Tag Archives: tenure

The Dread of the Research Publication Tenure-Track Requirement

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

By Nicole Troutman
Assistant Professor/Research and Instruction Librarian
Brown-Daniel Library
Tennessee State University

Introduction

I was thrilled upon being offered my first academic librarian position. It was going to pay twice the income I had made at the public library, and it would be in my discipline. In addition to that, it was a tenure-track position. This was particularly exciting as one thing that was repeated multiple times by my Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) professors was that being tenured as an academic librarian was possible, but not likely, unless you had other advanced degrees in addition to the MLIS. The dean of the library informed me that this would require doing research and writing publishable articles and asked if that would be an issue for me. I assured her that it would not because I love to write and had done countless research papers during my college career.

Continue reading The Dread of the Research Publication Tenure-Track Requirement →

How a library faculty Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Mentorship Group was established, how it operated, and how it fared  

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

By Samuel T. Barber
Cataloging and Metadata Librarian
California State University, Fullerton

Sarah Parramore, MSIDT, MLS
Director of Teaching, Learning and Research Support
Interim Director of Special Collections and College Archives
Occidental College

Introduction

This article reports events experienced by the department of faculty at Pollak Library, California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), between 2018 and 2024. This period was marked by notable changes and challenges, and in particular several that directly impacted probationary tenure-track faculty. This article focuses on the efforts and attempts made to mentor, support, and guide colleagues as they began their Retention, Tenure, and Promotion (RTP) journeys at CSUF.
Continue reading How a library faculty Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Mentorship Group was established, how it operated, and how it fared   →

Academic Librarians as Knowledge Creators

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

Donna Witek
Associate Professor and Public Services Librarian
The University of Scranton

Abstract

Despite support from national organizations like the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), pursuing research and scholarship remains a challenge for academic librarians, even when the literature connects these activities to greater effectiveness in the practice of academic librarianship. This essay examines the history and present state of the questions of faculty status and tenure for librarians, and relates these questions to that of performing scholarly research and creating and disseminating new knowledge as an academic librarian. It then offers as a case study my experience identifying and pursuing a research agenda in collaboration with a faculty colleague in another department at my institution, with the goal of both sharing what has worked for one academic librarian (n=1) while also critiquing the system within which that success has occurred. The essay concludes with a list of creative strategies academic librarians can put into practice to become successful knowledge creators in the field of library and information science.

Keywords: academic librarians, faculty status, tenure, scholarly publishing, library research, library and information science, collaboration, information literacy, social media

Continue reading Academic Librarians as Knowledge Creators →