Thesis
Faculty status for academic librarians : compliance with standards, opinions of university administrators, and a comparison of tenure-success records of librarians and instructional faculty
(1989)
Abstract
The problem of this study was to determine whether certain concerns about librarian faculty status are
justified. The study inquired into whether key university administrators tend not to believe librarians
merit faculty status, whether there is a trend away from adoption of librarian faculty status, whether the
ACRL sanctions against institutions violating the ACRL Standards have been effective in any sense,
and whether librarians are significantly less likely to earn tenure than are instructional faculty.
Academic affairs administrators, library directors, and librarians active in the librarian faculty status
movement were surveyed by telephone and mail to answer the research questions. It was found that
several Standards were not fully implemented on most campuses, most administrators thought librarian
faculty status benefitted universities but that librarians do not merit the status that is held by
instructional faculty, and librarians and instructional faculty were earning tenure at almost identical
rates regardless of whether the librarians were required to publish. It was concluded that there has been
no substantial trend toward or away from the adoption of the Standards, that most administrators
supported an alternative status for librarians to that required by the Standards, and that publication
requirements do not necessarily prevent librarians from achieving tenure at similar rates as instructional
faculty.
Disciplines
Publication Date
May, 1989
Degree
Ed. D.
Field of study
Education
Department
Education
Citation Information
W. Bede Mitchell. "Faculty status for academic librarians : compliance with standards, opinions of university administrators, and a comparison of tenure-success records of librarians and instructional faculty" (1989) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/w_bede_mitchell/80/