Larry Oberg, Gemma DeVinney, Tom Patterson, and Mary Reichel. They assembled the Think Tank to identify strategic direc- tions for the Committee on Academic Status. Irene Hoadley and I made a few remarks to summon the sibyl. Maureen Sullivan, from the Association of Re- search Libraries (ARL), facilitated to keep the group on its Herculean task. This editorial reports the substance of the work: relationships with administra- tors and teaching faculty, tenure and its ramifications, and the roles of ACRL. One key relationship discussed was that between campus administrators and the libraries. Being seen as working in cooperation with the administration is a political priority for every college and university library director. On many campuses, serials price increases in the past decade have complicated this task even for the most accomplished library director. College and university admin- istrators continue to face the prospect of either supplying scarce additional finan- cial resources to libraries to cover serials cost increases or listening to faculty com- plain about a lack of support for essen- tial academic programs when serials cuts are instituted because of declining buying power. Like Cassandra, the li- brary director must again and again prophesy doom, only to see the prophe- cies ignored, then watch the anguish of a serials cancellation project with cam- pus reverberations. The causes of this Sisyphean endeavor are better understood by communica- tion with on-campus academic adminis- trators. Library directors who are faculty do this by working as peers with other administrators. Nonfaculty library direc- tors at some institutions do this by meeting regularly with a council of deans. The Think Tank's consensus was that being part of a legitimate, regular deans' meet- ing facilitates communication with other campus academic administrators. Think Tank participants also valued relationships with teaching faculty. Fac- ulty librarians serve as full voting mem- bers of the faculty senate and its com- mittees. On some campuses, librarians who are not faculty may have this same opportunity to participate in campus governance, but research has shown that that is frequently not the case. The forum of the faculty senate allows librarians to share the library's story through words and actions. Doing so earns them, and the profession they represent, respect. Because tenure is no longer being granted to academics in higher educa- tion in Great Britain, discussion about not continuing that system has once again surfaced in the United States. The discussion is particularly relevant now because, with the country in a recession, job security has become a strong concern for librarians and teaching faculty. Yet 7 8 College & Research Libraries Think Tank participants believed that if tenure no longer exists for teaching fac- ulty, then librarians must share that in- creased anxiety about job security. Think Tank members also believed that librarians should maintain control over the process of judging merit in librarianship, professional activities, re- search, and service. The process calls for a faculty peer review committee to give an initial recommendation on whether a faculty member should continue in an ap- pointment. Non-faculty librarians fre- quently use the same process. Difficulties arise when teaching faculty are judged by a publish or perish standard with little credit for excellence in teaching. However, Think Tank members agreed that both teaching and librarianship are hard to judge by anything more challenging than numbers of assignments, impressions of colleagues, and subjective analysis of stu- dents. Assessment of quality performance needs more thought and research for both teachers and librarians. Librarians as professionals must edu- cate academic administrators and fac- ulty colleagues about the value and contribution of librarianship to the en- tire education process. Several' recent ACRL presidents have identified dia- logue with campus constituents as a high priority. And the ARL has worked to increase the visibility of librarians in the education press. The Think Tank members reiterated the necessity of com- municating the message of libraries and librarianship beyond the profession. The Think Tank ascribed to the convic- tion that ACRL played several key roles in furthering a goal of faculty status for librarians. These roles are publication, continuing education, and defense of those with threatened faculty status. PUBLICATION Professional organizations foster change, establish professional mores, and direct the growth of the discipline through the publication of a professional literature. Through the process of selecting an edi- tor, editorial board members, and refer- ees, association officers imprint their vision of the future on the permanent January 1993 literature in their field. C&RL plays out a role apropos of librarians as faculty by providing a top-ranked journal to legit- imize and disseminate research done by librarians. CONTINUING EDUCATION ACRL does not depend on publication alone to keep member competencies cur- rent. The association also sponsors a large number of programs on local, re- gional, and national levels. In these forums, members have an opportunity to discuss their research, to share strategies on common problems, and to cooperate to improve library services. The Committee on Academic Status may increase its offer- ings to members by focusing in future pro- grams on how to do research, how to prepare understandable librarian dossi- ers, and how to validate librarianship as a substitute for teaching in promotion and tenure evaluations. DEFENSES In the open forum of the Think Tank, representatives from two campuses re- ported on attempts by new provosts to change librarians' status from faculty to staff. The Academic Status Committee typically provides guidance for librari- ans in such situations. Proven defense strategies are suggested and attempts are made to discover the cause of the threat. ACRL may send letters outlining the Association's position and remind- ing administrators of the consequences of their actions. Think Tank members believed that more activities such as these should be developed to educate provosts about the benefits of having librarians who are faculty. Recently, ARL published Spec. Kit 182, titled Academic Status for Librarians in ARL Libraries.1 In the flyer, editor Jack Siggins reports that sixty-six out of ninety-nine responding ARL libraries have faculty or academic status for librarians who are, thus, eligible for tenure or continuing appointment. The extent to which these numbers reflect the circumstances of college and other uni- versity librarians is not known. With ACRL's stated goal in mind that all aca- demic librarians should be faculty, the Think Tank members concluded the day by working on a vision statement. That vision is to achieve parity with teaching faculty at all academic institutions. For the Think Tank, parity included protec- tion through the due process of tenure, equitable compensation, a faculty estab- lished process for promotion, and par- ticipation in campus governance. The preferred method for achieving parity is by becoming faculty. Think Tank members agreed without discussion that being faculty was the most valuable mode of participation in campus life. I value my faculty appoint- ment because I believe that research is necessary to the provision of excellent li- Editorial 9 brary service and because I can interact more effectively for the library with cam- pus colleagues. Campus society is not egal- itarian; scientists look down ort engineers and social scientists, who look down on liberal and fine arts faculty. All look down on librarians. However, I would rather serve at the bottom of the faculty hierarchy than in some "other'' status. For me, being faculty is the Olympian solution to where librarians fit in the university. From that peak, librarians have the best view of the evolving cam- pus contours. The climb is difficult, the atmosphere is thin, and the opportuni- ties to fall off are numerous, but the per- spective makes it all worthwhile. GLORIANA ST. CLAIR REFERENCE 1. Jack Siggins, ed., Academic Status for Librarians (Washington, D. C.: Assn. of Research Libraries, Office of Management Services, 1992), [flyer]. IN FORTHCOMING ISSUES OF COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES Surveying the Damage: Academic Library Serial Cancellations from 1987-88 to 1989-90 Tina E. Chrzastowski and Karen A. Schmidt A Current Amzreness Service Using Microcomputer Databases and Electronic Mail John T. Butler Collective Bargaining and Faculty Status: A Twenty-Year Case Study of Wayne State Univer- sity Librarians · Lothar Spang Recognizing Multiple Decision-Making Models: A Guide for Managers Joan Giesecke Indexing Adequacy and Interdisciplinary Journals: The Case of Women's Studies Kristin H. Gerhard, TrudiE. Jacobson, and Susan G. Williamson Instruction Librarians: Acquiring the Proficiencies Critical to Their Work Diana Shonrock and Craig Mulder World·Ciass Discoveries ... begin with world-class information. It's the kind of information you'll find in Biological Abstracts- (BA) and Biological Abstracts/RRM8 (Reports, Reviews', Meetings) (BAIRRM). Comprehensive Coverage ••• ... sets BA and BAIRRM apart from other refer- ence materials. 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