novbkrvs


586  College & Research Libraries November 1998

Book Reviews 

Criteria for Promotion and Tenure for Aca­
demic Librarians. Comp. Virginia Ves­
per and Gloria Kelley for the ACRL 
(Clip Note no. 26). Chicago: ALA, 1997. 
143p. $28.50, alk. paper (ISBN 
0838979289). LC 97-39396. 

The issues of promotion and tenure, as 
well as faculty status, for academic librar­
ians have always been complex and at 
times controversial. This complexity is 
apparent in a review of the survey on 
which this volume is based; it highlights 
the differences and similarities between 
classroom faculty and academic librar­
ians. Readers also are furnished with 
background and perspective on the vari­
ous arguments that have evolved over the 
years concerning these issues. 

The primary objective of the survey 
was to determine whether “librarians 
with faculty status have a greater oppor­
tunity for tenure and promotion than li­
brarians with academic or professional 
status.” Those with and without academic 
rank, as well as librarians with and with­
out faculty status, were surveyed. In ad­
dition to these findings, promotion and 
tenure criteria from some institutions of 
higher education were collected and com­
pared. 

Vesper and Kelley reproduce a num­
ber of the promotion and tenure docu­
ments from the academic institutions in­
cluded in the survey. The book includes 
documents from public institutions such 
as Arizona State University, West Cam­
pus, and State University of New York 
(SUNY) at Plattsburgh, as well as private 
institutions such as Alfred University and 
Eckerd College. This material provides 
invaluable information about how peers 
from public, private, and unionized in­
stitutions are handling the (for the most 
part) subjective task of formulating pro­
motion and tenure criteria. Knowledge 
and mastery of subject matter, effective­
ness of teaching, scholarly ability, univer­

sity service, and the potential for 
continued growth are a few of the 
categories most commonly used to 
evaluate and assess librarians. 

Both raw-number compos­
ites and percentages are given 
for all survey results. A particu­
larly important feature of the survey is 
the correlation of degrees held to that of 
faculty rank (i.e., instructor, assistant pro­
fessor, etc.). The usual question as to 
whether the MLS is considered the ter­
minal degree at each of the respective in­
stitutions is included; respondents were 
also asked what degree should be re­
quired for librarians holding each faculty 
rank. Also included is a list of the names 
and addresses of CLIP Note Committee 
members and a two-page bibliography. 

Vesper and Kelley have done a remark­
able job in compiling ACRL CLIP Note 
no. 26. This volume will provide guidance 
for academic libraries and librarians who 
are in need of instruments or templates 
for their promotion and tenure review 
process. It will be indispensable for ad­
ministrators and librarians interested in 
faculty status, tenure, or promotion for aca­
demic librarians.—Felix E. Unaeze, Ferris 
State University, Big Rapids, Michigan. 

Fabian, Bernhard. In Close Association: 
Research, Humanities, and the Library. 
Trans. John J. Boll. Champaign: Gradu­
ate School of Library and Information 
Science, Univ. of Illinois (Occasional 
Papers, no. 208), 1998. 70p. $12, alk. 
paper. 

At the end of this booklet, the reader is 
informed that the publisher is consis­
tently ranked as one of the top three li­
brary and information science programs 
in the United States, while its university 
is consistently ranked as one of the top 
universities. Woe to their respective, sup­
posedly lower-ranked peers, after read­
ing this mess of a study. 

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