Academic Librarians’ Changing Perceptions of Faculty Status and Tenure

Abstract

This study explores how time and experience affect an academic librarian's perception of tenure. Researchers surveyed 846 librarians at ARL institutions, reporting on institutions that offer both tenure and faculty status for their academic librarians or neither. The survey reported how librarians rated tenure's benefit to patrons, its effect in attracting and retaining quality employees, and tenure as a motivating factor in giving extra effort on the job. Researchers found that tenured librarians rated tenure as more beneficial than librarians without tenure who had more than six years of work experience at their institutions. Furthermore, non-tenure-track librarians with fewer than six years of experience at their institutions rated tenure's effect on library patrons as more beneficial than tenure-track librarians who had not yet achieved tenure. The study implies a selective perception bias on the part of academic librarians that grows with time and warrants further consideration and study.

Occupational stress measures of tenure-track librarians

“…This finding may be related to librarians’ growing perception of the importance of tenure, which could cause further stress and anxiety. In their investigation of academic librarians’ perceptions of tenure, Silva et al (2017) showed that tenured librarians view tenure as being more valuable than those in the process or those without the option of tenure, the findings suggest that librarians’ perceptions of the value of tenure may differ depending on where they are in the process.…”

The Incentive System of the Subject Librarians in the University Library

“…However, Mills and McCullough believe that granting teacher status does not improve the professional status of librarians, and suggest increasing the compensation of subject librarians through unionization and collective bargaining [12]. Silva conducted a survey of 846 subject librarians in ARL institutions and found that giving librarians a stable income is an important factor that motivates them to work harder [13]. Tinuoye conducted a descriptive survey design for 88 subject librarians in two universities in the United States, expounding the five factors that affect the job satisfaction of subject librarians: compensation level, working environment, fairness and justice, professional title and academic promotion and learning training, and found that the compensation level has a significant impact on the job satisfaction of subject librarians.…”

The Incentive Mechanism of the Subject Librarians with Computer Information Retrieval Under Competition

“…Therefore, a tutoring plan can effectively encourage subject librarians to adapt to the new environment was proposed. Silva et al [5] discussed how time and experience affect subject librarians' cognition of tenure, and found that providing academic librarians with tenure and teacher status is an effective way to attract and retain highquality subject librarians.…”