Office of the Provost

Distinguished Librarian Guidelines

Policies, Procedures, And Criteria
For Appointment To The Rank

SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM

Distinguished Librarian is a prestigious tenured University rank that is awarded to librarians whose contributions have been transformational in creating a new information environment by providing access to information, sharing or networking information resources, and fostering information literacy.  In extending its "Distinguished" ranks to the library faculty, the State University of New York recognizes the accomplishments of all its faculty; it also assumes national leadership within the academy by becoming the first university system to so encourage and foster the full potential of the faculty status of librarians.  The Distinguished Librarian rank honors and promotes the achievement of personal excellence, groundbreaking professional progress, and wide-ranging benefit to the academic community.  This rank parallels the Distinguished Professor rank in terms of expected level of accomplishment and the rarity in awarding the rank. The Distinguished Librarian rank is open to State-operated campuses of the State University.

NATURE OF THE PROGRAM

Rank and Status - Distinguished Librarian is a rank above Full Librarian.  It is expected that a person appointed to the rank shall be accorded such support as is appropriate to her or his endeavors consistent with the resources of the campus.  The campus catalogue shall list Distinguished Professors, Distinguished Service Professors, Distinguished Teaching Professors, and Distinguished Librarians at the head of the faculty list.  Such persons shall be placed again in the faculty list and their rank shall be indicated.

Salary - Appointment to Distinguished Librarian by the Trustees is regarded as a promotion and will carry a salary increase above the mean salary for Full Librarians, to be determined by the campus President and the Chancellor.  The increase will be funded from the campus budget through the normal process for funding promotions; it shall be built into the salary
base of the appointee and must be included in the campus budgets of ensuing years.

Responsibility - The Distinguished Librarian rank carries with it extraordinary responsibility.  Those appointed are expected to function as role models and devote appropriate service to the home campus, to the State University, and to the profession. Distinguished Librarians are expected to provide service to the State University, both ceremonial and professional, on campuses other than their own when requested to do so by the Chancellor.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

Campus Participation - Only State-operated campuses are eligible to make nominations.  Campuses that cannot be included in this program may develop parallel programs for rewarding performance in librarianship similar to that described in the selection criteria for this rank.

Academic Rank - A candidate for Distinguished Librarian must have attained the rank of Full Librarian.

Length of Service - A candidate for appointment to the Distinguished Librarian rank must have completed at least five years of full-time service at the rank of Full Librarian on the campus that recommends the appointment and at least ten years of service within the State University of New York.  Nominees should generally have had a longer career in librarianship than indicated by the minimum requirement.  The Distinguished librarian rank should be awarded to librarians where there is reasonable expectation of continued activity.  Posthumous nominations are ineligible for consideration.

PROCEDURES AT THE CAMPUS LEVEL

Nominations - Nominations for the Distinguished Librarian rank should arise according to procedures determined by the local campus President.  They should be based upon sustained, continuing, and recognized excellence in librarianship significantly above and beyond those needed to attain the rank of Full Librarian.  Self-nomination is not appropriate. The campus President should appoint a committee to screen nominations and provide a detailed evaluation of any prospective nominee the committee recommends to the President.  The committee's deliberations and recommendation, if any, shall be kept strictly confidential.  The President should review the recommendation and, if a decision is made to submit a nomination, it shall be done in the following manner:

A nomination is submitted to the Chancellor by a President with his or her endorsement of a librarian for the rank of Distinguished Librarian. Once a decision is made to submit a nomination, a nomination portfolio will be compiled. It will consist of the President’s letter of endorsement, a nomination abstract, the candidate’s curriculum vita, key campus nominating letters, and external letters of recommendation. The contents of these supporting documents are described below:

• President’s Endorsement/Transmittal Letter - This letter, signed by the President, should highlight the candidate’s most outstanding accomplishments and describe the campus support for the nomination. [This letter may be the document used in the Board of Trustee resolution, should the nomination be recommended.] The letter should be addressed to Dr. David Lavallee, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. A separate letter is to accompany each nomination.
• NominationAbstract of 150 to 180 Words– Please provide abrief abstract of 150 to 180 words. This abstract should provide a clear, thematic picture that describes the candidate’s main accomplishments. It should highlight why the candidate has been nominated to Distinguished Librarian and may be taken from other parts of the nomination package.       If the candidate is an awardee, this abstract may be used for press releases or testimonials. 
• Curriculum vitae - an up to date and moderately comprehensive vita that includes among other information, the candidate’s educational background, academic/visiting appointments held, honors and awards received (and the significance of these awards), external funding garnered with dollar amounts, publications with clear authorship noted, research record, invited/keynote presentations, presentations at other conferences/symposia, service contributions to the profession (work with learned societies, editorial boards, conferences organized, etc.) and memberships in disciplinary organizations.
• Key Campus Nomination Letters -- Letters from the Provost (Chief Academic Officer) and candidate’s Dean or Director are to provide detailed information and the specific rationale – preferably in laymen’s terms – for the candidate’s nomination and justification for appointment.
• External Letters of Recommendation (from outside of SUNY) -- at least five but no more than eight, from prominent, “disinterested” scholars (individuals who have not collaborated, co-authored, co-taught, or had professional relationship with the candidate) – to validate the stature of the candidate proposed for appointment.

In these letters, the recommenders should: corroborate the candidate’s merit for appointment, describe the candidate’s stature in the discipline, catalog the candidate’s most important achievements, speak to the influence and impact of the candidate’s contribution on the discipline, (in laymen’s terms where possible) and explain the significance of the candidate’s awards and honors.  

Each external letter of recommendation should be accompanied either by the author’s curriculum vitae or a brief description of the author’s disciplinary stature to provide review panelists a context for the recommendation submitted.

PROCEDURES AT THE SYSTEM LEVEL

Nominations for appointment to the rank of Distinguished Librarian will be evaluated by an ad hoc panel constituted specifically by the Chancellor to review the nomination.  This panel will consist of four individuals:  at least two referees external to SUNY and two additional referees, either also external to the State University or current holders of the Distinguished Librarian rank from other SUNY campuses.  If at any point a negative appraisal arises, the campus President will be contacted to determine how the campus wishes to proceed. The ad hoc panel shall make its report to the Chancellor for review.  The Chancellor shall then make recommendations to the Board of Trustees who shall make appointments as deemed appropriate.

Criteria for Selection - The scope of librarianship extends beyond the library's physical walls to the opening of limitless electronic networks and to the fostering of information literacy and skills in navigating the information universe.  Through such endeavors, librarians create a new place and new roles for themselves in the academy.  Librarians demonstrate unique talents and skills as faculty whopromote and facilitate access to information for the widest communityand assist all sectors of the community to make informed judgments about the nature and quality of the information they seek, find, and use.

The pathways to the rank of Distinguished Librarian are many and diverse.  To attain the rank of Distinguished Librarian, a candidate must exhibit all of the following qualities and levels of accomplishments.

• Candidates must have made contributions to the profession of librarianship that are of national or international significance.
• They must have achieved stature and distinction beyond their own library, beyond their own college or university, and indeed, beyond SUNY to offer leadership.  They may achieve this stature and distinction through formal scholarship, research, and publications, but other paths include extended efforts toward forging alliances, networks, and cooperative programs that advance resource sharing and significantly improve access to information or enhance its usefulness to the community.
• In all cases, the impact of the contributions of candidates must be transformational.  Candidates' achievements at this level must have contributed to transforming the profession of librarianship and the work of librarians to engender and stimulate the "age of information."  Candidates must have broken boundaries, expanded potentials, and engendered positive change in academe.
• Candidates must have demonstrated leadership in realizing the potential for access to world-wide information resources, in changing the nature of information seeking, and/or designing or developing systems which facilitate navigation and effective use of the burgeoning information environment.
• Candidates will have performed with excellence and innovation in the traditional areas of librarianship, such as technical services, services to the public, system or facilities design, or administration.
• Candidates' careers will be models for librarians and will provide inspiration to their colleagues.  They will have earned the respect of members of the information professions as well as their academic professorial counterparts by the quality, vigor, and innovative nature of their thinking, their standards of performance, and the effectiveness of their initiatives.

SUBMISSION OF NOMINATIONS

Nominations are to be submitted electronically to AWARDS@SUNY.EDU. Only the original nomination needs to be submitted. Copies of the candidate’s works, articles, reviews, etc. are not to be included as part of the portfolio. The campus must retain the original portfolio containing original signatures of the President, Chief Academic Officer, appropriate Dean and each scholar submitting a recommendation.

PROCEDURES AT THE UNIVERSITY-WIDE LEVEL

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF NOMINATIONS

Receipt of nominations will be acknowledged electronically to the campus President, and a copy of the acknowledgement will be sent to the President’s designee.

APPOINTMENT PROCESS

After review, nominees supported for this distinction will have their name forwarded to the Chancellor through the University Provost. The recommendation for appointment shall be sent to the Chancellor in the form of a resolution to the SUNY Board of Trustees. The Chancellor shall then make his recommendations to the Board of Trustees who shall make appointments as deemed appropriate. (The President’s letter of endorsement and transmittal may be the document that will be included in the Board resolution. It should be noted that the resolution is the only information the Trustees see in making their decisions.) Appointments become effective on the day, and at the time, the Trustees vote on the appointment.

Nominations being recommended for the Board of Trustees consideration will be voted upon by the Trustees as an “Action Agenda Item” during the open session of the Trustees meetings.   It should be noted, however, that as promotions these appointments are personnel matters subject to discussion during the Executive Session of the Board’s meetings.

NOTIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT

On the day of Board action, the Associate Provost will notify the campus President or the President’s designee to confirm appointments made by the Trustees.   Formal notification to the appointee will follow and will be conveyed by letter from the Chancellor, with a copy to the campus President. In addition, a news release will be prepared to publicize the appointments.

QUESTIONS

Questions regarding these procedures or appointments are to be directed to Dr. Robert Kraushaar, who can be reached by email.

It should be noted, however, that due to the confidential nature of the nominations, inquiries pertaining to specific candidates may only be discussed with the campus President or the President’s designee.

APPENDIX: NOMINATION PORTFOLIO
INSTRUCTIONS

(NOT an on-line form)
Print/Fill-in/Scan in .pdf format (no zip files please)
Submit Complete Portfolio – Both Ways (Email & Mail no binders or folders please) 

To download this appendix in word or PDF form please click the icons   

1)     Section 1 – Internal File (.pdf format)

2)     Section 2 – External File (.pdf format)

3)     President’s Endorsement/Transmittal Letter (word format-letterhead and signature not required)

4)     Candidate Abstract (word format-letterhead and signature not required)

*For files larger than 25 MB, please separate into two or more files as needed.

MAIL one with 2-sided documents (saves paper/mail costs/file space) hardcopy to:

Robert Kraushaar, Associate Provost
Office of Academic Affairs S-524
SUNY System Administration
SUNY Plaza, 353 Broadway
Albany, NY 12246

Revised 4/2/12

APPENDIX: COVER SHEET FOR NOMINATION PORTFOLIO                           

___  Distinguished Librarian (DL)

___  Distinguished Professor (DP)

___  Distinguished Service Professor (DSP)

___  Distinguished Teaching Professor (DTP)

Candidate Current Information

Surname Only: _______________________________________________________________

Full Name (F/MI/L/Suffix):   ______________________________________________________

Phonic Pronunciation of Full Name (example: Cindy Kraushaar is pronounced: Sin-dee Kraw-shar)

____________________________________________________________________________

Title:   _______________________________________________________________________

Phone:   _____________________________________________________________________

Email:   ______________________________________________________________________

Campus Name:   ______________________________________________________________

Department/Office:   ___________________________________________________________

Building/Room:   ______________________________________________________________

Street Address:   ______________________________________________________________

PO Box:   ____________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip:   _______________________________________________________________

President’s Office ‘Administrative Support Staff Person’ Contact Information

Full Name:   __________________________________________________________________

Phone:   _____________________________________________________________________

Email:   ______________________________________________________________________

APPENDIX: Sequence of Documents – Two Sections

Section 1 – Internal File   (*scan as one .pdf file in this order)    

• Cover Sheet
•  Internal Table of Contents
• President’s Endorsement/Transmittal Letter (both .pdf and word formats)
  • addressed to: Dr. David Lavallee, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
• Candidate - Abstract (both .pdf and word formats)
  • should clearly describe the candidate’s main accomplishments, in one paragraph
• Candidate Current Curriculum Vitae
•  Internal Letters of Recommendation (group)
  • addressed to: Campus President or Nominator
• Course Evaluations (for DTP nominations) (group)

• External Table of Contents
• External Letters of Recommendation (group)
  • addressed to: Campus President or Nominator
• External CVs or Bios or Description of Stature (group)
  • detailed for DP
  • summary for DSP and DTP