Initiative Review Group XVIII Progress Report April 30, 2001

Support scholarly efforts of library faculty.

Members:

Necia Parker-Gibson, chair, Beth Juhl, Sarah Santos, Deb Kulczak, Mikey King, Betty Austin, members

The IRG #18 has met weekly since receiving our assignment.

1. In the discussion of our charge and the history of scholarship in the University Libraries, we decided to focus on faculty members and their issues, since under University policy scholarship is required of faculty members for annual review, tenure, and promotion. Comments on the initiative show that some staff members are interested in the prospect of participation in scholarship, and it was agreed that although staff scholarship is important as it fits into the library mission we recommend that it should be considered by the implementation team that follows this IRG.

2. We are examining issues such as:

a. Travel support for conferences and continuing education

b. Tuition remission and leave time for classes

c. Sabbaticals and off-campus duty assignments

d. Other leave time for research

e. Working at work vs. working at home

f. Formal and informal mentoring

g. In-service training and colloquia

h. Teleconferences and visiting trainers

i. Understanding among library faculty on what constitutes professionally-related scholarship or service-how we define scholarship, especially during tenure and promotion discussions

j. How scholarship can be made distinct from yet integrated with performance and service

k. Tenure-track vs. post-tenure expectations

We have designed and distributed a survey to faculty and non-classified personnel. The survey questions were drawn from discussion of the original comments about scholarship from the IRG survey. The responses should help make the list of issues inclusive.

We are also continuing to deal, sometimes in parallel with the IRG issues, with FCC issues, including faculty evaluation and merit reviews, elections for the reappointment and post-tenure review committees, an election for faculty senator, and to enlist volunteers for FCC for the next year.

3. Faculty scholarship support fits in with the Libraries' mission and goals in a number of ways which will be expanded in the later report.

4. Initiatives that should be considered in connection to, coordinated with, or that may overlap will be augmented and amplified in the final report, but may include:

a. IRG #1. Analyze needs of users and develop services/technical infrastructure for needs to be met.

b. IRG #2. Evaluate effectiveness of existing library programs.

c. IRG #11. Develop and document a comprehensive plan for data collection and analysis.

d. IRG #16. Library Faculty and Staff training and development

5. Initiatives or considerations lacking from those delineated thus far have yet to be defined, but they would include staff scholarship.

6. The continuing and incoming members of the Faculty Concerns Committee will be essential to the Initiative Planning Team. Other members may be considered.

7. The amount of time required to develop the plan for implementing the initiative has not yet been considered.

8. The priority level in the three to five year planning phase has not yet been considered. However, scholarship is an important issue, especially to our newer faculty.