This does not constitute an employment agreement. 

American University Library

Guidelines for Reappointment and Promotion for Library Continuing Appointment Line Library Faculty Members

University Library Faculty Council
October 1, 2014
Revised January 22, 2020
Revised November 16, 2022
Approved by the Provost January 13, 2025

“AU cannot be excellent without being truly inclusive, and without taking concrete, specific steps to improve inclusion on campus.”(AU’s Plan for Inclusive Excellence, p. 2.)

Contents
Introduction
Primary Responsibilities (80%)
Professional Contributions (10%) 
Service (10%) 
Conclusion

Introduction

The University Faculty Manual is the official source about requirements for reappointment and promotion. These guidelines are designed to provide library continuing appointment line library faculty members and evaluators with information about the specific process and criteria expected for reappointment and promotion.

There are three sources of evaluation for library continuing appointment faculty: review by administrative heads, peer reviews by American University library colleagues, and reviews by university administrators. To be considered for reappointment in a library continuing appointment track, eligible library faculty members are evaluated on the performance of their primary responsibilities, professional contributions, and service to the library and to the university. The library faculty value diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related work in all three areas of evaluation and encourage faculty to include it in their files following the examples in the criteria described below.

The quality of the performance of a library continuing appointment faculty member in carrying out their primary responsibilities is always the chief criterion for evaluation. The percentages assigned below to primary responsibilities (80%), professional contributions (10%), and service (10%) represent the customary distribution of workload. In certain circumstances, these percentages may be differently distributed to reflect special concentrations of effort in any of the three areas. For instance, special projects might be reflected in primary responsibilities or a research leave for professional contributions. Library faculty must make arrangements with their administrative heads and notify the University Library Committee on Faculty Actions (ULCFA) of the specific redistribution in advance of the affected time period. The time period should also be substantial enough to merit such a change, usually one semester or more in a given year.

It is critical for library faculty members to give context for work related to primary responsibilities, professional contributions, and service in their narratives submitted for review in a file for action. For example, it is good practice to include a description of individual contributions for group projects conducted as part of primary responsibilities or in professional contributions such as co-authorship or work within a professional organization or committee.

Primary Responsibilities (80%)

These activities—the main functions performed by library faculty members—account for approximately eighty percent of their time. Primary responsibilities may vary among individuals. However, diversity, equity, and inclusion is a commitment shared by all library faculty in their primary responsibilities. As the library is a complex organization where many different functions that support the educational mission of the university take place at the same time, a library faculty member’s job may include some of the following:

Library faculty may assist researchers through multiple modalities that meet AU community needs. For example, they may anticipate research needs through the development of online resources such as subject guides, which can reflect diverse voices and other content that supports inclusive excellence, or they may meet individual needs with individual consultations that provide general guidance and recommendations on parameters for research while helping individuals identify and use sources appropriate for their research. 

Library faculty may participate in classroom instruction at the invitation of teaching faculty, through specific curricular programs, or in the creation of learning objects. Library faculty engaged in teaching support the development of information literacy for AU students and are encouraged to incorporate critical, anti-racist, and/or inclusive pedagogy and practices into their instruction. They build their instructional design based on best practices in librarianship and pedagogy. Their engagement may include teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate curriculum level and participation in special programs such as the CORE.

• Library faculty may engage in student mentoring that goes beyond typical instruction activities or research support that clearly improves the student academic experience. This service can be invaluable to the growth and retention of AU students and should be acknowledged in files for action. 
• Library faculty may engage in developing, assessing, implementing, and maintaining library collections in appropriate formats to provide access to all potential community users. Library faculty establish and follow collection development policies that support current and emerging curricular programs and research and that emphasize the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in building collections. They develop and maintain strong relationships that facilitate communication between teaching faculty and library faculty about appropriate collection development. They provide information literacy instruction in specific curricular areas and support students in those areas with research consultations.
• Library faculty may focus on the processes associated with acquiring items for library collections, including selecting vendors, maintaining vendor relationships, negotiating license agreements, and maintaining usage statistics as well as reviewing and implementing new acquisitions programs. They may serve as administrative heads for other faculty or supervise staff engaged in these processes. They may have a prominent role in developing, allocating, and managing aspects of the library’s budget. They prepare budget requests and reports and share information about market forces that impact the library budget for collections.
• Library faculty may evaluate, implement, develop, and maintain systems, databases, and knowledge bases which support activities related to accessing library resources. They are responsible for describing library resources, demonstrating knowledge of local, national, or international cataloging and metadata standards that enable discoverability of and access to library resources for the university community. They have oversight for creating metadata for library resources that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive particularly in its use of terminology and vocabulary and in its descriptions of digitized collections in library catalogs. Assigning such metadata may be both retrospective and current. They may be involved in evaluating, testing and implementing new library systems.
• Library faculty may support access to research data and statistics through selection and communication about appropriate resources, and they may interpret the use of those resources for individuals and groups. They may also promote community knowledge about best practices and standards for the retention of and access to data developed through research projects. They may also promote practices that ensure the unbiased collection and retention of data. 
• Librarians may engage in a range of activities associated with scholarly communication including promotion and implementation of open access to scholarship. They may foster an understanding of traditional and alternative metrics for research and particularly promote ways in which to make those metrics more inclusive. At the university level, they support the system through which research and scholarship is created, evaluated, distributed, and preserved.
• Library faculty may have significant management or administrative responsibilities. Library faculty may be responsible for portfolio or project management, including strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, assessment, and aligning human and fiscal resources to meet program needs. They may engage in hiring, training, mentoring, or evaluating library staff and faculty or oversee these responsibilities when delegated to others. They follow all university policies and procedures and best practices to ensure that hiring and retention decisions promote diversity and that the processes of making assignments and conducting evaluations are equitable. They work toward creating and ensuring inclusive environments. Librarians with management responsibilities have a special responsibility to mentor library faculty. Library faculty without formal management responsibilities may also serve as formal or informal mentors to colleagues. Informal mentors should acknowledge such “invisible labor” in files for action.
• Library faculty may engage in a variety of other responsibilities, projects, and assignments. For instance, they may engage in special long-term or short-term projects or liaisons that connect the library with special curricular programs, or they may facilitate communication about library services and resources to the campus community. They may act as campus resources for promotion of best practices in a variety of teaching and research-related areas such as copyright. They may work to enhance the university curriculum in a variety of other ways. They may represent the library in a variety of settings, such as contributing to Washington Research Library Consortium committees.

For library faculty members, metrics on activities will vary. There is no typical number of classes taught, no benchmarked number of research consultations or number of items added to a library system. Activities and time spent will vary from function to function and from semester to semester. Library faculty members can differ widely in their case-by-case primary responsibilities so it is not possible to determine what a typical workload would be. It is the duty of the library faculty member to discuss their workload with their administrative head and how it compares from year to year. It is also the expectation that evaluative letters from the administrative head, the University Library Committee on Faculty Actions (ULFCA), and the University Librarian will contextualize the workload. 

Excellence is expected from work performed by library faculty with evidence of growth.

The performance of Library Continuing Appointment faculty in fulfilling their primary responsibilities is also annually evaluated by their administrative head in accordance with Faculty Manual Supplement for Library Continuing Appointment and Library Continuing Appointment-Track Faculty and the Merit and Annual Review Committee Guidelines and Procedures from the University Library Faculty Council.

Professional Contributions (10%)

Library Continuing Appointment faculty in the Assistant Librarian, Associate Librarian, and Librarian ranks are customarily expected to allocate ten percent of their workload, or approximately two working days per month, to these activities. Library faculty members have twelve-month contracts and a regular workload throughout the year. These time limitations are taken into account when assessing professional contributions. There are many ways to engage with and contribute to librarianship. These guidelines aim to capture the range of approaches and empower librarians to make the case for the work they value. 

Librarians in the profession, unlike library faculty in a school of library or information science, are generally focused on practical applications. Advancement in the field of librarianship is often achieved through the work of individual librarians under the auspices of professional organizations. Participation and leadership in associations and on committees that advance theory and contribute to best practices in the library profession is important.

Library faculty members are active contributors in the intellectual community of the university, so professional contributions may also pertain to disciplinary areas to which the faculty members bring additional expertise. Professional contributions in any field deepen the practitioner’s knowledge of that field and are valuable in many areas of professional practice. Professional contributions are expected to be meaningful and show value to librarianship or other applicable discipline. 

Continuing appointment track library faculty are encouraged to engage in professional contributions that further the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

A library continuing appointment-line faculty member may seek continuing appointment by establishing a record of significant  professional contributions. There are many forms of professional contributions that are accepted.

Library continuing appointment is customarily granted in six years at the conclusion of two contract periods as stated in the Faculty Manual Supplement for Library Continuing Appointment-Line Library Faculty, Section 3B. Professional contributions made at a previous institution may be counted toward an action. The majority of contributions (approximately 60% or more) must be made while at American University. 

Types of Professional Contributions in Librarianship or Other Disciplines for Library Faculty

There are many types of professional contributions that library faculty may engage in and which may be considered toward their total contributions, including professional service, scholarly publications, presentations, translated research, and performances and other creative works. No individual type of professional contribution is required, though candidates will be expected to describe the significance of their contributions and their professional growth. Forms of professional contributions with a national or international scope are considered to be the most significant forms of professional contributions, as are contributions with a more rigorous review process, such as peer review or refereeing.  These outlets include journal articles that have undergone peer review, national/international-level conference presentations or poster presentations at conferences that referee presentation proposals, and books and book chapters through a university, professional, or academic commercial press. Professional contributions through professional service are also valued, though the level of role or responsibility, as well as the impact and scope of the service greatly determine the value (e.g., serving as an office holder for a broader/larger professional society is valued more highly than committee membership for a smaller organization or one with less responsibility). In the case of leadership within a professional society, specific roles may be term limited, but a record of increased responsibility or leadership within an organization over time is also valued.

Candidates should demonstrate scope of venue (regional vs, national), level of review (e.g., editor or peer review), nature of role and contributions (e.g., work done as co-author, solo author, leadership role, committee member), length of work (e.g., book vs. book chapter) and/or impact of the work, as appropriate to the contribution. Candidates seeking promotion to Librarian should demonstrate excellence or growth - for example, increased levels of leadership within a professional society or contributions with increased rigor of review.

Professional organization work is one of the ways library faculty members maintain or contribute to best practices in the profession and to current awareness of new services, products, resources, and technology. When fulfilling professional contributions in this way, library faculty must show evidence of successful engagement and responsibility through such organizational work.

 Additional evidence of growth or impact can be represented by the following areas: abstracts, grant proposals not directly related to primary responsibilities, exhibits, testimony on legislative issues, judging awards competitions, and professional Web contributions or other appropriate forms of translated research outputs.

Thresholds for reappointment, Library Continuing Appointment and promotion to Associate Librarian

For reappointment on a library continuing appointment-track, candidates are expected to demonstrate progress toward promotion to Associate Librarian.

For promotion to associate, candidates are expected to demonstrate the evidence of higher and/or lesser impact professional contributions as described below: 

• Higher impact professional contributions include leadership position within a national level professional organization, national refereed presentation, peer-reviewed journal article, and so forth.
• Lesser impact professional contributions include service committee membership, local/regional presentations, book reviews, and so forth.

For promotion to Full Librarian, candidates are expected to demonstrate increasing levels of engagement and/or impact with professional contributions, including contributions since promotion to Associate with higher levels of significance.

Open access outlets are preferred when possible but not required.. This includes not only publication in open access venues, but also making other professional contributions openly available, such as presentation slides, posters, data, handouts, and/or other ancillary materials, as well as broader implementation of open access values, such as serving in roles as peer reviewer, editor, or advisor for open access outlets.

Much of the advancement of librarianship depends on formal cooperative efforts, usually conducted under the auspices of professional organizations. Such activities are acknowledged as requiring application of knowledge and expertise equivalent to that demonstrated in independent research and publication. Although the outcomes of such activities often result in publications in which authorship is credited to an organizational body rather than to individuals, it is understood that the members of the group that wrote the publication are its co-authors. The faculty member must describe their role in projects or publications sponsored by a professional organization. The faculty member may also include letters from project leaders or others who can verify the scope of their contribution. Strong evidence of high quality work is expected.

Service (10%)

The library is an essential component in the higher education environment. Library faculty partner with teaching and research faculty and the administration to provide quality education and guide the institution forward through the practice of shared governance. University service activities address the general good of the institution. Service activities inside the library and in university-wide environments ensure that the expertise and perspective of the library faculty are taken into consideration as the campus engages in cycles of assessment and implementation of research, teaching, and student support activities. Through their service, library faculty further develop this partnership. All members of the library faculty are expected to participate in different aspects of university life, and to demonstrate how their individual service activities contribute to library and university achievement of strategic goals. 

While we are in the process of creating a truly equitable environment, these guidelines acknowledge the impact of invisible labor and encourage library faculty to include contributions to DEI-related activities both internal and external in their files for action. 

Library continuing appointment line faculty typically devote ten percent of their time to service, which may also include service beyond the university to professional and scholarly organizations. 

Contributions may include some of the following: 

• Service on the University Senate or on any of its committees 

• Participation on task forces and special committees of the university 
• Involvement with student organizations and activities  
• Recruitment of students and faculty from underrepresented groups 
• Work on processes, policies, and tools that promote equitable and inclusive practices 
• Service to professional organizations 

• Participation in library events 

Service on other entities involved specifically in library faculty governance, such as designated roles in the University Library Faculty Council, the University Library Committee on Faculty Actions, and the Merit and Annual Review Committee, are also important contributions to the university, as is service on other internal committees, such as DEI committees, project and other teams, as long as they are not linked to primary responsibilities.  

Library faculty members should demonstrate growth with evidence of increased levels of activity and leadership in this third criterion for evaluation.  

Conclusion

As stated above, performance of primary responsibilities will always be the main criterion for evaluation. Primary responsibilities take up the most significant amount of a library continuing appointment line faculty member’s time, approximately 80%. The other two criteria are important but should never overshadow primary responsibilities.