A New Perspective on Faculty Status

Abstract

Here is one more, though, with an unusual point of view. The contention of this article is not whether librarians should be accorded faculty status, but rather whether they deserve it, and more importantly, what they should do with it once it has been bestowed.In order to determine whether faculty status continues to be an issue of high priority, the authors conducted a literature review and considered more than seventy documents, many of them published quite recently. Additionally, the authors prepared a short questionnaire that was sent to one hundred academic librarians chosen at random from the American Library Directory. These librarians represent both colleges and universities, and their professional activities cover a broad range, e.g., technical services, public services, special collections, archives, and government documents.1 Fifty-one of the one hundred questionnaires were returned. Thirty-one respondents (61 percent) hold faculty status, and twenty (39 percent) do not. Thirty-four respondents (67 percent) indicate that faculty status is important to them, and seventeen (33 percent) state that it is not. Finally, thirtythree respondents (65 percent) believe that the general issue of faculty status for librarians is important, seventeen (33 percent) think that it is not, and one (2 percent) has no preference. The logical conclusion drawn from the literature review and survey is that faculty status, under whatever guise, continues to be an impor-, tant library issue.Certain assumptions concerning instructional faculty are normally taken for granted. Faculty are masters of substantive knowledge in a specific discipline, they teach, they ostensibly perform research and publish the results, they frequently hold earned doctorates, they are self-governing, they have nine-month contracts (except for chairpersons), they have academic freedom, and they are eligible for tenure. Often, librarians with faculty status have not mastered a discipline, do not teach, do not do research, do not possess an earned doctorate, do not hold nine-month contracts, must work a thirtyfive to forty hour week, and invariably earn less than their colleagues in other departments.2 Fred E. Hill is an instructional developer and teacher and Robert Hauptman is a reference librarian and teacher.

Fake News and Libraries: How Teaching Faculty in Higher Education View Librarians’ Roles in Counteracting the Spread of False Information

“…Academic libraries were typically operated by individuals who considered themselves scholars, but not necessarily librarians. However, as time progressed the role of librarians became more distinct, and by the post-war era it had transformed completely into a low-status clerical position largely dominated by women (Hill & Hauptman, 1986). The women who typically filled these positions had little formal training in librarianship (McAnally, 1975) and were viewed as exemplars of servility and service (Ettarh, 2018).…”

Personnel Issues for Academic Librarians: A Review and Perspectives for the Future

“…40 In their article, Fred Hill and Robert Hauptman indicate that their focus is not on "whether librarians should be accorded faculty status, but rather whether they deserve it, and more importantly, what they should do with it once it has been bestowed. '' 41 They then present a model for faculty status for librarians which can be summarized in the following statement: "there are conditions under which a librarian deserves faculty status, and these are precisely the same conditions that obtain for any faculty member at an institution: teaching, researching, and publishing." 42 It would appear that the concept of heightened status and roles for academic librarians has succeeded or floundered along the following lines: the willingness and desire of the individual librarian to pursue recognized scholarly activities (research and publishing) as an expectation for performance, the willingness of the university to fund the library so that librarians' schedules allow time for research, and, finally, attention to the type of assignments and role within the library organization that contributes in large part to the definition of librarians as professionals.…”