University Libraries
Developing and Adopting a
Unit Faculty Governance Structure

Colleagues,

The quickest and easiest way to post documents and digests of your questions and comments concerning a University Libraries Faculty bylaws seems to be Blackboard. You'll find materials, beginning with the "DRAFT #4" proposed document in a folder in Blackboard; after logging in, look for:
My Organizations > Library Policies > Documents > Library Faculty Bylaws

To get discussion going, let's make it like kind of a slow blog: send any kind of comments, reactions, questions, etc. to me (not to the group). Every 3-4 days I'll cumulate what you send me into an ongoing "digest" which you should review regularly-- it will likely inspire more questions, comments, reactions, etc. When I do the digests, I'll leave out names, unless you specifically ask me to identify you with your current comment/question.

Sarah has booked two meetings for us to discuss points we all raise-- Thurs. 7/13 and Thurs. 8/3, both 1:30-3pm. As we go through this first comment period, and the July meeting, we can decide how to structure discussion during the second interval-- e.g. see if we're ready to focus on some specific issues, or form smaller groups to work on particular sections. But for this first round, everyone should have the opportunity to absorb and reflect on and react to the overall concept(s).

While it would be nice to finalize a document quickly, it's probably more important to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to absorb the discussion, and to contribute to it. It won't be possible for every person to be at every meeting, so we'll take as long as we need to in order to ensure that there are avenues and time for input from everyone, and that we don't arrive at a conclusion without giving all a fair opportunity to be in the process.

I know you'll let me know if I've forgotten something, either minor or obvious!

Thanks,
Debbie

Digest of submitted comments,15 June - 12 July, by topic/category

Procedural issues

Meetings: I believe that there should be a quorum percent in order for the meeting to have any consequence - perhaps ½ plus one, or 2/3? Will there be closed meetings?
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Elections: I believe we should consider closed ballots in our language, term limits for some of the committees, and also voting issues. I like the approval vote count that CLAS uses. If we do traditional voting, will abstentions count at nays as they do in KCON.
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Committee Chairs: The Membership section of the Faculty Development & Retention mentions chairs, but, how will that happen in other committees. Will they be appointed by the dean, or selected by the committee, or have the highest number of approval votes?
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Voting (generally)
a. In order for something to pass, it should receive approval from at least half + one of those eligible to vote. That would be a majority.
b. Ballots should be secret.
c. Abstentions are tricky. On principle, I approve of them. In actuality, I fear that people will use them to "cop out" -- in order not to make a decision that may be unfavorable to one "side" or another, because they will not want to "take sides." In that case, I think that each library faculty member should make a decision as to what is best for the Library's constituency, regardless of who may or may not like it. (Also, another reason for secret ballots.) A person may also choose to abstain because s/he does not have enough information to vote - not an excuse in most cases, unless perhaps a person has been ill or on sabbatical.
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Committees (generally)
a. There should be term limits of not fewer than 2 years and not longer than 3. One year is barely enough time to get one's feet wet. 3 years is enough, though; give someone else a chance; all of us should participate in order to "foster community."
b. Each committee should elect its own chair each year, but a person should be able to serve as chair for more than one year if re-elected.
c. If a member of a committee needs to get a temporary replacement for less than one semester, the original member will resume his/her position upon his/her return. If it's for a semester or more, a new election should be held to replace the member. (See CLAS bylaws.) I just think things go more smoothly that way. Otherwise the temporary replacement is more or less a "lame duck" and has to fill in the original member on everything that has transpired. The original member can always run again.

#1 Faculty Council / #6 Faculty Assembly

Re: Faculty Council: Terms -- Change the first sentence, which currently reads: "All faculty governance offices commence with the start of the academic year. The terms will run through the calendar year, to include the spring/summer as well as the academic year." to: All faculty governance offices commence with the start of the Fall semester. The terms will run for one year up to the start of the next Fall semester.
Rationale: we work 12 month contracts, not 9 month contracts. There is less ambiguity to specify Fall semester rather than "start of the academic year" since things don't just stop here during the summer like they do in some places, and for some programs we work with (like nursing and engineering) they proceed full bore all year.
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Re: Faculty Council
a. If we omit the University Libraries Faculty Assembly and include all faculty categories in the University Libraries Faculty Council, specifying that only the tenured/tenure-line faculty are eligible voters on any faculty governance issues, who would be chair of the Faculty Council - the Dean or an elected faculty member? Or can the Dean be elected? I don't think the Dean should be the chair of the Faculty Council. As it's written now, the term as chair is one year. Can the chair be re-elected? If so, should a certain amount of time be specified as to when a former chair is eligible to serve again?
b. One of the "functions" is "to support faculty development and mentoring." Shouldn't this be within the purview of the University Libraries Faculty Development and Retention Committee?
c. Powers and duties:
i. What standing committees? The standing committees mentioned in the bylaws?
ii. What is the difference between "Function" and "Powers and Duties"?
d. If the Dean designates a tenured or tenure-track faculty member to sit on the Faculty Council, the designate will be there in 2 capacities - as himself/herself and as the Dean's designate. As himself/herself, s/he can vote. As the Dean's designate, s/he cannot. However, this could potentially put the designate in an uncomfortable position. Do we want to let that happen? Is it necessary? Is there a better way that would be satisfactory to all concerned?

#2 Library Personnel Committee / #8 Designated Unit Head for Lib. Fac. Personnel Actions

Re: Library Personnel Committee -- The Faculty Handbook (Ch.4, Sect.2.10.2.A) indicates that, with respect to the College and Library Personnel Committees, "Committee Chair and Other Issues. Other issues pertaining to the committee membership and the selection of a chair will be determined by the respective Colleges." Would it make sense to make the DUH a de facto member the Library Personnel Committee? Then just one Lib. Fac. member of the LPC would elected periodically (2 year or 3 year terms?), and one would be a fac. nominee appointed by the Dean (for 1 year? 3 years?).

#3 Faculty Development & Retention Committee

Re: University Libraries Faculty Development and Retention Committee: Function -- In the last sentence, remove the word "on". The sentence will now read: Recommends to the Faculty Council and the Dean allocation of faculty development resources.
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In terms of the Standing Committees proposed, specifically the Faculty Development & Retention Committee, the function of defining criteria for renewal, tenure, and promotion should be a function of the tenure-line faculty as a whole, maybe even the purview of tenured faculty, although the untenured faculty certainly should have input.

Membership--(at least?) 5 members, tenured, 2 from each of the Liberal Arts & Professional Programs in the "Reference & Instruction" side and 1 from the "Access Services" side.

Recommendations on allocation of resources should tie directly to these criteria--and one related question is: do we give untenured, junior faculty more dollars for professional development?

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Faculty Development & Retention Committee:
The Provost's office defines one of the major roles of an academic unit to be acquiring, developing, and retaining excellent faculty; responsibility for ensuring that this happens is a fundamental activity of the unit and its faculty peers. In the Colleges, areas typically delgated to department chairpersons (appointed by their dean) to deal with include (but are not limited to) "the following: fiscal matters; personnel matters; teaching, scholarly, & research activities; professional conduct matters; faculty absences; office assignments; meetings & communications; secretarial & technical services; faculty assignments; part-time faculty; curriculum; library resources; course scheduling; student relations & advising; student help; equipment, facilities, & records." (Faculty Handbook, Unit Head Responsibilities). Each of the Colleges has provisions for one or more faculty committees to deal with the various aspects of managing their faculty make-up, with responsibilities ranging from having a voice in what positions need to be filled (discipline, specialty), overseeing faculty position postings and determining the makeup of search committees, new faculty selection and orientation, mentoring of junior faculty and oversight of faculty professional development generally, recommending on allocation of professional development funds, etc. etc.

The Library Faculty as a body should have an appropriate say in these same kinds of activities within our unit. What process shall we undertake to come to a fair balance of input and authority among the following?:
>>Library Faculty Council, via an elected Standing Committee: scope?--should have an active part in recommending/deciding on how to manage faculty vacancies, how to grow the faculty, setting standards for renewal, promotion, and tenure, recommending on allocation of resources for professional development
>>Library Administrative Council: sets budget, including travel funds
>>Dept. Directors and Heads: "Accountable For:" statements in position descriptions such as "...mentoring and development of faculty in unit particularly junior faculty," "fostering professional development among library liaisons in relation to their collection development responsibilities"
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Re: Faculty Development & Retention Committee -- in support of making this a significant Faculty Governance function:
...it seems unusual to have junior, untenured faculty "head librarians" trying to mentor junior faculty (themselves!) and determine senior faculty members' professional development.
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Re: "University Libraries Faculty Development and Retention Committee" -- I like the idea that this committee "coordinates" activities, that it consists of "elected" members, that the elected members serve 2 -year terms, and that the chair is elected by the committee. I like that the committee is also responsible for seeing that faculty orientation and training for effective teaching and professional performance are accomplished. I also like it that this committee will either provide scholarly activity
assistance or see that it is provided. I particularly like the phrase "fosters a community of faculty." I would like to see the word "mentoring" along with "orientation." "Orientation" to me connotes something short-term - say, a week; whereas "mentoring" goes on for as long as it is needed. ...Senior librarians have a lot to offer in this area [and] they are being paid for their knowledge, expertise, and experience...They want to contribute [by participating in the process of supporting each other and mentoring junior faculty].
... Should this committee have anything to do with sabbatical requests? Sabbaticals would have to do with professional
development. I notice that some of the other schools include this. (The CLAS Faculty Development Committee, for example, "will review and recommend to the Dean on sabbatical leave requests.") What about awards? Should this committee make sure that librarians are nominated for whatever GVSU awards they are eligible for?
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Re: Faculty Development & Retention Committee
I think this is a very important committee. Our biggest asset and our biggest investment is our people. We can help our constituencies the most by hiring the best people we can find, mentoring and training them and helping them to become successful, and then retaining them. I think this is where we can create "fire in the belly" and high morale, which in turn will translate into "a community of faculty" who provide superlative service to their constituencies. It seems to me that this is where senior librarians can and should offer the most. They have years of experience. Grand Valley has invested much in those who have been at GVSU a long time. They have developed expertise in various areas. They are getting paid for their experience. Let them give back. Those who mentor should have years of experience in doing what they are teaching others to do; but all of us should be involved in "fostering" this community. To the extent that one of us fails, we all fail. If we have a community, we will try very hard not to let that happen.

#4 Curricular Support & Assessment Committee

Re: "Curricular Support and Assessment Committee" -- What sort of function might a committee like this have? what sort of emphasis? What about something like: "Function: To identify common educational and educational support objectives of the University Libraries; and to coordinate and facilitate assessment activities related to academic (educational) activities of the University Libraries, and respond to feedback produced by the University Libraries Administrative Services Division's assessment activities." How could this be tailored/reshaped to work to good effect in concert with those positions in the reporting structure which have some responsibility for seeing that certain kinds of activities take place? Is there a way to create a relationship between a standing faculty committee, perhaps focused on content, and those Directors who are charged with supporting the performance of functions and the completion of tasks?
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Re: "Curricular Support and Assessment Committee" -- What is proposed here makes good sense (in other words, yes to the questions that person posed).
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Re: University Libraries Curricular Support and Assessment Committee
We are an academic service unit. A primary academic service that we offer is curricular support. This committee needs to define what "curricular support" means and how we provide it. Furthermore, how do we know that we are providing it and how well we are providing it? That is where assessment comes in. I also think that we could incorporate standards. The ACRL has provided standards for academic libraries. How well do we meet them? Where do we fall short? What do we need to do to measure up? This has the potential to become an important advisory committee in moving the Libraries forward.
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Re: Curricular Support and Assessment Committee
Assessment - it seems like this committee could assist with things like LibQual, SAILS, user surveys on services. Perhaps it could function in part as a research committee, looking at trends in librarianship? What are other libraries doing for assessment? How is it working? What is it used for? (i.e. not just doing assessment for the sake of doing it.)

#5 Ad Hoc Committees & Task Forces

Ad hoc committees and task forces will undoubtedly prove useful, and provision should be made for them.

#7 Library Administrative Council

Re: Administrative structure -- The Dean or her designate is an ex officio member of the Faculty Council. I see no compelling reason why the chair of the Faculty Council (or his/her designate) should not be an ex officio member of the Library Council. What each says and does affects the other. What each can contribute to the other could be very helpful. It could lead to a spirit of trust, community, and shared sense of purpose. I hope that is what we would strive for.

#9 The Unit

Re: Administrative Structure: Unit: Membership -- remove "and staff" from the sentence. This document describes us as a faculty unit. I don't think inclusion of all staff is appropriate, nor would I think other departments do this.

Faculty Governance / University Service

College Committees - is this where we finally get to discuss what makes sense for membership on some of the all-college committees?
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Re: College committees [e.g. university service, by and large not specifically addressed in the draft proposal] - adding to the comment about if this is where we talk about terms, elections, etc. Also, do we get to talk about expectations? If you are elected/appointed to a committee, you are expected to attend and represent the library...
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Sabbatical issues - when a librarian leaves for sabbatical, another fills in on that committee, more recently by vote. Should the original person return to the committee or should the replacement stay?
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Re: Sabbatical issues -- yes, when a librarian goes on sabbatical, they should return to their committee assignment, if their term is not finished. This is standard practice across the university.
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To second the sabbatical comment - yes, the person elected should be on the committee when they return.