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This article discusses the impact of faculty status and tenure on the professional lives of academic librarians. Included are a literature review, a discussion of the decline of tenure at academic institutions, and experiences at three universities. This article also includes the results of a survey that focused on the impact of faculty status and tenure on librarians’ participation in institutional governance, opportunities for professional growth, and presence of a faculty library advisory committee. Based on the results of this survey, the authors conclude that only faculty status and tenure guarantee full integration in the university’s governance and academic spheres.

New technologies, an expanding universe of knowledge, and a more sophisticated user base influence not only how we provide access to information, but also how we define and organize ourselves in relation to the public. The J. Murrey Atkins Library of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has endeavored to strengthen the relationship between the library and the teaching faculty by restructuring the library's liaison program. Concurrently, but independent of this redesign, three experienced reference librarians assessed their effectiveness as liai sons by conducting a survey of selected departments. A review of the development and implementation of the library's program, together with an assessment of the faculty survey, confirm that specific elements are prerequisites of an effective liaison program.

This article outlines a proposal developed at the University of North Carolina of a method for awarding merit pay to librarians. The library has a two-tiered structure that includes faculty who are tenured and others who work on contract. Because of this, the Acting University Librarian created two task forces to investigate ways to make merit pay equitable. Each task force developed a proposal that eventually was merged into one document. This article examines the process of developing a plan for merit pay and library faculty reactions to the plan.