Escaping the Island of Lost Faculty: Collaboration as a Means of Visibility

Abstract

Academic librarians are often physically and intellectually isolated at their institutions, and they need to accept much of the blame. Professional literature shows that librarians continue to argue against the responsibilities of tenure, despite the fact that in two of the three usual rubrics of te- nure and promotion—namely publication and service—the expectations for both teaching faculty and librarians are generally the same. In addition, academic librarians will not be treated equally unless they begin to think and work outside of the physical academic library. This article argues for a multidisciplinary approach to academic librarianship, with an emphasis on collaboration as a means to develop visibility through presentations at every level, publications in multidiscipli- nary peer-reviewed journals, professional memberships in organizations outside of librarianship, and active, vocal committee participation. By reinventing themselves as both subject/discipline and research methods experts, academic librarians will achieve greater exposure as bona fide scholars at their institutions.