defining Library "faculty"
Faculty status was conferred on Librarians by the SUNY Board of Trustees in 1968. We participate in the life of the University and interact with the University Administration along side the professorial faculty and are held to the same policies and procedures for continuing appointment. We are organized under a set of faculty bylaws that parallel other University Schools and Departments and have similarly established our own Criteria for Library Faculty Personnel Actions [PDF].
The Preamble to the Bylaws of the Voting Faculty, State University of New York at Buffalo states, “[t]he faculty has a particularly independent role in the development and execution of the teaching, research and scholarship which constitute the central mission of the university.”
Requirements of a Faculty Member
The following list is to be viewed in its entirety. Each characteristic taken in isolation could be performed by non-faculty personnel. Taken in toto, these characteristics define faculty responsibilities.
The five categories (a-e) below are taken verbatim from the SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees (2006), Article XII, Title A. Evaluation of Academic Employees as well as Title B. Promotion of Academic Employees.
- Mastery of subject matter — as demonstrated by such things as advanced degrees, licenses, honors, awards and reputation in the subject matter field.
- Effectiveness in teaching* — as demonstrated by such things as judgment of colleagues, development of teaching materials or new courses and student reaction, as determined from surveys, interviews and classroom observation
- Scholarly ability — as demonstrated by such things as success in developing and carrying out significant research work in the subject matter field, contribution to the arts, publications and reputation among colleagues.
- Effectiveness of University service — as demonstrated by such things as college and University public service, committee work, administrative work and work with students or community in addition to formal teacher-student relationships.
- Continuing growth — as demonstrated by such things as reading, research or other activities to keep abreast of current developments in the academic employee’s fields and being able to handle successfully increased responsibility.
Library Faculty in Particular: Our Criteria Document
Librarians build, maintain and improve access to information resources, and promote and interpret these information resources to the University community. To reflect the unique role of faculty librarians at the University of Buffalo, the SUNY Board of Trustees’ list above is applied using our Criteria for Library Faculty Personnel Actions. “Effectiveness in teaching” was revised accordingly as “Contributions to the Libraries and Their Services.”* Library faculty have diverse interests and skill sets which are shaped by their job responsibilities and the patrons they serve but all categories above are represented to some degree in every faculty member’s position.
- Resolutions on the Use of PR (Professional) Lines for Librarians (UL Faculty, 2/26/1987)
- Standards for faculty status for college and university libraries (ACRL, 6/2007)
- Memorandum on Reclassification (E. R. Smith, 2/10/1975)
- Faculty Status: The Current Reality (T. McCormack, 11/12,19/1997)
- Tenure: Making Sense of the Source Documents (K. Spencer, 1/06)
Approved by FEC on August 22, 2008.
Content provider: K. Spencer
Comments: lib-staffweb@buffalo.edu
Last update:
2 July, 2009