The Continuing Decline of Academic Law Library Director Status and Rank 

Abstract

We revisit the perennial question of the status of law library directors at American law schools and ask, “Should law library directors be afforded the status of a tenured law faculty member with full voting rights?” The article is empiric, relying on data collected from 101 sitting library directors in 2023 using a survey to show the current statuses and demographics of directors. The survey measured age, union status, gender, appointment type, appointment status, voting rights, tenure and promotion requirements, and teaching loads. An open-ended qualitative question asked for directors’ thoughts on tenure for themselves and the profession. Historic data is newly presented to present trends over time. Comparative data for the national professoriate in legal and higher education is considered. We close with conjecture about why tenure is declining for directors and recommendations for supporting directors to earn tenure including support for scholarship, recognition of administration as service in the tenure and promotion process, and better uniformity and transparency in directors’ position descriptions. The lack of diversity among directors demonstrated here should motivate librarians and their partners to provide more and better opportunities for librarians of color to enter and succeed in the profession. The data and insights are timely while the ABA is focusing on the faculty status of clinical, writing, and library faculty through the accreditation process. The article is useful for directors, aspiring directors, and faculty, deans, and University leaders looking to hire, retain, or support a law library director. 

Keywords: law libraries directors law faculty status race gender law library governance tenure academic freedom job security, tenure, academic law libraries, status

JEL Classification: Y10