Costs and Benefits of Faculty Status for Academic Librarians: State University of New York Librarians' Perceptions.

Surveys conducted in 1982, 1989, and 1992 studied librarians' perceptions of the costs and benefits of faculty status. Respondents from eight campuses representing four types of institutions of the State University of New York system rated eight criteria from the Association of College and Research Libraries Standards for Faculty Status of College and University Librarians as costs or benefits. A majority of the participants perceived all of the criteria as benefits. An additional question, In general, for you as an individual, do the benefits of faculty status outweigh the costs? also elicited positive responses from a majority of the respondents. The results of these surveys suggest that librarians having faculty status value faculty status and haliT.. that its costs outweigh its benefits. A major concern of the librarians with negative or mixed feelings about faculty status appears to be conditions of employment that often conflict with the librarians' needs and desires to achieve goals related to scholarly and professional activities. Appendices present demographic data and an abstract of the 1989 questionnaire. (Contains 43 references.) (Author) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************