This document provides a brief description of The Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL) as well as a description of its policies and procedures. It supplements the Rules of the University Faculty and other policies and procedures of the University to which OSUL and its Faculty are subject. The latter rules, policies and procedures and changes in them, take precedence over statements in this document.
This pattern of administration is subject to continuing revision. It must be reviewed and either revised or reaffirmed on appointment or reappointment of the Director. However, revisions may be made at any time. Changes, which will be made in consultation with OSUL Faculty, will be disseminated to OSUL Faculty via electronic mail and incorporated in the document mounted on the Libraries' Web site until sufficient changes have accumulated to warrant printing and distributing a complete new document.
The Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL) is a shared resource for all units of this University. Administratively, OSUL is defined as the Columbus campus libraries, the University Archives, and the Stone Laboratory Library. Not included in this definition of OSUL are: the John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, the regional campus libraries, the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) Library, the Moritz Law Library, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Library, and special libraries administratively managed by various departments.
However, in matters of appointment, promotion and tenure, the procedures outlined in this document and others that comprise the Faculty Governance Documents are applicable to the Faculty of OSUL, the John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, the regional campus libraries, and the ATI and OARDC Libraries.
II. Vision, Mission, and Service Values
To be a world-class library system by providing outstanding resources and services.
The Ohio State University Libraries are committed to meeting the diverse and changing information needs of the University's students, Faculty, and Staff, and to participating in resource sharing programs throughout Ohio and the world.
The Libraries' facilities, collections, services, instruction, and scholarship contribute to the University's attainment of excellence in teaching, research, and service.
To these ends, the Libraries collect, create, organize, manage, preserve, and provide access to information sources, and foster an environment conducive to academic inquiry, scholarly communication, creative achievement, and lifelong learning.
In addition to supporting the University's Academic Plan, The Ohio State University Libraries commits to the following service values:
Learning--Advocate learning as a primary library principle in all interactions, including support of decision making at all levels and encouragement of professional growth and development.
Meeting Needs--Assess needs and provide service and/or needed resources, accurately and in a timely manner.
Respectful Interactions--Exercise a positive attitude, appreciate differences, maintain confidentiality, and provide a supportive atmosphere for inquiry and effective dialogue/communication.
Stewardship--Acquire, preserve, and protect human and information resources and maintain physical facilities to enhance the learning environment.
Creativity--Take the initiative; be dynamic and innovative in meeting people's needs, being willing to take risks and maintaining the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.
Interdependence--Collaborate within and among library units, and foster partnerships and outreach to the larger community to ensure/enhance successful operation and accountability.
For voting purposes, a member of the OSUL Faculty is any person within OSUL, the John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, regional campus libraries or the ATI and OARDC Libraries who holds a regular Faculty appointment of 50% or more, with the rank of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor.
Matters affecting Faculty include criteria and procedures for recommendations of appointment, promotion in rank, tenure, salary adjustments, non-renewals, travel and research funds, leaves and absences, grievance procedures, and other issues. They are covered in this and other governance documents, as follows:
The Pattern of Administration and all other governance documents shall be made available to all present and prospective members of the Faculty of OSUL, and copies shall be deposited in the Office of Academic Affairs.
The various Faculty committees and the regular and special meetings of the Faculty as a whole constitute the forums for communication between Faculty and the Director.
Regular meetings of the Faculty shall be scheduled five times a year during the Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters. Additional meetings may be called by the Planning & Policy Committee, the Director, or at least ten (10) Faculty members.
The Chair of the Planning and Policy Committee shall chair the Faculty meetings. The Faculty Secretary shall handle most of the details of the meetings and shall notify Faculty members of meetings via electronic mail and through publication in the Libraries' newsletter or other appropriate means.
The agenda shall be determined by the Planning and Policy Committee and the Faculty Secretary in consultation with the Director. It shall include items submitted by the Faculty Secretary, individual Faculty members, and chairpersons of committees and task forces. New business shall always be an agenda item.
The conduct of Faculty meetings shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, unless they are suspended for a particular meeting by a vote of the majority of Faculty present at that meeting.
Official votes by the Faculty, with the exception of changes to Faculty governance documents, (see Section VIII. Amendments) shall require a quorum, which shall consist of a simple majority of all Faculty members. Should such a quorum not be present at a Faculty meeting where substantive matters of policy are under consideration, the vote will be postponed until a later meeting or will be handled by a mail ballot. For important issues concerning all Faculty, a mail ballot will always be employed, and a mail vote may be requested by any Faculty member on any issue. Mail ballots and any supporting documentation will be distributed to the Faculty via printed document, electronic mail and/or posting on the Libraries' Web site at least three weeks before the vote is called. It shall be the responsibility of the Faculty Secretary and the Chair of the Planning and Policy Committee to ensure that a quorum votes on every ballot. In cases of tie votes, runoff elections will be held.
The Director may offer a standing invitation to appropriate Administrative and Professional personnel and to a Classified Civil Service Staff observer to attend Faculty meetings, subject to approval of the Faculty. Guests may be invited by any member of the Faculty, with the consent of the Chair, to observe Faculty meetings. Non-Faculty and guests may be asked to withdraw, however, if the Faculty members call for executive session. The latter may be convened by any member of the Faculty, subject to the approval of a simple majority of the Faculty present.
The Faculty Secretary shall be a member of the regular Faculty, nominated by the Committee on Faculty Benefits, Privileges, and Responsibilities (CFBPR) or any member of the regular Faculty, and elected by the Faculty in June of each year. The term of office shall be for one year, beginning July 1 and ending June 30 of the following year. The Secretary may be reelected.
The Secretary shall:
The Director of Libraries is the chief administrative officer of the Libraries and is a member of the Council of Deans.
"The director of libraries shall be appointed by the board of trustees upon nomination of the president. Before making this nomination, the president shall confer with the executive vice president and provost who, in turn, shall confer with representatives of the faculty of the university libraries and with the council on libraries and information technology." (Section A of Faculty Rule 3335-3-18) The council on libraries and information technology shall "Advise the executive vice president and provost on the appointment of a director of libraries." (Section B.4 of Faculty Rule 3335-5-482)
"The director of libraries shall have the responsibility and authority for administering the university libraries under the jurisdiction of that office and the university archives. In the discharge of library duties, the director shall be guided by the policies established by the council on libraries and information technology. (see Faculty Rule 3335-5-482. The director shall report to the president through the executive vice president and provost" (Section B of Faculty Rule 3335-3-18) with liaison through the vice provost for academic administration.
"Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the director shall evaluate continuously the administrative and operating practices of the university libraries under the jurisdiction of that office and the university archives, and lead in the study of methods in improving them; recommend appointments, promotions, and dismissals under the rules of the university; and prepare for the approval of the executive vice president and provost's annual recommendations for the budgets for personnel and for archives and library materials." (Section C of Faculty Rule 3335-3-18)
V. Assistant Directors and Staff Officers
The Assistant Directors and Staff Officers are appointed to their positions by the Director in consultation with the Faculty. Initial appointments with Faculty status will follow standard procedures for the appointment of Faculty members.
The Assistant Directors and Staff Officers shall:
The Assistant Directors and Staff Officers will be reviewed annually by the Director. At least every four years that review will include a solicitation of comments from the Libraries' Faculty, and others as appropriate, concerning the individual's performance in his/her position. (See Procedures for the Evaluation of Assistant Directors and Staff Officers) Comments that are received will comprise a substantial component of that evaluation process.
Faculty and Staff members may serve on a variety of standing committees, task forces, and ad hoc committees.
The Planning and Policy Committee serves as a vehicle through which the Library Director and the Assistant Directors consult the Faculty on matters of planning, policy, and other items of general interest. (The formation of this Committee resulted from: (1) the need to specify how the requirement for consultation by the Director with the Faculty in accordance with Faculty Rule 3335-3-35 will occur; (2) the need to ensure that the views of the Faculty be solicited and considered when decisions are made on issues which substantially affect the library and its Faculty; and (3) the need of the library administration for means of ascertaining Faculty sentiment on significant issues, and of obtaining useful advice on ways of resolving those issues. The practices of the committee include:
There shall be five elected members, serving terms of three years. Terms are staggered and no Faculty member may serve more than two consecutive terms. The Faculty Secretary serves as an ex officio, non-voting member of the committee.
There are five additional Faculty Governance Committees
Of these committees, ACR and CFBPR are appointed by the Director, and the remainder are elected by the Faculty in annual/bi-annual elections.
Membership is determined by rank, position, and/or assignment within the Libraries, by election or by appointment. An alphabetical listing of these committees is included as an appendix; this listing contains the official name of the committee, membership criteria, frequency of meetings, and function. (It is anticipated that the committee listing may need revision more frequently than the body of the document.)
There are a variety of standing discussion groups, as identified in the Appendix to this document, that meet regularly to discuss matters of mutual concern. Membership is usually determined by job responsibilities and/or interest in the topic.
Task forces and ad hoc committees are more flexibly constituted, both in membership and in duration, than are Standing Committees. They are appointed and charged by the Director, by other administrators, or by the Faculty as a whole, to investigate and advise on specific issues.
Two types of ad hoc committees are involved in the appointment, promotion and tenure process. They are Search Committees and Visiting Committees.
The Director appoints Search Committees to advise in the selection of candidates to fill Faculty and appropriate Administrative and Professional (A & P) positions. Each committee may consist of Faculty, A&P Staff, Classified Civil Service Staff, and representatives of academic units served by the position; for Faculty positions, the majority of voting members shall be OSUL Faculty. The Director appoints the chair and the members of each committee in accordance with the Guidelines for Faculty Search Committees.
Each committee screens the applications and makes the initial recommendation of candidates to be interviewed, based on their qualifications for the position. After interviews are held, the committee recommends the candidate(s) best qualified to fill the position, within the guidelines of affirmative action, and reports those recommendations to the Director. The Director reviews the recommendations and makes the appointment in consultation with the appropriate Assistant Director and department administrator.
If a candidate not recommended by the committee is selected for the position, the Director and/or appropriate Assistant Director consult(s) with the Committee to convey the reason(s) for the decision prior to the offer being made.
The visiting committee helps assess a Faculty member's achievements, when he or she is being considered for tenure. The members visit the candidate and prepare for the Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Tenure (APT) a report that becomes part of the candidate's dossier (see Guidelines for Visiting Committees).
The appointment of an individual to one or more committees having only ex-officio membership is based on rank, position, and/or assignment within the Libraries. Membership on other committees and task forces is open to all members of the Faculty or to Faculty and Staff where appropriate. Some may require particular representation or tenure for eligibility.
Newly formed standing committees, not confined solely to ex-officio members, have staggered appointments. A committee appointment shall be considered vacant when the term of service expires, the incumbent resigns from the committee, is unable to fulfill committee obligations, or leaves OSUL. Notification of any vacancy on a committee shall be announced by the chairs through the Libraries' newsletter and through electronic mail.
A Faculty member seeking appointment to a committee not confined to elected or ex-officio membership submits a request in writing (in print or electronic form) to the committee chair who relays the applicant's name to the committee in question. The committee shall rank the applicants' names in order of preference, and submit this list to the Director, who will make the appointment. If there are no volunteers for committee vacancies, the Director shall appoint a member to that vacancy.
Committees of ex-officio membership are normally chaired by the convening authority. Chairs of appointed committees are normally named by the appointing authority. Other committees normally select their own chairs.
As necessary, the committee may appoint a secretary to record and distribute minutes of the meetings. The Chair of each committee shall report, as appropriate, to Faculty and Staff, through publication of minutes or summaries of minutes via the Libraries' newsletter and/or electronic mail and/or presentations at meetings for which minutes will be distributed to all Libraries' personnel. All Faculty Governance committees, as defined in the Appendix to this document, will report annually at a regular Faculty Meeting according to a schedule developed by the Planning and Policy Committee.
VII. University Bodies and Committees
OSUL Faculty or Staff members may be called through election, appointment, or ex-officio status to serve (or may volunteer to serve) on university, college, and departmental committees. Faculty from outside the Libraries serve on the Council on Libraries and Information Technology.
The University Senate (Faculty Rule 3335-5-37) is a unicameral body consisting of ex-officio administrators, elected Faculty, and elected student members. The term for Faculty elected to the University Senate is three years, and OSUL has two elected Faculty Senators. The Director is an ex-officio member of the Senate, the Council of Deans (Faculty Rule 3335-3-22), and the Graduate Faculty (Faculty Rule 3335-5-29.
OSUL Faculty are eligible to serve on a variety of Senate committees and task forces.
Should the Libraries be invited or requested to appoint a Faculty member to university-wide committees or task forces, the Director shall consult with the Planning and Policy Committee and the Assistant Directors.
The main advisory body to the University Libraries is the Council on Libraries and Information Technology (Faculty Rule 3335-5-482), which is a Senate Committee. The Council, in cooperation with the Director, who is an ex-officio member, helps formulate policies and assists in the interpretation of library services to the university community and in the presentation of major library needs to the university administration.
Most departmental libraries and subject and special collections have their own library committees consisting usually of the head of that unit (ex-officio) and several Faculty members and students from the academic units served by that collection.
The Faculty may add, amend, repeal, or interpret sections of the Faculty governance documents by a positive vote of a simple majority of all eligible Faculty, provided that any proposed amendment has been submitted to the Faculty via printed document, electronic mail and/or posting on the Libraries' Web site, at least three weeks before the vote is called. A mail ballot, either written or electronic will always be used for proposed changes to governance documents.