No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Not without a great deal of work, but a self-defined learning organization—the stuff of which higher education is "made"—often makes it more possible.
In the United States, the first college librarians were instructors or mentors at their institutions, and library care was tied to their work. Currently, librarians are a valued part of the campus community, managing access to electronic resources and teaching Internet research while still providing more traditional services. This is a reflection of the diversity of the profession; we all have our own ideas and opinions - all of which are valid and, I hope you'll agree, worth listening to.
The Successful Academic Librarian is divided into three main parts, with each chapter covering a different aspect of the academic librarian's job. The first part, "The Basics - Getting Started," will help you understand the parts of an academic library job.
THE BASICS—GETTING OFF
Learning the idiosyncrasies of your work environment will allow you to stay within the norms of library culture. Generally, the time to propose changes is after they have become ingrained in the culture of the library. Academic librarians must frame their partnerships within the larger context of the institution's mission, the expectations and assumptions of the teaching faculty and the library's program.
It is important to understand the differences that exist between librarians and teachers. Give them a tour of the library; discover their specific field of scientific research; discuss the courses they may teach; Excellent examples of course specific research guides can be found on the St.
You can make a significant contribution to the goals of the entire academic community in educating new generations of students. There is often a university-level library committee that provides the library representative with an outside view of the library. Librarians with faculty status have the same rights and responsibilities as lecturers and will be part of the promotion and tenure system in their institutions.
According to a 1995 survey, about half of academic librarians in the United States hold faculty status.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT—GETTING
You've done well in your current job and you want to move up in the world, try a different kind of school, try a different region of the country. This is good because it means you are one of the top three or four candidates and have a chance of actually getting the job. Withhold comments about aspects of the library's decor, city, restaurant, and so on that you don't like.
Maybe the contents of the box were great and you're disappointed you didn't get in. Usually this happens at the end of the interview when you meet with the director or dean. Both the mentor and the mentee should be clear about the goals of the relationship.
I recently served as a mentor to a student at the University of Washington's School of Information. At many conferences, you must register for continuing education sessions well in advance of the conference. TILT - The Texas Guide to Information Literacy (tilt.lib.utsystem.edu) - is a self-paced learning module that can be useful for students as well as new librarians.
The study found that 87.5 percent of academic librarians represented by unions were in the same bargaining unit with the rest of the faculty on their campus (Carmack and Olsgaard, p. 148). The AFL-CIO, which functions as a lobbying organization on behalf of the union movement, represents half of the national unions in the country. In much of the public sector, strikes are prohibited due to the "essential" nature of government services.
Learn about the history of unionization on campus and find out what people think about the situation. Many of the individual aspects involved in documentation, such as services or research, are covered in detail in separate chapters of this book. Canadian academic libraries use most of the same standards as Library of Congress subject headings.
Professional librarian.” Québec's two library schools, McGill and Université de Montréal, work closely with CORPU to ensure that their graduates can meet these standards. This means that Canadian academic libraries face two funding challenges: the usual institutional funding problems and exchange rate fluctuations.
TALES FROM THE TRENCHES—ACADEMIC
Most librarians would probably agree that this scenario contains many of the important ingredients for job satisfaction. All of the information in this chapter can help academic librarians in any type of position. This experience has given me valuable insights into the organizational culture of academic libraries.
The vision and priorities of the library director and senior leaders, as well as your immediate supervisor, are paramount. The solution is to carefully analyze who should be consulted beforehand and who should be informed about the decision. Email and meetings are the most popular but potentially problematic forms of communication.
If you believe that cooperation between public services and technical services needs improvement, work to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. The response I received from the head of the department was: “We have spent years building this system. A helpful guideline comes from the principle of "right effort," the sixth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism.
Remember the words of Alan Kay, the founder of the laptop computer: "The best way to predict the future is to invent it.". I sat in meetings discussing the merits and demerits of the people with whom I spent so many hours of my life. Everyone involved in the process must meet certain criteria; everyone must adhere to the rules of the manuals and the cultural norms of the process as they exist in every library and university.
However, there are always colleagues who do more than their share in all the categories. We can't ignore or get rid of the gremlins if we refuse to see them in the first place. That other thing (you know, ideology) really doesn't matter, because most of the promotion and tenure guidelines I've seen just require you to meet some kind of quantitative hurdle in the publishing and/or creative activity track.
