Publication Requirements and Tenure Approval Rates: An Issue for Academic Librarians

Library School Programs and the Successful Training of Academic Librarians to Meet Promotion and Tenure Requirements in the Academy

“…Only in the southwestern region was a professional status for librarians favored, and the sample results here are too small to 45 Park and Riggs determined that 41.1 percent of 304 institutions surveyed provided librarians with faculty rank and status. 46 As a part of faculty rank and status, publication has been documented as a significant factor in assessment for tenure and promotion.…”

“…52 Mitchell and Swieszkowski reported that 46.9 percent of the institutions with tenure-track status for their librarians required publication. 53 Payne and Wagner observed that, for the majority of librarians in their study, publishing was an option rather than a requirement. 54 In examining the data in table 5, we see that, of the 89 respondents in the survey, 48.3 percent of the institutions required peerreviewed articles.…”

“…Bede Mitchell and L. Stanislava Swieszkowski provided research on publication requirements for librarians and the effect on tenure approval rates. 9 Mitchell and Swieszkowski surveyed 147 U.S. academic libraries that were either full or associate members of the Center for Research Libraries. 10 Mitchell and Swieszkowski reported that for a fiveyear period (1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983), 36.2 percent of the responding institutions held faculty status equivalent to that of the teaching faculty; 52.2 percent had an academic status separate or different from the teaching faculty, and 11.6 percent indicated that their particular institution had a nonacademic professional status for the librarians.…”

Faculty Status for Academic Librarians: A Review of the Literature

“…W. Bede Mitchell and L. Stanislava Swieszkowski report that of the thirty-seven respondents to their questionnaire on status and publications, sixteen institutions in the last ten years have changed their librarians' status to nontenure track and twelve have adopted a tenure-track system not requiring publication. 15 Despite the fact that some creative alternatives have been implemented, a resolution of the problem on a national scale remains elusive.…”

A Question of Quality: How Authors and Editors Perceive Library Literature

“…Failure to publish is the most frequent reason for denying tenure to librarians. 1 Despite the obvious importance of publishing to the careers of most academic librarians, few are given the time and resources to conduct ongoing, indepth, and successful research. 2 This article examines whether the pressures felt by librarians to publish in order to be successful academics within the constraints imposed by their institutions are affecting the quality of what appears in library literature.…”