Approved by ACRL Board, June 2007
Prepared by the ACRL Committee on the Status of Academic Librarians
In order to recognize formally the importance of faculty status for academic librarians, ACRL endorses these standards. Institutions of higher education and their governing bodies are urged to adopt these standards.
To implement these standards, ACRL shall:
The academic librarian makes unique contributions to the academic community and to higher education itself. These contributions include developing collections, providing bibliographic access to all library materials, and interpreting these materials to members of the college and university community.
Specific services include instruction in the use of print and online library resources and the creation of new tools to enhance access to information available locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally.
Librarians contribute to the sum of knowledge through their research into the information process and other areas of study. Service improvements and other advances in the field result from their participation in library and other scholarly organizations.
Librarians must be able to exercise independent judgment in the performance of professional duties. There must be a regular and rigorous review of their performance based on a stated set of institutional criteria. A necessary element of this review is appraisal by a committee of peers who have evidence pertaining to the performance, service, and scholarship of those being evaluated, subject to appropriate institutional policy.
College and university librarians should adopt an academic form of governance similar in manner and structure to other faculties on the campus.
Librarians should be eligible for membership in the faculty senate or equivalent governing body. They should have the same degree of representation as other academic units on all college or university governing bodies.
Salaries and fringe benefits should be comparable to and within the range of those paid to faculty of equivalent rank. Salary scales should be adjusted in an equitable manner to contract period. All librarians should have written contracts or agreements consistent with institutional policy.
Librarians should be covered by a stated tenure policy.
Librarians should be promoted in rank based on their professional proficiency and effectiveness (performance, service, and scholarship) consistent with stated campus standards. The peer review system should be an integral part of procedures for promotion.
Sabbatical and other research leaves should be available to librarians consistent with campus standards. Librarians should have access to funding for research projects and professional development consistent with campus standards.
Librarians must have the same protection of academic freedom as all other faculty. Censorship of any type is unacceptable whether individual or organizational. All librarians must be free to provide access to information regardless of content.