The College Library Information on Policy and Practice (CLIPP) publishing program, under the auspices of the College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, provides college and small university libraries analysis and examples of library practices and procedures.

Academic Librarian Faculty Status: CLIPP #47 contains a thorough literature review and bibliography, analysis and discussion of survey results, and sample criteria, policies, and guidelines for appointment, promotion, and tenure for librarians with and without faculty status.

No other group of employees in higher education has occupied quite the same ambivalent status on campus as librarians. The debate over granting librarians the same rights and responsibilities as faculty has generated a substantial body of literature over the years. Most of this research has tended to focus on either a mix of institutional sizes or on large universities, with a surprising dearth of studies of smaller institutions. The results of the survey reported in CLIPP #47 fills this gap, as well as offering practical information and sample tenure and promotion documents and policies.
 

Edgar Bailey has a B.A. in English from Bowdoin College, an M.A. in English from the University of Chicago, and an M.L.S. from Rutgers University. He did additional graduate work at Simmons University. His career spanned thirty-five years, including five at Eastern Connecticut State University and thirty at Providence College where he served as reference and instruction librarian and, for ten years, as library director. He also served on the committee that established the Center for Teaching and Learning. He has published on a variety of library and non-library topics including help-seeking behavior, library anxiety, government publications, library school curricula, and Ursula K. LeGuin. He currently teaches a course in academic librarianship at the University of Rhode Island library school. He lives with his wife in Providence, RI, where they own a house at the beach.
 
Melissa Becher is the Associate Director of Research, Teaching and Learning at American University Library. Her job responsibilities include management and supervision, as well as administering platforms that support research assistance such as LibGuides, the Library’s FAQ, and a 24/7 chat service. Over the years she has conducted user testing for the Library, other campus offices, the local consortium, and a professional association. Melissa’s research agenda focuses on how the academic library intersects with broader trends in higher education. She has published on instruction coordinators’ use of higher education accreditation documentation, the library’s visibility on college and university websites, and the experiences of full-time nontenured library faculty.  She maintains a WordPress site on librarian status. Melissa is a member of ALA’s Reference & User Services Association and recently chaired the RUSA Emerging Technologies Section. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and a cranky guinea pig.
 

CLS CLIPP Committees
INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF SURVEY RESULTS
 
Appendix A: CLIPP Survey with Results
 
Appendix B: Sample Documents
 
Abilene Christian University
Implementation of College Faculty Ranks in the Brown Library
Expansion of Criteria and Examples for Tenure and Promotion
 
Coker University
Criteria for Evaluation of Librarians for Appointment to Rank, Promotion, and Tenure
 
Institution Redacted
Faculty Appointments for Librarians: A Position Paper
 
East Central University
Faculty Performance Evaluation
Evaluation Items of Note
 
Keene State College
Department Peer Evaluation Committee Standards: Mason Library
 
Manhattan College
Library Faculty: Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure
 
Mount Saint Mary College
Proposal on the Status of Librarians
 
Nevada State College
College Library Expectations for Tenure and Promotion
 
Spring Hill College
Chapter Six: Professional Librarian Faculty
 
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Policy and Procedures on Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure of Library Faculty
 
Trinity University
Library Criteria for the Promotion and Tenure of Faculty Librarians