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Indiana University
Minutes for January 7, 2004 Meeting

Members present: Suzanne Thorin, presiding officer; Polly Boruff-Jones, Kirby Cheng, Andrea Singer, Jo McClamroch, Frank Quinn, Melanie Hughes, Sue London, Marion Frank-Wilson

Members absent: Kevin Petsche

1. Discussion of Promotion and Tenure Review Committee recommendations

Since the report was presented in detail at the joint meeting of the IULFC and the P & T Review Committee in November 2003, we were already familiar with the document and did not review it point by point. Rather, we reviewed the report's recommendations and identified those that in all likelihood could be implemented without further discussion, and those that required discussion and a faculty vote.

Items for immediate implementation:

There was agreement with the report's recommendations on standards for documentation. IULFC members also agreed with the recommendations re. the mentoring of librarians. For example, it was agreed that an IULFC committee overseeing the mentoring process should be established. The report's recommendations to expand the mid-tenure review to make it resemble more the actual p & t process was adopted, and there also was agreement that the mid-tenure review should continue to be voluntary. There was agreement that the mid-tenure review process should continue to be part of the p & t process rather than separate from it.

IULFC members agreed with the report's statement on the role of the Dean in the promotion and tenure process. They particularly recommended to adopt the report's suggestion to rotate committee membership more widely, so that not the same people serve on the p & t committee all the time. For that purpose, we should keep a roster of past p & t committee members and publish that roster on the IULFC website. The Dean could then take this information into account when she appoints p & t committee members, in addition to the stated committee preferences. This roster could be maintained by Libraries' Human Resources. Frank-Wilson will contact Karen Sweeny to look for records to create such a roster.

IULFC members agreed with the report's recommendation about the role of the Human Resources Officer, i.e., to keep the status-quo by providing administrative support to the p & t committee.

Members of the IULFC also agreed with the report's recommendations about IULFC. The need for more continuity between the incoming and outgoing secretaries was stressed, and it was agreed that the two secretaries should meet in the summer, so the outgoing secretary can provide the incoming secretary with a report. There also needs to be better communication between the IULFC and its various committees to make sure that committee recommendations are put into practice.

Items that need further discussion and a faculty vote:

Should un-tenured librarians be able to serve on the p & t committee? There is a wide range of opinions on this issue. Librarians who are in favor of un-tenured librarians serving on p & t argue that this experience provides different insights into the profession and is a good learning opportunity. They also point out that un-tenured librarians bring another, needed perspective to the process. Librarians who oppose having un-tenured members on the committee stress that this is not the practice among other faculty groups, and that the Libraries' process needs to be more in line with that of other faculty.

There was significant discussion about the report's recommendations about promotion to full rank. While there was agreement that full rank should be a significant achievement which ought to be held to a very high standard, several IULFC members felt that the report's recommendations raised the bar too high and in fact discouraged librarians from seeking promotion to full rank. The proposed words 'unquestionable' and 'extraordinary' were seen as problematic.

There was agreement with the report's proposed language for the criteria for promotion and tenure, except for the section relating to full rank.

2. Need for additional input into the P & T Review Process

The P & T Review Committee's report has been posted on IULFC's web site at http://www.indiana.edu/~iulfc/ and there have been announcements to library faculty system-wide to encourage them to review the report. IULFC members agreed that we should solicit comments on the report from faculty standards committees on individual campuses as well as from individual librarians.

3. Timeline and next steps in the process

After some discussion about next steps in the review process, we decided that we need to allow time for librarians to read and comment on the report until March 1st. The IULFC will review these comments at its spring meeting. One last discussion of the P & T Review will be held at Librarians' Day, and a ballot will be sent for faculty vote one month after Librarians' Day. Jo McClamroch will be responsible to draft a ballot, and Frank-Wilson will send a memo to librarians system-wide informing them about the process.

Submitted by Marion Frank-Wilson, IULFC secretary