[Wactclc-alma] [EXT] off-topic: tenure file

Wed Mar 9 09:48:55 PST 2022

Hi Abby,

I have served on lots of tenure committees in the many years I have been at Bellevue, but it seems each school is different. I once read a one-page document from a non-traditional faculty member that talked about what their day was like. It was so helpful to understand their perspective and their job, and how it supports students.

I know you are super new, but are there Alma projects that you could highlight? I’ve done things like add preferred names to Alma letters, added if/then statements to letters for specific items. Paula and I are also looking at the controversial subject headings and figuring out the best way forward, which Alma has made easier. Could you focus on new databases you have established and/or resources that you have marketed to the campus? Any clean-up that you have done in Alma?

I do also have a teaching component to my work, but it has become less and less, especially as new librarians come on and are going through the tenure process.
I do suggest keeping a running document of each year and things you have done, as you will never remember things later on. Mine includes library projects, committees, workshops and conferences attended, etc.

Nicole

Nicole Longpré
Systems Librarian
Full Professor
Bellevue College

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Ryer Banta
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 2:46 PM
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Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [EXT] off-topic: tenure file

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Hi Abby,

This is a great question. Many great responses and ideas already. From what I've heard about at most of our colleges, it seems like the tenure processes and documentation is created with full time teaching faculty as the model and the norm. Even teaching librarians may feel like they are trying to fit into a mold that wasn't built for them. Your librarians probably have some good tips, as do any others who go through tenure, but don't quite fit the mold.

I recommend you and your tenure committee start thinking of teaching as all of the work that you do. Even better, you may wish to call it librarianship within your documentation. You probably have other pillars of work like professional development, service, and research. You should have no problem fitting your work into those molds. But for your areas of responsibility, as outlined in your position, that's all "teaching" or librarianship.

As far as demonstrating growth, show how you are making improvements to your systems, how you keep up with changes, and most importantly, build some forms of assessment or feedback into your processes. In the first year, you'll probably want to focus on describing and documenting the baseline of the systems, so that you have something to improve. Big projects are great, but small incremental changes that reduce difficulty or widen access are very valuable too.

I believe that most of our colleges operate on a supportive tenure model, where the goal of the tenure committee and the college is to help you do your best work and shepard you through the process. Hopefully that is the case for you and hopefully this makes it less scary.

Always happy to talk more off list about this too.

Ryer Banta
Information Literacy and Technology Librarian
Pronouns: he/him/his
Centralia College
360-623-8121
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From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> on behalf of Guidry, Wade <WadeG at bigbend.edu<mailto:WadeG at bigbend.edu>>
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 2:14 PM
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Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [EXT] off-topic: tenure file

One more cool tenure-qualifying kind of project might be working with Traci at BTC or Kate Cabe at WWU on tighter partner library service coupling.

Could be via the new Resource Sharing Directroy in Alma, or the older technique of Alma Fulfillment Networks<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fknowledge.exlibrisgroup.com%2FAlma%2FProduct_Documentation%2F010Alma_Online_Help_(English)%2F050Administration%2F050Configuring_General_Alma_Functions%2F160Configuring_Fulfillment_Networks&data=04%7C01%7Cnlongpre%40bellevuecollege.edu%7C45efb59714194f6e065408da008c4b73%7Cf94c251c1347422eb3ea8ac56befd6cb%7C0%7C0%7C637822901499159251%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=ZCDTdYNWLAAhudDlkf0U3IL8fOIwSnAzS8mmQGbeDcY%3D&reserved=0> (something we actually did experiment with using Whatcom and BTC a few years ago, though never went to production).

Or go even bigger, and lead an effort to  merge Whatcom and BTC into a single Alma / Primo VE environment 😊 I’ve always liked the possibility of regional CTC LSP hubs. It would be as much of (or maybe more) of an organizational lift as a technical one.

Wade Guidry

Library Consortium Services Manager, WACTCLC

wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>

(509) 760-4474

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From: Guidry, Wade
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 1:58 PM
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Subject: RE: [Wactclc-alma] [EXT] off-topic: tenure file

Abby,

I had to smile just a little bit. You just started, and you’re already moving into “why should we give you tenure?” Who said academics wasn’t a jungle? 😊

Seriously though, I’ve written a couple of letters in support of tenure for folks in our group.

They mainly focus on contributions by the individual to the CTC library community.

In that regard, offering webinars to the community on identified needs and solutions developed, like the work you’re doing already with the Database Search stuff, would be a great way to show both growth in your role, and service to the academic community.

Other examples might be

-any user record load process improvements you might work out for Whatcom (adding department info, statistical categories for users, etc)

-Analytics work that might add value to measuring student success as it relates to library use (I know that’s a topic near to Howard’s heart)

-Any kind of improvement processes for electronic resource management, or e-access (ezproxy, etc), or anything related to improving discovery for OER / Open Access.

-As Laura kind of mentions, any kind of work around accessibility would be important and valuable. Ward Naf at Whatcom is one of the accessibility leaders amond the CTCs, and might be a good person to partner with.

Wade Guidry

Library Consortium Services Manager, WACTCLC

wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>

(509) 760-4474

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From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Staley, Laura
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Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [EXT] off-topic: tenure file

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For teaching - do you train staff? Or students for ctcLink?  Maybe write up a formal list of learning objectives for some teaching you do informally, and then describe the need, the training you devised, and the outcome; "the staff member could now download MARC files from OCLC..."  or something similar? And if you found a better way, then describe how you changed your instruction, as a way of showing growth?

For professional effectiveness - would it work to list some problems that have come up that you've solved?  For example, "the text on Primo started turning white on mouseover, making it impossible to read. I researched this (list places) and made a change to the html file. Maybe with a before and after screenshot.

Laura

________________________________

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> on behalf of Abby Koehler <AKoehler at whatcom.edu<mailto:AKoehler at whatcom.edu>>
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Subject: [EXT] [Wactclc-alma] off-topic: tenure file

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Hi all, and happy Monday!

Apologies for the off-topic post, please feel free to directly me elsewhere.

I have a systems job, tenure-track, which means I need to build a tenure file full of documentation for a committee of other faculty that will eventually go to the college’s board for approval (in 2.5 years). My current job description doesn’t include anything about instruction officially, and the committee and I have been trying to hash out how to demonstrate personal growth without anything like student evaluations to rely on. We’ve come up with several possible avenues, but are still trying to come up with a good way to show that growth piece – and I wondered if anyone here has come up with some way to show that (for an eval or tenure file) specifically for the systems/ tech serv kind of work. I have Sally’s tenure file from several years ago, but this is a different time/ committee… and I would welcome any thoughts if anyone has anything to share. This isn’t about attending conferences or being on committees, it’s the Teaching/ Professional Effectiveness category that we’re trying to muddle through.

I welcome any direct messages or thoughts! I’ve been through several list archives for different veins of our professional work but haven’t come across anything yet… and I have about a month before my first progress report is due!

Hope you all are well,

abby

abby koehler

she/her/hers

Faculty Systems Librarian

Whatcom Community College

360.383.3287

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