How Library Schools Evaluate Faculty Performance

Deans and directors of 59 of the 63 library school programs accredited by the American Library Association in 1978 (36 master's level only schools and 23 doctorallevel schools) indicated the importance they currently give to various criteria used to evaluate individual faculty members for tenure, promotion, and salary increases. The questionnaire they completed included three sections: ( 1 ) the criteria used for evaluating total faculty performance; (2) the sources of information for evaluating teaching; and (3) the kinds of information used for judging scholarship or research performance. Although teaching, research, and service traditionally have been cited as the major functions of most universities, responses from the library school administrators indicate that they currently place the greatest emphasis on teaching and research. Respondents from the master's-level schools and the Ph.D. granting schools differed significantly in their responses to only seven items of which five dealt with research. The questionnaire used in this study of library school practices was the same one used by John A. Centra in his 1 977 survey of departments and professional schools in 453 American universities. Responses from the 59 library schools in this study were compared with responses from two of the groups surveyed by Centra 116 professional schools and 102 departments in the social sciences.