College and Research Libraries M. KATHY COOK Rank, Status, and Contribution of Academic Librarians as Perceived by the Teaching Faculty at Southern Illinois Univefsity, Carbondale A questionnaire survey was cond.ucted to determine the teaching faculties' perceptions of the academic librarians at Southern Illinois Unipersity, Car- bondale. Each question was analyzed by academic unit and rank of the re- spondents. Service was perceived as the most important function of the li- brarians , but many teaching faculty members indicated that librarians should conduct research if they are to be awarded faculty rank and status . The higher-ranking respondents used the library materials and the services of the librarians most often . Fifty-seven percent of the respondents were in favor of academic librarians at SIU-C having faculty rank and status. As EARLY AS 1955 Patricia Knapp sug- gested as a topic for analysis and research, " How do librarians rate with their faculty colleagues and are they thought of by others primarily as administrators, as educators, or as bookmen?" 1 Although many articles have dealt with the subject of academic status for librarians, as can be seen by the extensive bibliography compiled by Nancy Huling, 2 only two were concerned with the teaching facult4es ' perceptions of status for academic librarians. In the late 1950s in a study conducted by Patricia Knapp , who questioned faculty mem hers as to whether librarians should hold faculty rank and status, the respon- dents at Knox, College, Galesburg, Illinois, indicated that only the head librarian was qualified and most were not in favor of faculty rank for the rest of the library staff. 3 The second study, conducted of English Department faculty members at the Uni- M. Kathy Cook is assistant librarian, Educa- tion/Psychology Division , Morris Library , South- ern Illinois University , Carbondale . . / 214 I ..-/' versity of Kentucky by Florence Holbrook, indicated that most answering the question " Should librarians be given faculty rank" re- plied yes but put stipulations on the rank, such as educational qualifications and re- search efforts. 4 Between the years 1966 and 1975 faculty status for librarians increased overall from 50 percent to 75 percent. 5 One reason for the increase was that librarians concerned with their own role in the academic com- munity felt their goals pertaining to teaching, research , and service warranted faculty status. As a result the members of the Association of College and Research Li- braries endorsed a " Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Li- brarians," as of April 26, 1972.6 Academic librarians claim to be professors whose major occupational task is teaching yet , as mentioned earlier, they have not been recognized as professors by professors. 7 In the end the image and pres- tige of academic librarians will be based upon their academic preparation, service, and contributions to their colleges and universities . H Because of the lack of data concerning the teaching faculties' perception of faculty sta- tus for academic librarians, a study was undertaken at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (SIU -C) to determine this perception. SIU -C is a comprehensive, state-supported university with 22,000 stu- dents enrolled; Academic librarians present- ly have academic rank and -Status along with the teaching faculty. METHODOLOGY A questionnaire (see appendix A) was sent via campus mail to 50 percent, randomly selected, of the full-time· teaching faculty assigned to academic units. A total of 507 faculty members received the questionnaire and 386 responded. Of these, 384 responses were usable, a 75.7 percent response. The computer program SAS (Statistical Analysis System) was used to determine percentages. It was hoped that the data collected would show the perceptions of the teaching faculty toward the academic librarians. This in- formation would indicate whether the perceptions needed to be improved and possibly would indicate areas of needed im- provement. The total number and percentage of the full-time teaching faculty and of those re- sponding to the questionnaire were from ten academic units, shown in table 1. Twen- ty-five percent of the respondents held the rank of full professor, 28 percent were associate professors, 37 percent were assis- Rank, Status, and Contribution I 215 tant professors, and 10 percent were in- structors. Each question was analyzed to identify differences in responses and perceptions according to rank or academic unit of the respondents. The law faculty responses were deleted, because there were too few to consider. RESULTS Three questions were asked to gain back- ground information on the respondents. In response to the question "How often do you use the library," it was found that 6 percent of those respot;1ding used the library daily, 26 percent used the library several times a week, 31 percent used the library once a week, and 36 percent used the library once a month or less. Thirty-seven percent of the professors used the library several times . a week or more, whereas 27 percent of the associate professors, 39 ·percent of the assis- tant professors, and 16 percent of the in- structors did so (table 2). In looking at the use of the library by faculty members from the various schools and colleges (table 3), 50 percent of the faculty responding in the College of Liberal Arts indicated they used the library several times a week or more, whereas 43 percent of the faculty responding in the College of Science, 42 percent of the faculty respond- ing in the College of Communications and Fine Arts, 24 percent of the faculty re- sponding in the College of Education, and TABLE 1 DISTRIBUTION OF FACULTY AND RESPONDENTS BY ACADEMIC UNIT University Faculty Respondents• Units Number Percentage Number Percentage Agriculture Business and 44 4 20 5 Administration 51 5 20 5 Communications and Fine Arts 121 12 47 12 Education 177 18 71 18 Engineering and 15 Technology 44 4 4 Human Resources 8'1 8 32 8 Liberal Arts 266 26 102 26 Law 20 2 5 1 Science 105 10 37 10 Technical Careers ~ _!!L _R _!!L Total 1,014 99 386 99 *The questionnaire was sent only to 50 percent of randomly selected full-time teaching faculty . 216 I College & Research Libraries • May 1981 TABLE 2 RESPONDENTS" USE OF LIBRARY BY ACADEMIC RANK Almost Several Times Once a Once a Month Daily a Week Week or Less Rank (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) Professor 9 28 31 32 Associate professor 6 21 34 39 Assistant professor 5 34 30 31 Instructor 8 8 29 55 All faculty 6 26 31 36 TABLE 3 RESPONDENTS" USE OF LIBRARY BY ACADEMIC UNIT Almost Daily Unit (Percentage) Agriculture 0 Business and Administration 0 Communications and Fine Arts 6 Education 3 Engineering and Technology 0 Human Resources 0 Liberal Arts 16 Science 5 Technical Careers 0 22 percent of the faculty responding in the College of Human Resources did so. In all other schools and colleges less than 15 per- cent of the responding faculty indicated that intensity of library use. · In response to the question "Have you ever requested a librarian to speak to one of your classes on the resources of the li- brary," 5 percent of the respondents indi- cated that a librarian was requested to do this every semester. Sixteen percent indi- cated they only occasionally made such a re- quest of the librarian, and 74 percent said they never had made such a request. Many faculty members indicated they had never thought to make such a request. No dis- cernible differences on this question were found when grouping the respondents by professorial rank. Fourteen percent of the faculty responding in the College of Educa- tion and 10 .percent in the School of Agri- culture had a librarian speak on library re- sources every semester. In all other schools and colleges fewer than 10 percent of the Several Times Once a Once a Month a Week Week or Less (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) 15 45 40 15 50 35 36 26 32 21 27 48 7 29 64 22 31 47 34 32 19 38 43 13 8 19 73 respondents made such requests each semester. Thirty-six percent of the faculty responding in the School of Engineering and Technology, 34 percent of the faculty responding in the College of Education, and 25 percent of the faculty responding in the School of Agriculture indicated they occa- sionally had a librarian speak on resources. In all other schools and colleges 13 percent or fewer of the responding faculty made such occasional requests (table 4). In asking the next question, "What con- tact have you had with librarians other than in the library setting," the author hoped to determine whether the teaching faculty viewed librarians as contributing members of the faculty in the university as a whole. In response to this question, 15 percent of the faculty indicated they had contact with librarians on master's committees, Ph. D. committees, or search committees formed to fill vacant positions. Thirty-three percent of the faculty indicated they come in contact with librarians on university-wide commit- Rank, Status, and Contribution I 217 TABLE 4 "HAVE You EVER REQUESTED A LIBRARIAN TO SPEAK TO ONE OF YOUR CLASSES ON THE RESOURCES OF THE LIBRARY?" Every Sem ester Unit (Percentage) Agriculture 10 Business and Administration 0 Communications and Fine Arts 4 Education 14 Engineering and Technology 0 Human Resources 6 Liberal Arts 3 Science 0 Technical Careers 0 All faculty 5 tees such as the faculty senate or graduate council, and 15 percent of the faculty indi- cated they had had no contact with librar- ians other than in the library setting. The remainder of the faculty had contact with li- brarians at social functions, professional society functions, and in research collabora- tion. . A second group of questions was used to determine the teaching faculties ' percep- tions of the academic library and librarians at SIU-C. When asked " How important do you view the library collection as part of your teaching and research ," 63 percent of the faculty indicated the library collection was indispensable, 17 percent of the faculty indicated the collection was very important, and 5 percent indicated it was either of lit- tle importance or not important. Professorial rank did not appear to make a difference in the faculty views . Seventy-five percent of those at the rank of assistant professor and higher viewed the library collection as in- dispensable, whereas only 36 percent of the instructors felt this way. In response to the question " How impor- tant do you view the librarian as assisting in your teaching and research , " 24 percent of the faculty indicated the librarian was indis- pensable, 25 percent indicated the librarian was very important, 29 percent indicated the librarian was important, and 22 percent indicated the librarian was of little or no im- portance . When this question was consid- ered by academic units, few discernible dif- ferences between academic-unit responses Occasionally Never Other (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) 25 55 10 5 90 5 11 77 4 34 48 4 36 57 7 6 78 9 13 82 1 8 84 8 6 92 3 16 74 5 were found. In considering the various faculty ranks, 34 percent of the professors said the librarian was indispensable to their teaching and research whereas only 21 per- cent of the associate and 22 percent of the assistant professors indicated this was the case. It appears that as faculty members progress to the rank of professor their view of the relative importance of the librarian to them is enhanced (table 5). In response to the question concerning the help received from librarians in the SIU-C library, 13 percent of the faculty re- sponding indicated the help received was indispensable , 44 percent said it was very helpful , and 33 percent indicated it was helpful. Ten percent of the responding faculty indicated librarians had been of little or no help. When this question was consid- ered by academic units, few discernible dif- ferences between academic-unit responses were found . In considering the various faculty ranks , an increase of the feeling that librarians are indispensable was shown as the faculty approached professorial rank (table 6). Twelve percent of those indicating librarians are indispensable were instruc- tors , 9 percent were assistant professors , 14 percent were associate professors, and 19 percent were professors. Relatively equal percentages (44 percent) of the faculty re- sponding indicated the librarian had been very helpful. The next question asked the faculty to in- v dicate how much librarians contribute to the instruction of students in the university 218 I College & Research Libraries • May 1981 TABLE 5 "How IMPORTANT Do You VIEW THE LIBRARIAN AS ASSISTING IN YOUR TEACHING AND RESEARCH?" Very Indispensable Important Important No Importance Rank (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) Professor 34 22 26 18 ' Associate professor 21 32 26 21 Assistant professor 22 25 31 22 Instructor 13 18 41 28 All faculty 24 25 29 22 TABLE 6 " HAS THE HELP You RECEIVED FROM LIBRARIANS IN THE UNI VERSITY LIBRARY BEEN ; ___ " Indispensable Rank (Percentage) Professor 19 Associate professor 14 Assistant professor 9 Instructor 12 All faculty 13 setting. Eighteen percent of the faculty in- dicated the librarians contributed a very substantial amount to the instruction of stu- dents, 33 percent indicated the librarians contributed a substantial amount, 31 per- cent indicated librarians contributed some, and 18 percent indicated librarians contrib- uted very little or none. Only small differ- ences were found on this question when grouping the respondents by professorial rank. The faculty responding from the College of Communications and Fine Arts , the Col- lege of Liberal Arts, and the College of Education had the highest percentage in- dicating the librarians contributed a very substantial amount to the instruction of stu- dents. Fifty percent of the faculty in the schools and colleges other than the College of Business and Administration , School of Engineering and Technology, and College of Science indicated that the librarians con- tributed a substantial amount or very sub- stantial amount to the instruction of stu- dents in the university setting (table 7) . In response to the question " Do you feel librarians should conduct research, " 17 per- Very Of Little or Helpful Helpful No Help (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) 49 24 8 44 34 8 41 37 13 35 41 12 44 33 10 cent of the faculty responding felt that li- brarians should conduct research on practi- cal topics related to improving service. Two percent of the faculty indicated that librar- ians should conduct research on scholarly li- brary topics whereas 56 percent of the re- spondents indicated that librarians should conduct research on both of the previously named topics. Eight percent of the respon- dents indicated that librarians should not conduct research and 16 percent indicated it should be up to the individual librarians whether they conduct research or not. No discernible differences were found on this question when grouping the respondents by either academic unit or professorial rank. In response to the question " How much released time should librarians be given to conduct research, " 13 percent of the faculty responding indicated that no time should be given to librarians for research use. Twenty- one percent of the responding faculty indi- cated four hours per week should be allowed, and 31 percent of those responding felt librarians should be allowed eight hours per week released time . Eight percent of the faculty indicated that twelve hours per Rank, Status, and Contribution I 219 TABLE 7 "How MUCH Do You FEEL LIBRARIANS CONTRIBUTE TO THE INSTRUCTION OF STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY SETTING?" Very Substantial Amount Unit (Percentage) Agriculture Business and 5 Administration 16 Communications and Fine Arts 27 Education 20 Engineering and Technology 14 Human Resources 10 Liberal Arts 23 Science 11 Technical Careers 6 All faculty 18 week was appropria!e , and 27 percent indi- cated the amount of time allowed would de- pend on the needs of the individual project. No discernible differences were found on this question when grouping the respon- dents by either academic unit or profes- sorial rank. The respondents were asked to rank the librarians' role in the university in terms of teaching, research, and service . Eighty-five percent indicated they p~rceived the major duties of librarians to be those of service to students and faculty. Eight percent indi- cated research was the most important func- tion, and 5 percent indicated teaching was the most important. Two percent indicated other items were most important, such as li- brary organization and management. Gener- ally no discet:nible differences were found on this question when grouping the respon- dents by either academic unit or profes- sorial rank. Twenty-eight percent of the responding faculty viewed librarians as equal to teaching faculty, whereas 65 percent viewed librarians as professionals, rather than facul- ty. Only 7 percent of the respondents viewed librarians as nonprofessional or equal to clerical or secretarial help. No dis- cernible differences on this question were found when grouping the respondents by professorial rank. · Forty-four percent of the responding faculty in the College of Education, 35 per- Substantial Ve ry Little Amount Some or None (Pe rcentage) (Pe rcentage) (Percentage) 47 32 16 16 47 21 29 27 18 38 32 10 21 50 15 42 29 19 26 28 23 31 31 26 43 40 12 33 31 18 cent of the responding faculty in the School of Technical Careers, 33 percent of the re- sponding faculty in the College of Com- munication and Fine Arts , and 29 percent of the responding faculty in the College of Liberal Arts indicated that the librarians were faculty equal to teaching faculty. Only 3 percent of the responding faculty of the College of Science and 10 percent of the faculty of the College of Business and Ad- ministration viewed the librarians as such (table 8). When asked " Should librarians have faculty rank and status," 57 percent (201) of the responding faculty responded affirma- tively whereas 43 percent (148) responded negatively. No discernible differences on this question were found when grouping the respondents by professorial rank . Sixty-four percent of the respondents in the School of Engineering and Technology and College of Science indicated that librarians should not have faculty rank and status. Nearly 50 per- cent or more of the responding faculty in all other schools and colleges indicated that li- brarians should have faculty rank and status (table 9). The 57 percent (201) responding yes to the previous question were asked if they felt a limit to the rank librarians could obtain should be imposed. Of those 201 re- spondents , 86 percent indicated no limit should be imposed and 14 percent indicated a limit should be imposed. 220 I CoUege & Research Libraries • May 1981 TABLE 8 "Do You VIEW LIBRARIANS As : ---" Faculty Equal with Non- Teaching Faculty Professionals professionals Clerical and Secretarial (Percentage) Unit (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) Agriculture Business and Administration Communications and Fine Arts Education Engineering and Technology Human Resources Liberal Arts Science Technical Careers All faculty 20 60 10 70 33 59 44 53 20 73 23 68 29 66 3 97 35' 59 28 65 0 15 2 3 0 0 1 0 3 2 20 5 7 0 7 10 4 0 3 5 TABLE 9 "SHOULD LIBRARIANS HAVE FACULIT RANK AND STATUs?" Unit Yes (Percentage) No (Pe rce ntage) Agriculture Business and Administration Communications and Fine Arts Education Engineering and Technology Human Resources Liberal Arts Science Technical Careers All faculty Of the 148 faculty members indicating th~t librarians should not have faculty rank and status, 58 percent indicated it was due to insufficient teaching; 40 percent indicated it was due to insufficient research and pub- lications; 13 percent indicated it was due to insufficient service; and 27 percent · indi- cated it was due to insufficient education. Thirty-seven percent also listed a variety of other reasons why librarians should not have faculty rank and status. The numbers total more than 100 percent because re- spondents could check multiple reasons for denying librarians faculty rank and status. CONCLUSION Sixty-three percent of the respondents 55 53 50 67 38 48 58 34 79 57 45 47 50 33 62 52 42 66 21 43 used the liorary once a week or more, which corresponded exactly with the per- centage of faculty indicating they viewed the library collection an indispensable part of their teaching and research. Seventy-five percent of the respondents in every academic rank indicated the library collec- tion was either very important or indispens- able. Several faculty members who re- corded a lesser amount of usage indicated it depended on their teaching and research needs at any time. The other 25 percent may need to be educated as to the proce- dures in requesting new materials in their research areas. Attendance at orientation workshops held for new faculty members to inform them of the materials and services provided in the university library should be encouraged. All faculty members should be made aware of the computerized literature- searching service offered in the university library. Another area in public relations that could be initiated by the librarians is to volunteer to teach classes on the resources of the library. Although many classes are currently brought to the library each semes- ter for one-to-three hours of instruction, more faculty should be made aware of this service. A bibliographic instruction course on how to use the library is currently offered for one credit hour. These classes represent direct teaching by librarians. Un- fortunately, the students are the ones who suffer if they are not made aware of the li- brary resources and of the course offered on its use. The teaching faculty are also confused as to how much instruction of students is done on a one-to-one basis in the library. Many faculty members indicated they had no way of knowing how much individual instruction was given on how to use the library re- sources when librarians assisted students in finding information. In addition, faculty members should be made aware of the in- structional materials librarians prepare for the students. Users' guides and subject bib- liographies are prepared much the same way and with similar intent as teachers pre- pare instructional materials. Both are in- direct forms of teaching, which are difficult to measure. On the w~ole, the teaching faculty thought that librarians should conduct re- search on topics of their own ~hoosing and that released time should be granted for this. everal faculty members indicated that in rder to have faculty rank, research was a necessary duty. Many faculty members thought librarians should resolve this issue themselves. Rank, Status, and Contribution I 221 Of the three responsibilities of a faculty member-teaching, research, and service to students and faculty-an overwhelming majority of faculty indicated they thought service was the most important responsibil- ity of the librarians. Concerning the granting of faculty status to librarians, several teaching faculty felt that the librarians' role was coequal but different: "Because the library is not a de- gree granting department, faculty rank and status should not be awarded"; "They should be considered administrators and have the sole purpose to serve students and teaching faculty"; "The only legitimate faculty rank for librarians would be those with crossappointment in an academic de- partment." One respondent indicated that in view of the publish-or-perish emphasis, research is the most significant factor and service the least for qualifying for promotion in faculty ranks. If a librarian was heavily engaged in research (as required by the university), the library services that should be rendered would go lacking. Therefore, he indicated that librarians should not be class.ed in faculty ranks, but should be in professional ranks. Overall the perceptions indicated that li- brarians are contributing members of the university, they help in teaching, they should be conducting research and they should be given faculty rank and status for their efforts. A replication of this study should be con- ducted on many campuses to help in plan- ning local activities. In addition, compara- tive studies would lead to a broader knowl- edge of faculty attitudes toward librarians as members of the faculty. Studies of uni- versity administrations' perceptions of li- brarians qualifying for faculty rank and sta- tus could be conducted as well. REFERENCES 1. Patricia Knapp, "The College Librarian: Sociology of a Professional Specialization," in Robert B. Downs, ed., The Status of Amer- ican College and University Librarians (ACRL Monograph, no.22 [Chicago: American Li- brary Assn., 1958]), p.65. 2. Nancy Huling, "Faculty Status-a Compre- hensive Bibliography," C allege & Research Li- braries 34:440-62 (Nov. 1973). 3. Patricia Knapp, College Teaching and the Col- lege Library (ACRL Monograph, no.23 [Chica- go: American Library Assn., 1959]), p.82. 222 I College & Research Libraries • May 1981 4. Florence Holbrook, "The Faculty Image of the Academic Librarian," Southeastern Librarian 18:174-93 (Fall1968). 5. C. James Schmidt, "A Letter to H. W . Ax- ford," in H. William Axford, ed., "The Three Faces of Eve: or The Identity of Academic Li- brarianship; a Symposium," The Journal of Academic Librarianship 2:281 (Jan. 1977). 6. "Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Librarians," College & Re- search Libraries News 33:200-10 (Sept. 1972). 7. Pauline Wilson, "Librarians as Teachers: The Study of an Organization Fiction," Lil?rary Quarterly 49:146-62 (April 1979). 8. Martha Boaz, "Academic Libraries: Some Issues-No Answers," The journal of Academic Librarianship 1:15-18 (Sept. 1975). APPENDIX A FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF LIBRARIANS AND FACULTY RANK AND STATUS FOR LIBRARIANS QUESTIONNAIRE Please check the appropriate response. BACKGROUND: 1. In which school or college are you a faculty member? ___ School of Agriculture ___ College of Business and Administration ___ College of Communications and Fine Arts ___ College of Education ___ School of Engineering and Technology ___ College of Liberal Arts ___ School of Law ___ School of Medicine ___ College of Science ___ School of Technical Careers ___ College of Human Resources 2. What faculty rank do you hold? ___ Full professor ___ Associate professor ___ Assistant professor ___ Instructor 3. How often do you use the library? ___ Almost daily ___ Once a month ___ Several times a week ___ Once a semester ___ Once a week ___ Other (Please specify) ________ _ 4. Have you ever requested a librarian to speak to one of your classes on the resources of the library? ___ Every semester ___ Never --~ Occasionally ___ Other (Please specify) _______ _ 5. The contact you have had with librarians other than in the library setting has been on: ___ Master's committees ___ University-wide committees ___ Ph. D. committees ___ Other (Please specify) _______ _ ___ Search committees PERCEPTIONS : 1. How important do you view the library collection as part of your teaching and research? ___ Indispensable ___ Of little importance ___ Very important ___ Not important ___ Important 2. How important do you view the librarian as assisting in your teaching and research? ___ Indispensable --- Of little importance ___ Very important --- Not important ___ Important 3. Has the help you received from librarians in Morris Library been: ___ Indispensable --- Of little help __ Very helpful ---Not helpful __ Helpful 4. How much do you feel librarians contribute to the instruction of students in the university setting? ___ Very substantial amount ---Very little ___ Substantial amount --- None ___ Some Rank, Status, and Contribution I 223 5. Do you feel librarians should conduct research? (Check one) a. ___ On practical topics related to improving service b. ___ On scholarly library topics c. ___ Both a and b d. ___ Librarians should not conduct research e. __ Other (Please specify)·------------------------ 6. How much released time should librarians be given to conduct research (based on a forty-hour work week)? ___ 0 percent ___ 20 percent __ Other (Please specify), _______ _ ___ 10 percent ___ · 30 percent 7. How do you perceive the librarian's role in the university in terms of teaching, research, and service to students and faculty? Rank the following in order of importance for librarians, 1, 2, 3, 4 (1 is high). ___ Teaching ___ Research ___ Service to students and faculty ___ Other _____ _ 8. Do you view librarians as: ___ Faculty equal with teaching faculty ___ Professionals 9. Should librarians have faculty rank and status? ___ Yes (If yes answer only 9a) ___ No (If no answer only 9b) ---Nonprofessionals --- Clerical and secretarial 9a. Should there be a limit to the rank librarians may obtain? ___ Yes ___ No 9b. (Check appropriate responses.) ___ It is due to insufficient contributions to teaching. ___ It is due to insufficient research and publications. ___ It is due to insufficient service. ___ It is due to insufficient education. (Would it matter if the professional library staff had Ph . D.'s in addition to master's degrees?) ___ Yes ___ No __ All of the above __ Other (Please specify)·------------------------ COMMENTS: