Department of Library and Information Science P&T Policy

Normally promotion to associate professor will have similar review and criteria as granting of tenure. To reach this rank/and or be granted tenure the candidate must meet the criterion of excellence in teaching, research or service, and demonstrate at least satisfactory performance in the other areas. In exceptional circumstances the candidate may present a balanced case of highly satisfactory overall performance.

To attain the rank of associate professor the individual has demonstrated accomplishments as an educator and the promise to continue to be effective, including knowledge of subject matter and the ability to motivate students. The individual has a record of achievement in original research and demonstrated promise for continued contributions to the field. The individual will also have proven to be a contributing citizen of the university, as well as the profession and the community. To attain excellence in any of these areas (teaching, research or service) the individual must produce scholarship in the declared area. That scholarship must demonstrate originality, independence and impact, and must be disseminated and reviewed as excellent by peers. Candidates for the rank of associate professor must demonstrate a rising trajectory of achievement and an emerging national reputation in their field.

At the rank of full professor, accomplishments in the area of excellence will reflect sustained national stature and prominence based on an ongoing record of scholarly production and achievement.

The following are indicators of excellent performance in teaching, research, and service for persons with an appointment in Library and Information Science.

Excellence in Teaching

An LIS candidate who selects teaching as the area of excellence is expected to meet campus criteria in this area, including documentation of the scholarship of teaching. Note that a person selecting teaching as an area of excellence will also maintain a satisfactory record of research and service.

The following are examples of academic work typically expected of a candidate for advancement with a declared area of excellence in teaching:

• Teaching in the classroom and/or in virtual platforms.
• Mentoring and advising students.
• Mentoring adjunct instructors, peers and colleagues in the development of effective teaching, presentation, and communication skills
• Advising students on independent research projects, publications, presentations, and dissertations
• Innovating, evaluating and adopting techniques and technologies to meet the needs of non-traditional students
• Strengthening the program’s pedagogy through course and curricular innovation, design and evaluation.
• Creating and disseminating scholarship of teaching and learning (pedagogy).

Excellence can be demonstrated by documenting high-quality activities in at least three of these areas, and must include the scholarship of teaching and learning. For excellence, documentation of an impact beyond IU Indianapolis/the program is necessary. Typically, appropriate documentation /dissemination includes peer-reviewed publications in the form of journal articles, books, and presentations of various type/through various media.

Candidates choosing research or service for excellence are expected to demonstrate that that they are satisfactory in teaching by adequate performance as a teacher with continued development of pedagogy, participation in program planning and assessment, and advising for students.

Excellence in Research

“Quality of production is considered more important than mere quantity. Significant evidence of scholarly merit may be either a single work of considerable important or a series of studies constituting a general program of worthwhile research. The candidate should possess a definite continuing program of studies, investigations, or creative works.” (Academic Handbook, pp. 71-72). Therefore, the LIS standards do not mention quantitative goals for publications. Note that a person selecting research as an area of excellence will also maintain a satisfactory record of teaching and service.

An LIS candidate who selects research as the area of excellence is expected to meet campus and school criteria for publication/ dissemination of the scholarship of inquiry. There are three points specific to LIS that affect how LIS candidates’ work will be judged.

• The LIS field is broad with many sub-areas which have their own conventions concerning quality venues for the dissemination of scholarship in research. The appropriate ranking of specific venues or types of dissemination will be applied to the evaluation of each candidate’s specific area of research. Similarly, LIS recognizes the importance of external resources to support research and the relative quality of various sources as validation of the candidate’s research.
• LIS as a field and philosophy is oriented towards innovative methods of information dissemination, such as open-access. While maintaining peer review, the evaluation of research gives due respect to novel venues for dissemination.
• Because LIS serves a community of practitioners, impact of research on professional practice, as well as impact on other LIS scholars is valued.
• Currently (2014) unlike other departments within the School, the LIS department has only masters-level students, so collaboration with doctoral students is not considered.

The following are some of the ways in which to demonstrate excellence. In each case, quality is more important than quantity. Candidate documentation may be from only one category, as appropriate to their sub-areas of specialty.

• Publication in high-quality journals. “High quality” is defined in relation to the area of research scholarship; it will be obvious to other researchers in that field. For general reviewers, it is the responsibility of the candidate and the chair to make clear the importance of each journal to the area of research and the contribution of the candidate to each co-authored item.
• Peer-reviewed presentations at national or international conferences. As a measure of excellence, this is appropriate in sub-fields where conference presentations are the primary form of scholarly communication.
• Publication of monographs. Quality indicators are reviews, the reputation of the publisher/editorial process, citations, and the adoption or incorporation of theory or practice beyond the campus in the teaching or scholarship of others.
• Significant external funding that signals funders’ confidence in the importance of the question being pursued and the ability of the researcher to conduct the research. Especially for promotion to full professor, the subsequent publication of results supported by such funding is important for demonstrating the impact of the research itself.
• Indicators in the library and information science field of the adoption of ideas or practice innovations from the candidate’s research. Examples could be new functionalities adopted into an open-source library system, innovations in managing library services, or a multi-institutional collaboration project. There should be evidence that these are nationally recognized innovations.

Candidates choosing excellence in teaching or service are expected to maintain a research agenda at a satisfactory level. The number of publications or presentations depends upon the type of publication.

Excellence in Service

A candidate choosing excellence in service must demonstrate activity of national impact for the profession or discipline. Broadly considered, the profession includes the practice community, library and information practitioners, and library organizations and information agencies; by discipline is meant scholarly society/ faculty (researchers, teachers) in library and equivalent programs nationally and internationally. Candidates with excellence will have had demonstrable influence upon practitioners, organizations, or policy. The following are some ways in which excellence in service can be manifested. They are not necessarily cumulative. If there is a role of sufficient initiative, prominence and leadership, even one demonstration of service can be evidence of excellence at the associate or full level. However, it should be emphasized that candidates for tenure must demonstrate a rising trajectory of the impact and importance of this service and its corollary scholarship, and candidates for full rank must demonstrate a sustained national recognition for this service and its corollary ongoing scholarship. It is more likely that overall service leadership will be manifested in a variety of ways.

Note that a person selecting service as an area of excellence will also maintain a satisfactory record of research and teaching.

The following are some areas in which excellence can be manifested:

• Chairing significant committees for practice or scholarly society.
• Authoring/providing leadership for the formation of policies which have significant impact on the profession, scholarly societies. Creating and establishing new scholarly or professional activities, organizations, or collaborations, including sustainable funding mechanisms.
• Research and publications with a significant impact on the practice of library/information science.
• Excellence in service should necessarily include a strong record of service to the department, school, campus and university. But such intramural service, although necessary, is not in itself sufficient to merit advancement.

Because much service is collaborative by its nature, both candidate and chair should make efforts to document the specific role of the candidate and to solicit evaluations from other participants as well as evaluations of the projects/policies/endeavors themselves.

All LIS faculty are expected to be at least satisfactory in terms of service to the program, the profession. A minimum level of satisfactory service includes:

University/School/Program:

• Active membership on necessary committees for the program, the school, and the university. Numbers of memberships depends on the size of the department. Tenured faculty will be expected to provide greater service than untenured colleagues.
• Participation in most all-faculty meetings and activities, for the program and the school, such as departmental meetings, student activities, and graduation

External (professional, scholarly):

• At least one role annually connecting the program to the practice community OR to scholarly societies. This includes presentations at local, regional, or national conferences, service on organizational committees, or editorial / review activities.