One day last spring, soon after Maura’s appointment at City Tech, we found ourselves chatting about the many, varied requirements of our jobs: traditional library work, service to the institution and the profession, and research and scholarship. Though we are both keen on scholarly activities, the research and publication requirements for tenure and promotion can seem daunting, especially to faculty who have just entered the tenure track. We realized that while there are many existing support structures in the CUNY community and beyond few are geared specifically to library faculty. And thus the germ of the Junior Faculty Research Roundtable was born.
As we discussed the idea, it became clear that we were interested in something less formal than a LACUNY committee but more structured than an informal support group. We wanted to encourage research-related work and productive discussions but didn’t want to sponsor large events or programs beyond topical discussions at meetings. And we definitely did not want to create extra work for group members beyond the work of their own research and publication activities. We decided to propose a meeting to gauge interest in the CUNY community.
Our first meeting was on June 20, 2008, and we were pleasantly surprised that 19 junior library faculty members from across CUNY attended. We spent two lively, M&M-fueled hours introducing ourselves and our research interests and fleshing out the workings of our nascent group. We decided to design a survey to assess our members’ interests and help to shape our goals for the group. We also created an e-mail list to facilitate group discussions between meetings.
The results of our survey revealed that most members of our group are interested in meeting bimonthly. Survey respondents also indicated that they would like to form smaller, discipline-specific subgroups in which to discuss research ideas and request comments on draft articles. Several members (ourselves included!) have created research pacts–an agreement between two individuals or groups to be accountable for a certain amount of progress on a project.
We have also had a few guest speakers on topics of interest to junior faculty. At our meeting on August 29, 2008, Sharon Swacker (City Tech) spoke to the group about the types of leave available to CUNY library faculty. And at our next meeting, on October 17, 2008, Beth Evans (Brooklyn) and Jane Fitzpatrick (Graduate Center) spoke to the group about participation in a LACUNY oral history project, which could evolve into a presentation or publication opportunity.
By the end of the summer, our discussion list had swelled to 28 members, and it seemed like a good time to formalize the group. The addition of the Junior Faculty Research Roundtable to LACUNY was approved by the Executive Council meeting on September 12, 2008. We were voted in as co-chairs at the subsequent Junior Faculty Research Roundtable meeting on October 17, 2008. The following is our mission statement: The Junior Faculty Research Roundtable is a forum for untenured CUNY library faculty to discuss their research ideas, concerns, and experiences. The roundtable will hold regular meetings, maintain its own e-mail list, and encourage exchange among colleagues with similar interests and/or complementary skills. Membership is open to all untenured CUNY library faculty.
Maura Smale (City Tech) and Jill Cirasella (Brooklyn)
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