LCPT Annual Report 2019-2020

LFA Committee Final Report

Committee Name: Library Committee on Promotion and Tenure (LCPT)

Committee Chair: Geoff Husic

Committee Secretary: Deborah Dandridge

Ad Hoc Reviewers: Jamene Brooks-Kieffer, Michiko Ito

Members (with terms):

  • Deborah Dandridge (Associate Librarian, 2017-2020)
  • Jamene Brooks-Kieffer (Associate Librarian, 2018-2021)
  • Geoff Husic (Librarian, 2018-2021)
  • Michiko Ito (Librarian, 2018-2021)
  • Amalia Monroe-Gulick (Librarian, 2019-2022)

Fiscal Year: 2019-2020

Standing Charges

  • LCPT is the committee required by Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations Article VI. It reviews the qualifications and performance of all members of the library faculty who are to be considered for promotion, award of tenure, non-reappointment, or probationary review, and makes recommendations to the University Committee on Promotion and Tenure, in accordance with the guidelines accepted by the University of Kansas for granting promotions and tenure for library faculty. Its recommendations, together with those of the Dean of Libraries, are forwarded to the Office of the Provost for consideration by the University Committee on Promotion and Tenure.
  • LCPT also acts as the Libraries’ Progress Toward Tenure Review (or equivalent review) Committee. It reviews the qualifications and performance of all members of the library faculty who are scheduled to be evaluated in their progress toward tenure or equivalent review. Once LCPT completes its review, the dossiers for the faculty being reviewed, and the Committee’s recommendations are sent to the Dean of Libraries.
  • LCPT annually reviews the Libraries’ Criteria for Academic Ranks of Library Faculty and the Promotion and Tenure Procedures for the Faculty of The University of Kansas Libraries, in accordance with Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations Article VI and recommends revisions of these criteria to LFA. It also recommends procedures used for the preparation of dossiers for library faculty under review for progress toward tenure and consideration for promotion and/or tenure or equivalent review. LCPT presents its recommendations to LFA for approval.

Standing Charges Progress Summary (please include progress and/or accomplishments related to Standing Charges):

  • LCPT held open meetings prior to the start of the Progress toward Tenure Review (PTTR) and Promotion & Tenure (P&T) processes.
  • LCPT reviewed one promotion with tenure file in Fall 2019.
  • LCPT reviewed three PTTR files in Spring 2020.
  • LCPT members, usually the chair when available, met with seven candidates interviewing for KU Libraries faculty positions.

Special Charges and Progress Summary:

  1. The issue of librarians teaching for-credit courses as the “instructor of record” was raised this past year. Current administrative policy is that this work is considered “overload” and reported under “service” in the candidate promotion and tenure documents (see the LCPT Annual Report FY 2015 for this administrative decision).

Action: The issue of confusion of how to deal with reporting classes taught by librarians for

credit was resolved by the Libraries’ administration. Such courses will now be reported as part of the Professional Performance statement; candidates will not complete the separate Teaching statement. The document LCPT Tips for Candidates and Supervisors (Fall 2019 update) on the

Libraries’ intranet was updated to reflect this decision.

  1. Review and update LCPT documentation (i.e., Supervisor guides, LCPT Tips for Candidates and Supervisors, and LCPT checklist).

Action: LCPT reviewed the relevant documentation. Several editorial changes were made for clarity. The only major revision was the statement on teaching (#1 above).

  1. Review and recommend procedures for archiving and accessing LCPT documents from previous years.

Action: LCPT has requested and LFA Exec has kindly allowed LCPT to defer this issue to be addressed during the 2020-2021 session, pending some work to still be carried out by the ad hoc committee looking at archiving practices.

  1. Review with Libraries’ HR the following procedures regarding candidates’ files:
    • Request that all candidates’ pdf documents be OCR’d
    • The “Description of Present Position within the University” is part of the Initial Evaluation document and completed by the candidates and supervisors. It should end at the page with their signatures, with all instructions and remaining sections deleted from the form
    • LCPT is responsible for writing the remaining sections of the Initial Evaluation: “Initial

Review Evaluation”, “Evaluation Procedures”, “Evaluation of Professional Performance”, etc., ending with the “Initial Review Composite Evaluations and Recommendations”

  • Following the instructions above will allow HR to combine the “Description of Present

Position within the University” (provided and signed by candidates and supervisors) and the sections written by LCPT into one pdf file for the final document that will go to UCPT

Action: As these suggestions have been mentioned a few times over the last few years, HR seems well aware of these procedures. There is generally ample time each session to contact HR if anything is amiss and they are always very prompt in addressing any specific issues.

  1. Continue the practice initiated this past year (FY 2018-2019) to provide additional written feedback from LCPT to PTTR candidates concerning their files.

Action: We have continued this practice that we recommended in the previous session. We believe this practice is helpful for both LCPT members and candidates.

  1. LCPT (2018-2019) strongly recommends that supervisors of PTTR candidates and the PTTR candidates themselves meet, separately or together, with LCPT for a debrief conversation after the PTTR process is complete. This recommendation is an attempt to provide support that is more explicit to PTTR candidates and their supervisors, as candidates move into the final three years of their pre-tenure appointment. Other suggestions to improve support include:
    • HR schedules a workshop each year for supervisors of candidates to provide advice and support for their specific roles in the P&T and PTTR process. T
    • HR provides access to other candidates’ files (with their permission) from previous years

Action: LCPT offered to meet with supervisors and candidates at the conclusion of the PTTR process. There were no requests to do this this year.

Action: This is primarily an HR procedure and these meetings are organized by Libraries’ HR.

Deferred: LCPT did not pursue formal talks with HR to provide pre-tenure candidates with access to files from previous years.

Recommendations for LCPT (2020-2021):

Revisit the topic of archiving after the LFA Exec ad hoc committee has made its own suggestions.

Potential Charges for Future Committees:

Discuss appropriateness of a suggestion whereby Libraries’ HR might provide access to previous

candidates’ P&T files (with their express permission) from previous years to help new candidates with their own file writing, keeping in mind that the burden of keeping track of these permissions would

likely fall on Libraries’ HR, and LCPT has questions about potential legal/personnel problems.

Prepared by: Geoff Husic (chair LCPT 2019-2020) 6/17/2020