An Uphill Battle: Academic Librarians and the Barriers to Scholarship

Some academic librarians within Pennsylvania and across the United States have been granted faculty status by their institutions. With this status comes the expectation that librarians will contribute scholarship to their discipline. However, with many librarians holding only a master’s degree, there is the likelihood that they lack the requisite skills to engage in research. On top of this, multiple studies have shown that librarians feel they lack the time to pursue scholarship on top of their typical job duties. This commentary discusses how these barriers create stress for librarians, hurts their scholarly pursuits, and how the current culture in academia may play a role in it.

A pilot study of the effects of faculty status for medical librarians in the United States

Objectives: Within many institutions, there are debates over whether medical librarians should be classified as faculty or professional staff, a distinction that may have considerable effect on the perception of librarians within their local institutions. This study is a pilot exploration of how faculty status may affect the professional experiences of academic medical librarians within their local institutions. Methods: Surveys were sent to 209 medical librarians listed as having some instructional function at Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited medical institutions in the United States. Survey responses were captured using Qualtrics survey tool and analyzed for frequencies and associations using SPSS version 27. Results: Sixty-four medical librarians at academic medical institutions completed the survey developed for this study. Of the respondents, 60.9% indicated that librarians at their institution have faculty status, while 71.9% believe that librarians at their institution should have faculty status. Ninety percent of librarians with faculty status reported that they are expected to generate scholarly materials, compared to 28% of those without faculty status. Conclusions: Many medical libraries offer faculty status to librarians. While many medical librarians are active in instruction, research, and other activities normally associated with faculty status, it is not clear if faculty status impacts how librarians are perceived by other health care workers within their institutions.

Innovative Approaches to Traditional Mentoring Practices of Women in Higher Education

The chapter will present research specific to the mentoring needs of women in higher education, specifically females in early and mid-career as well as women pursuing senior faculty status and positions of leadership. The chapter will begin with a description and rationale of mentorship, specifically among female faculty, as well as an explanation of the traditional model of mentoring. The chapter will then lead into a discussion of both traditional and innovative methods of mentorship and evaluate the benefits of mentoring to the mentor. Throughout the chapter, mentorship relationships among female faculty are evaluated under the theoretical lens of relational cultural theory and social learning theory. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of future research and potential practice of mentoring female faculty in academia.

Creating an asset map for student and community success: Finding our strengths through a campus partnership

Rhode Island College (RIC) has a history of collaboration both across campus departments and within the larger Providence and Rhode Island community. These partnerships are an essential factor in student success and ensuring students access to available resources and opportunities. RIC’s librarians, with faculty status and liaison duties, are frequently well positioned to facilitate collaboration by both acting as a connection between departments and leveraging our expertise in data management. In 2012 and 2013, RIC began two initiatives: The Rhode Island College Central Falls Innovation Lab (Lab) and Learning for Life (L4L).

Revitalizing your library faculty governance: Five tips to increase involvement

If you’re an academic librarian with faculty status, you know that this status comes with an equal portion of benefit and burden. Some of the benefits are academic freedom, support for scholarship, and elevated status on campus (though not necessarily higher pay). Some library faculty are even eligible for tenure (though at my institution, Kennesaw State University, we are not). On the flipside of these benefits are a few things I would consider burdens, such as tedious annual reviews and extensive service requirements. Library faculty governance, I would argue, falls somewhere in between a benefit and a burden.

Wellness Program Nonparticipation and Its Association With Employee Turnover

Purpose: This study examines the association between nonparticipation in wellness activities and employee turnover risk. Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis. Setting: Large university in the Midwestern United States. Participants: Employees with continuous employment during 2016 and complete human resources and wellness program data (n = 34 405). Methods: Demographic, health risk assessment (HRA), and wellness program participation data were collected in 2016 and paired with administratively recorded turnover status from 2017. For the multivariate analyses, logistic regression models were used. Results: There were statistically significant associations between various socioeconomic and demographic characteristics (gender, age, race, wage, union and faculty status, and health score) with turnover status. Also, all 3 participation levels (participated in the HRA only, participated in the HRA and wellness programming, and participated in wellness programming only) had lower odds of experiencing turnover compared to nonparticipants (participated in the HRA only [adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 0.89; confidence interval, CI: 0.80-0.99], participated in wellness program(s) only [AOR: 0.77; CI: 0.62-0.95] and participated in both the HRA and program(s) [AOR: 0.82; CI: 0.74-0.91], respectively). Conclusion: Employee participation in wellness program activities appears to represent a measure of engagement with work. Nonparticipation in these programs is associated with increased risk of employment turnover in the subsequent year.