Preparing for your Third Year and your Tenure/Promotion Review

Academic Ranks and Standards. 

Unless hired on a part-time or temporary basis, librarians and archivists at Auburn University Libraries are tenure-track and the tenure clock begins as soon as they are hired full time.  See the ranks below, adapted from the Auburn University Handbook.  For full details concerning faculty rank descriptions, see the Auburn University Handbook, available online at http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/handbook/policies.html .

 

Newly hired tenure track librarians or archivists are normally classified as Librarian II or Archivist II, equivalent to the rank of Assistant Professor. 

 

 Librarian or Archivist II candidates are reviewed for tenure and promotion to Librarian or Archivist III at the same time, the equivalent of being promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.  Criteria for tenure and criteria for promotion to III are treated separately in the Faculty Handbook but tend to merge. Only in exceptional circumstances will the university committee grant tenure and not promotion to Librarian or Archivist III.   The University’s general standards are stated completely in Chapter 3 of the Faculty Handbook available online at http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/handbook.html . 

 

Tenure track librarians or archivists usually have positions with responsibilities categorized and weighted as follows: job performance (85%) research (10%) and service (5%).  Standards for tenure and promotion to rank III are:

 

  • Above average performance in both job activities and research OR
  • Outstanding performance in one of the above two categories and average in the other.

Above average is defined as at the level of those candidates who have successfully achieved tenure over the last five years.

  • Adequate or acceptable levels of service, generally through university, department or professional association work.
  • An emerging stature as a regional or national authority through scholarly and professional activity.  (“Emerging stature” can be confirmed by outside letters from other librarians or archivists during tenure review).
  • Collegiality defined as working with colleagues to accomplish the goals of the particular academic unit (necessary for tenure; not promotion).

 

Librarian or Archivist IV: The highest possible rank equivalent to full Professor. The major criterion for this rank is that the candidate has professional peer-recognition as an authority in his or her field of specialization on a national level.  

 

Yearly Performance Reviews.  The Faculty Handbook requires all department heads to conduct at least one annual performance review or evaluation, which takes place at the end of Spring semester.  For tenure and promotion purposes the library is considered a department. The candidate’s supervisor requests a current curriculum vitae and any supporting material such as a report of achievements for the specific year.  This material may be distributed to tenured librarians since their commentary is now requested for annual review of untenured library faculty as part of the yearly performance review process.  The Faculty Handbook stipulates how the vita is to be organized.   A file of vitae of past successful candidates for tenure/promotion can be consulted in the office of the current tenure and promotion coordinator.

 

According to the Handbook, the annual evaluation must relate the faculty member’s achievements to the promotion and tenure criteria in the Handbook.  After obtaining the vita, letters, and supporting material, the chair writes a report that evaluates the candidate’s performance, provides a copy to the faculty member, and meets with the faculty member in a private conference to discuss his or her progress toward tenure/promotion.   The faculty member is asked to sign the report as confirmation of having seen it.   If the faculty member does not agree with material in the report, he or she may write a response to be appended to the report.  One copy of the signed report and response, if there is one, is retained for the library’s personnel file; another copy is given to the faculty member.  This report has to remain confidential, available only for the use of the concerned faculty member and any University officials who have supervisory power over the faculty member.

 

Third Year Review.  The Handbook requires that a department conduct a third year review of all candidates for tenure and promotion no later than 32 months after initial appointment  The purpose of the third year review is to assess the candidate’s progress toward tenure and promotion with full feedback from tenured librarians or archivists. An elected Tenure Promotion Coordinator consults with supervisors about the dates of the tenure review meeting and gives specific instructions and dates to candidates so their vita(e) are mounted on e-reserve (password protected) for review  by tenured librarians or archivists.

 

A Standard Biographical Form (available at http://web6.duc.auburn.edu/academic/provost/handbook/bio.pdf in the Handbook) must be placed as the first page of a candidate’s curriculum vitae for the third year review as well as tenure review.   Copies of publications are not required.

 

At the scheduled meeting of tenured librarians and archivists, which the candidate does not normally attend, the candidate’s immediate supervisor reviews the candidate’s vita as well as annual performance evaluations and presents his or her assessment of the candidate’s level (average, above average, or outstanding) in job performance and research as well as quantity and quality of service, and collegiality. Comments and questions from the library faculty are entertained at the meeting.  The third year review meeting must conclude with a vote on whether or not, in the judgment of the tenured faculty, the candidate is making appropriate progress toward tenure.  Tenured faculty have three choices in their vote, which is not a commitment to grant or deny tenure:  1) satisfactory progress toward tenure, 2) unsatisfactory progress but can improve or 3) unsatisfactory progress and unlikely to improve in time for the tenure and promotion review.  The vote must be announced at the meeting. After the meeting the candidate’s supervisor reports to the candidate the general nature of the vote and prepares a written report summarizing the third year review outcome.  Tenured faculty may consult the third year report; otherwise, the report is to remain confidential as are the proceedings of the third year review meeting.

 

Tenure Review:  Tenure review normally occurs at (what the Personnel office calculates as) the beginning of the fifth academic year of the candidate’s employment.  The Tenure and Promotion Coordinator makes arrangements for the tenure review meeting.  This meeting normally takes place at the beginning of the fall semester.  The tenured librarians or archivists attend the tenure review meeting.   If unable to attend, they may submit their vote in absentia prior to the meeting.  The candidate does not usually appear at the meeting and is not required to be on campus; however the candidate can request to appear to present his or her accomplishments.  All proceedings are to remain confidential.

 

Several months before the tenure meeting, the candidate should supply his or her supervisor with names of librarians or archivists at other comparable institutions who can testify to the candidate’s emerging national or regional reputation as an authority in a particular area of expertise. 

 

The candidate should prepare a dossier that will consist of:

 

            1)  Current curriculum vitae with current standard biographical form

 

            2)  Supporting letters:

·        Outside letters from other librarians/archivists testifying to an emerging regional or national reputation as an authority in some field.  (Note:  the supervisor will place these letters in the dossier).

·        Any supporting internal letters from Auburn university faculty if relevant to the particular job responsibilities, research, outreach or service.

 

3)        Publications (obviously all may not fit but try to keep them together as much as possible).  Papers presented are optional.

 

            4)  Portfolio for outreach projects, if applicable.

 

The Tenure and Promotion Coordinator informs the candidate where to place the dossier materials so tenured librarians and administrators can examine them.  After the meeting of the tenured librarians, which proceeds with a review of the candidate’s progress similar to that in third year review, a vote for or against granting tenure is taken. The vote is announced at the meeting, and the supervisor informs the candidate of the vote after the meeting. If the candidate chooses to continue the tenure process after being informed of the vote of the tenured librarians, the tenured librarians, dean, and assistant deans write letters explaining their vote and level of support.  A tenure packet consisting of the vita as well as internal and outside letters (without publications) is sent to the central university tenure and promotion committee.  Publications are returned to the candidate.

 

Suggestions for Successful Third Year and Tenure Review.  There is no single formula, but listed below are some suggestions to assist candidates.

 

  • Document your accomplishments as you achieve them: for example, a note, e-mail message or letter from a faculty member or professional association colleague complimenting you on your work.   Keep relevant statistics such as number of tours or classes given.

 

  • Develop a publishing/research plan (or “scholarly program” as described in the Handbook) as early as possible!  Aim to publish in refereed or nationally recognized journals.  Take advantage of the library’s subscription to Inprint (passwords for access are in the reference desk manual) to see which journals are appropriate for your professional library interest, which are refereed, and contact editors in advance to see in which areas they are looking for articles.

 

·        Have at least one scholarly, refereed article-length work accepted for publication by the time of your Third Year Review. 

 

  • By the time of your Tenure Review, have approximately three article-length scholarly publications, although each individual has had a unique mixture of major and minor publications.  Minor publications include book reviews and newsletter entries. Publications do not have to be all in the same area but it is easiest to describe a scholarly program if there is some common focus.

 

  • Try to coordinate your professional association involvement with your publishing plan so as to achieve a reputation as a regional or national authority in some area of expertise. 

 

  • Do not get so involved in committee work that you do not have adequate time for your research.  You should do enough work on library committees to be considered collegial; but in their annual spring workshops, the University tenure promotion committee warns against devoting too much time to committees before tenure is achieved.

 

  • Consult with your supervisor as to when is the best time to take your research leave.  With 10% as the average for research time for librarians or archivists, that amounts to four hours/week but job and committee commitments may make it difficult to take that time week by week during the academic year.

 

  • Consider taking advantage of the mentoring option available to you for individually tailored advice and diverse perspectives, although mentors cannot intervene in matters related to job performance between you and your supervisor. (see the Chair of the Tenure and Promotion Mentoring Committee for details) Feel free to ask the Tenure and Promotion Coordinator for advice about deadlines, etc. and to confer with your supervisor about any matters that come up during the year

 

  • Attend the workshop held each Spring semester by the central university tenure and promotion committee.

 

Examples of Collegiality.  Collegiality is defined as working in cooperation with others to further the mission and goals of the department rather than being popular or friendly.  Some examples of collegiality include:

 

·        Flexibility in covering duties normally covered by others.

·        Temporarily taking on work that needs to be done even if outside your area of expertise or unpleasant.

·        Active participation on committees such as gathering information or serving as chair.

·        Expressing a forthright opinion or criticism of others in a way that shows respect for the opinions and feelings of others, and does not monopolize conversation.

·        Accepting constructive criticism about your work or department graciously, showing a concern and willingness to improve.