�������ý

This does not constitute an employment contract. 

PROMOTION AND TENURE GUIDELINES OF THE PENCE LAW LIBRARY FACULTY RANK AND TENURE COMMITTEE

The guidelines used by the Pence Law Library Faculty consist of those set out in the Law Library Faculty Manual and the past practices of the Committee. The following seeks to summarize these provisions without in any way interpreting, modifying, amending or replacing our Manual or past practices.¹

All newly hired faculty members, except those hired with tenure, are assigned a faculty mentor. This mentor is a tenured member of the Pence Law Library faculty and serves as a resource person and guide through the tenure and promotion process. That mentor serves as the voice of the Rank and Tenure Committee throughout the candidate’s pre‐tenure years. The mentor is responsible for working with the candidate to develop the candidate’s portfolio of scholarship, growth in the fulfillment of the requirements of the job and develop a record of service to the Law Library, the Law School, and the University.

Only tenured faculty members may vote on tenure and promotion actions. Faculty members must be present to vote and no proxy voting is allowed. A quorum of the Rank and Tenure Committee is necessary to make decisions.

The eligible faculty member is invited to prepare materials in support of her candidacy including curriculum vitae, a memorandum on fulfilling her job requirements, institutional service and scholarly work, and professional activities.

The Rank and Tenure Committee will prepare a report that presents a clear representation of the candidate’s career to date. The report will primarily focus on the candidate’s career at the Pence Law Library. That report will include an introduction that summarizes the candidate’s eligible years of service. The report will also summarize the Committee’s recommendation. The report may comment on items in memoranda from previous reviews. Likewise the report may comment on whether the candidate has addressed concerns and incorporated suggestions made in previous reviews.

I. Primary Responsibilities Evaluation

Prior to the semester of the evaluation, the candidate will be invited to submit a memoranda detailing her primary responsibilities as well as activities which fulfill these responsibilities. Law Library Faculty members have different and unique responsibilities. As the Manual states, “Faculty members’ “primary responsibilities vary depending on their particular position within the Law Library.” (Section 11(b)). Additionally, Faculty members “must maintain a current awareness of research and technological advances relevant to their library positions and to a broad understanding of academic law librarianship and related disciplines.” (Id).

The Law Library Faculty Manual states that “quality of the performance of a Washington College of Law Library Faculty member in carrying out his/her primary responsibilities will be the chief criterion for an evaluation.” (Section 11(b)). For a positive tenure decision the candidate must demonstrate “high quality’ in all facets of the evaluation, as well as having the ability “to continue significant growth in these areas and continue to make positive contributions to the University community.” (Law Library Faculty Manual, section 14(b)).

The importance of this criterion to the evaluation process cannot be understated. The Manual states that: ‘an outstanding record of creative, scholarly, and professional development and of contributions to the University will not compensate for inadequate or average performance of primary responsibilities.’ (Section 11(d)).

For promotion to Associate Law Librarian the candidate Awill have mastered the skills and techniques of law librarianship.@ This may be evidenced by ‘assuming more responsible positions or in exercising individual initiative in enhancing and redefining one”s initial position.”(Law Library Faculty Manual, section 12(b)). For promotion to Law Librarian the candidate must posses a record that has enhanced the reputation of the Washington College of Law within the professional community.@ (Section 12(c)). A candidate’s performance of her primary responsibilities will have been “consistently superior over a long range of time” (Id.).

A fully functioning library is essential component to the fulfillment of the educational mission of the Law School. To ensure that the library meets its commitment to this mission each Law Library Faculty has vital and unique responsibilities. These responsibilities enhance, support, and promote the research, research, scholarship, service and curricular activities of the Washington College of Law community. This includes the provision of the highest quality service through the collection, organization, and dissemination of all forms of legal and law related information and technologies.

The Committee will base its decision primarily on its observations of the candidate’s performance throughout her career at the Pence Law Library. The Committee will also solicit comments on the candidates from the Washington College of Law community.

II. Scholarship Evaluation

For promotion or tenure review, candidates will be invited to submit relevant supporting materials. Such materials may include both published scholarship and works in progress. Except for initial appointments, review of scholarly work is limited to those writings produced while at the Pence Law Library. Review of co‐authored writing is guided by a memorandum from the candidate describing the process of collaboration and the nature and extent of her contributions, submitted on the understanding that it may be circulated for comments to the other author or authors of the writing in question. Furthermore, scholarship completed prior to joining the Pence Law Library may be noted as evidence of the candidate’s history of scholarship and propensity for further scholarly development.

Sections 12 and 14 of the Law Library Faculty Manual describe the scholarship requirements for promotion and tenure. For promotion to Associate Law Librarian, the candidate must “master the skills and techniques of law librarianship.” (Section 12(b)). The candidate must make “significant contributions to the University, Law School, Law Library and professional communities.@”(Id.). Scholarship is measured by evidence of a “growing professional reputation in the extra‐University community.” This can be demonstrated by “being asked to deliver a paper, actively participating in a law library or other related professional association, editing or compiling a catalog or list for use beyond the Law Library, Law School, or University or publishing articles or books.” (Id.). For promotion to Law Librarian, the candidate must demonstrate a “record that has enhanced the reputation of the Washington College of Law Library” and have made “distinctive contributions to Washington College of Law, to its Library, and to the profession of law librarianship.” (Section 12) c)). This may be shown by “a reputation within the profession, creative and scholarly work, and an in‐depth knowledge of research and developments within the profession.” (Id.).

For a positive tenure decision, the candidate must demonstrate high quality in scholarly or creative activities and must also have evidence of “the ability to continue significant growth in these areas and continue to make positive contributions to the University community.” (Section 14(b)).

The Law Library Faculty Manual defines scholarship “as consisting of original contributions to the author’s field of knowledge such as would warrant recognition among scholars and educators in the same field.” (Section 11(c)). Examples of types of material that meet this criterion include: “publication of significant scholarly contributions, publication of teaching methodology and materials, public lectures, reviews of books and other materials; participation as a member of an editorial board, on an accreditation committee, or on a similar body of experts; or participation in regional or professional organizations, creative production and performance, and other professional activity that demonstrates concern with the advancement of the faculty member’s discipline.”(Id.).

A Law Library Faculty member’s scholarship may appear in many forms and may consist of subject matters beyond those concerned solely with librarianship. In accordance with the Manual=s statement that “law library scholars may find many outlets to pursue their areas of scholarship and research.” The Rank and Tenure Committee encourages Faculty members to look beyond the traditional boundaries of librarianship to explore areas of substantive legal areas, as well as legal education in general. (Section 11(c)). In the past, the Committee has given scholarship credit to materials on substantive legal topics, those concerning legal education, as well as materials of a more traditional librarianship nature.

Credited scholarship may take many forms. In accordance with the Manual, annotated bibliographies, book reviews, teaching materials and handouts, lectures, and presentations are examples of the forms of scholarship for a law library faculty member. (Section 11(c)). Other examples of the form that scholarship may take can be found on the Provost Office’s FARS database under the publications category. The Committee interprets the term broadly to encompass new ideas that encourage the use of new technologies in a field that is constantly reinventing itself to provide the services and collections necessary for its users curricular and scholarship needs. For example, the Committee has given scholarship credit to materials published solely online and for technological innovations such as CALI lessons.

The Law Library Faculty Manual also states that “professional activities may often constitute a contribution of importance similar to scholarly publications.” (Id). The Committee has given scholarship credit to those Faculty members who have served in elected and appointed positions in local and national library and other professional associations.

The Manual also states: “Quality of scholarship is not measurable in terms of pages or even numbers of pieces, but instead should be sufficient, in relation to the time spent at the Washington College of Law and Law Library to demonstrate a devotion to intellectual inquiry and scholarly productivity through the person’s professional life.” (Section 11(c)). Accordingly, the Committee takes into account the Manual’s admonition to determine the extent of scholarship required for a positive decision: “In the evaluation of library faculty members and the application of the criteria enumerated above, proper recognition shall be given to the varied nature of the responsibilities which a library faculty member may assume within the Washington College of Law Library.” (Section 11(d)).

The Manual states that a faculty member’s scholarship must”warrant recognition among scholars and educators in the same field.” The scholarship must have an impact in the general field of librarianship; law librarianship, higher education or legal education; a substantive field of law or related area of study. While the Manual is silent on this subject, the Committee, in practice, assesses the impact of scholarship through the reports from external reviewers; cited works; and references to the work in professional presentations. External reviewers are an important element in this determination and provide objective insight into the faculty member’s scholarship.

The Committee invites the candidate to supply names of possible reviewers. The candidate must describe the relationship she has with each proposed reviewer. The Committee is not required to choose any of these proposed reviewers and may solicit reviewers beyond those suggested by the candidate. External reviewers may only be contacted by the Committee. Persons chosen as external reviewers must have expertise in the area of the candidate’s scholarship. Three outside reviewers must be consulted for each candidate.

After the receipt of the external review, the Committee prepares a written summary of the reviews and gives the summary and all other files materials, redacted as necessary, to the candidate who is then given an opportunity to comment on them. The summary, reviews, and comments are included in the Committee’s report.

III. Description of Service

Service is an integral component a faculty member’s responsibilities and must be apparent when considering promotion or tenure. The Committee’s report includes a discussion of the candidate’s participation in Law Library, Law School, and University administrative functions.

The candidate must demonstrate a sustained and continuing record of contribution and leadership through service activities. The Manual states: “Participation in faculty meetings and committees, and in student organizations and activities, constitutes such contributions. Use of the faculty member=s professional skills and training in public service to local communities, professional and scholarly communities, and society at large is also evidence of contribution to the University.”(Section 11(d)).

For promotion to Associate Law Librarian, the candidate must demonstrate a record of “significant contribution” to the University community. (Law Library Faculty Manual, section 12b). For promotion to Law Librarian, the Manual specifies that these contributions be “distinctive” and that the candidate must demonstrate a “significant record” of contribution to the University. (Id. section 12c). These contributions may take many forms including, but not limited to, service on University and Law School committees, advising students and student organizations, and service on community and charitable bodies.

IV. Conclusion

When making a decision on whether to recommend a Faculty member for tenure or promotion, the Committee examines the candidate’s entire record of service. The Manual provides that “the purpose of these criteria is to call attention to the overall contribution and performance of the faculty member without necessarily implying that equal weight need be assigned to the separate criteria.” (Section 11). As noted above, the chief criteria in a tenure and promotion decision is the performance of the Faculty member’s primary responsibilities. The Manual states: (a)n outstanding record of creative, scholarly and professional development, and of contribution to the University will not compensate for inadequate or average performance of primary responsibilities.” (Section 11d). Each Faculty member has unique primary responsibilities and roles within the structure of the Law Library. Each must fulfill these responsibilities and roles for the Library to function smoothly and to contribute to the educational mission of the Law School and University. Because these responsibilities differ, the Committee determines the weight to assign to each specific criterion on an individual basis.

1 As noted in the Law Library Faculty Manual section 9(b) states: AFaculty personnel actions originating in the Washington College of Law are not subject to review by the University Committee on Faculty Relations, except those recommended for appointment as University professors. @ As a faculty under the auspices of the Washington College of Law we are subject to the standards as set out by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools, the accrediting bodies for American law schools.