I'm going to enter this conversation again to say that having a research
agenda in technical services is not all that difficult. Quite a few
publications, like the Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, focus on this
area while general library publications often include technical services
topics. On the other hand, I'm not sure that ACRL recognizes that they exist
even if they are academic librarians. (I published research on the dearth of
TS topics at ACRL national conferences.) The issue of workloads and getting
letters of support may be valid. I remember that working in cataloging meant
that I was judged by how many items I cataloged each month so that some
colleagues were afraid to take their released time for research. I also
would have found it difficult to get letters from faculty at my institution.
On the other hand, I've reviewed several very strong tenure files from
places where tenure is as difficult to get for librarians as it is for
faculty. The research in one was excellent though the person hadn't
published until getting a position where publishing was required. As a
person who wrote about the future of catalogers in the early 1980's, I'm sad
that my predictions came true that the changing environment would
deprofessionalize their important skills, that sharing, cataloging records
would reduce their numbers, and that many administrators would stop worrying
about the quality of cataloging. Sad doesn't mean that these decisions were
wrong but that an important part of librarianship has become much less
important.
Bob
Dr. Robert P. Holley
Professor, School of Library & Information Science
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
aa3805_at_wayne.edu
248-547-0306 (phone)
313-577-7563 (fax)
From: acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org
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Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 12:55 PM
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Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Tenured Acquisitions librarians?
Speaking as a public-services librarian, I don't think it is the
"replaceability" of public services folks that is behind this. Depending on
the size of the library, public services people can be highly specialized
and not an easy thing to completely cover for their areas. I supervise
twelve people and that doesn't really make it easy to not be in the office,
either. I also do not think it has to do with public services work being
"more like teaching faculty" because while I can see that argument being
made, I believe it is not true and likely not what is behind the
motivation.
What this really represents, and why it is cause for concern, is a
deprofessionalization of the work of the technical-services librarians. I
don't know the situation at your library or the motivations, but the end
result is two tiers that places technical-services librarians on a lowered
step. The concern might be with
. workload too high/too inflexible to allow research time
. perceived difficulty in crafting a research agenda in technical
services areas
. getting internal and external letters of support in technical
services areas
. difficulty in attracting qualified people who want to be
tenure-track
If it is workloads, then workloads need to be examined and made more fair.
It would be interesting to know where that concern is coming from, is it
from the recently tenured (or not tenured) tech-services librarians? Is it
from administration? Is it from campus? I don't think it should be any more
difficult to come up with research in technical services areas, there is a
lot that seems open for examination in either theory or management. Maybe
what needs to be examined instead is what counts for tenure. I'd be wary
here as well as setting up two different requirements for tenure between
public services and technical services as it might be perceived as unfair
and/or deprofessionalize the group with the "easier" requirements, unless
perhaps it is to not require letters from campus faculty for technical
services positions. Find out the motivation for this change and then work
from there to a more equitable solution.
Since I am not in technical services I did not respond immediately. But I
do think it is concerning that colleagues would be devalued into a
non-tenure class. It could place them in a different position in terms of
promotion and salary, as well as voice within the library. I can't do my
job well if there aren't technical services people doing their jobs well and
we want to hire the best people and to treat them well.
To answer the question about what happens at my library, we have
tenure-track librarians in technical-services in the leadership positions.
Best,
Kathleen
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Sent: 18 July, 2013 8:20 AM
To: 'acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org'
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Tenured Acquisitions librarians?
Hi Karen,
I replied privately to Stacey, but I'll share a few of my thoughts here.
You and I had different reads on this situation. First, I'll say that I have
never been in a library where the public service and technical service
librarians had different statuses. However, it is an idea that I think might
be worth exploring. Or at least, explore the idea of having different
requirements for attaining tenure.
I don't think it's a question of a whether or not a tech service librarian
can be public service-oriented but rather a matter of job responsibilities
and who can fill them. When a public service librarian needs to take some
time off (for research or whatever), it's easy enough for another to step in
and fill his or her shoes on the reference desk or in a library instruction
course. But when a technical service librarian takes time off, there are few
- if any - who are qualified to take on those duties. That's been my
experience, anyway, in small, medium, and large academic libraries. And so
it makes sense - to me - to have different requirements for tenure. Maybe
not different statuses, though.
I may be completely wrong, though, about the motives or thoughts of Stacey's
library administration! Maybe she can clarify for us.
Cheers,
Katy G.
Katy Ginanni, Collection Development Librarian
Hunter Library
Western Carolina University
176 Central Drive
Cullowhee, NC 28723
ksginanni_at_email.wcu.edu
828-227-3729 office
library.wcu.edu
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From: acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org
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Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 3:02 PM
To: acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Tenured Acquisitions librarians?
What on earth is their justification of this? I have never heard of
something like that, and I'm part of the 64-campus SUNY system which
includes campuses of all types, from community colleges through major
research universities. When it comes to tenured librarians, they don't
differentiate between pub/tech/other services.
I am a head of Tech Services, was formerly an Acquisitions librarian, and
have tenure, as do all of our librarians.
I know that some places hire "non-librarians" for some technical roles such
as programmers, but those positions don't require an MLS. In addition, the
curriculum at the average library school covers a wide variety of what
technical services librarians do.I'm sure those programs would help defend
the tenure-worthiness of technical services work.
I hate to get into a debate on back-room vs front-of-house librarians,
mostly because I think the distinction is useless. If you catalog.you are
creating records to be used by your public. If you buy books, they are to be
used by your users-and you must KNOW your users and their needs as well as
any public services librarian. To think that a tech services librarian is by
default going to be not public-service-oriented is baseless. In addition,
most good public services librarians now have to be just as "technical" as
the rest, and have to understand the systems in order to use them.
Maybe it's the term "acquisitions" or "technical services" that throws them
off. Collection Librarian? Collection Access Librarian? Human-Information
Interface Coordinator? Yes, that would definitely be tenure-worthy ;)
-Karen Gelles
Greenley Library
Farmingdale State College, SUNY
From: acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 10:32 AM
To: Acqnet
Subject: [ACQNET-L] Tenured Acquisitions librarians?
All
I would like to know how many Acquisitions Librarians on the list are
tenured. The library administration at my institution has declared that
tenured librarians should not be working in tech services, but only public
services. I'm trying to gather information on whether there are
institutions that differentiate among librarian status and where they work
in the library.
As background, at American, we have 2 statuses - tenured or tenure-track and
Term librarians. The term librarians are on multi-year contracts and their
creative and scholarly duties are less than the tenured librarians. There
are 3 library faculty in tech services - 1 is tenured and 2 are term. We
are currently hiring for the Director of Technical Services and that would
be a term position.
thanks for any information you are willing to provide.
Stacey
Stacey Marien
Acquisitions Librarian
American University Library
smarien_at_american.edu
202-885-3842
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Received on Mon Jul 22 2013 - 14:35:33 EDT