Setting the Stage for Success: Developing an Orientation Program for Academic Library Faculty Setting the Stage for Success: Developing an Orientation Program for Academic Library Faculty

A multi-faceted orientation program can provide a strong foundation for self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and retention of academic librarians. At many colleges and universities, academic librarians have faculty status. Becoming a member of a faculty involves an extensive process of socialization. This paper examines the literature of higher education and library science on the topic. It identifies the characteristics of effective orientation from that literature. Incorporating an organizational socialization model with the findings from both bodies of literature resulted in a flexible, multi-dimensional model for the orientation of academic library faculty. One university library is an example that can be readily adapted in any academic library.


Introduction
Starting a new job requires learning new duties, developing an understanding of how the organization works, clarifying what the expectations are, and developing interpersonal networks.Academic librarians who are on tenure-track also must learn about their faculty roles and promotion and tenure expectations.A multi-faceted orientation program during the early stages of this intense period can provide a strong foundation for self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and employee retention.
Academic librarians transitioning to new jobs tend to have expectations that differ from reality.Those who have higher levels of difference in expectations tend to have more difficult transitions and lower job satisfaction. 1Generally, around half of academic librarians have faculty status. 2 There are variations according to geographic region and type of institution. 3ome faculty in libraries do not have terminal masters degrees in library-related fields, but have complementary expertise in areas such as instructional design, GIS, user experience, data management, and the disciplines. 4A formal orientation program that includes important characteristics of orientation for disciplinary faculty and academic librarians can ease the job transition, reduce uncertainty and stress, and support new library faculty in developing selfefficacy through a deep understanding of cultural norms, facts, communication processes, and procedures.

Literature review
Colleges and universities expend considerable resources to hire faculty, so facilitating their transition benefits the institutions as well as the new faculty members.A well-planned orientation program has an impact on employee satisfaction, effectiveness, and retention. 5rientation, socialization, onboarding, and mentoring are terms related to the transition of employees in a new work environment.Orientation is "the process through which organizations equip new employees with the essential knowledge required to be successful, refine the skills required to yield required results, and establish enough attraction to the organization to retain." 6Similarly, onboarding "is the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly." 7Organizational socialization is "the process by which an individual acquires the social knowledge and skills necessary to assume an organizational role." 8 Mentoring can be part of the orientation process as "a dynamic, reciprocal relationship in a work environment between an advanced career incumbent (mentor) and a beginner (protégé) aimed at promoting the career development of both. 9In this paper, the word "orientation" will include all of these concepts, i.e., orientation, socialization, onboarding, and mentoring.
The literature on the orientation of disciplinary faculty is distinct from the literature on the orientation of academic librarians.The former does not mention faculty librarians and the latter rarely includes the literature on socialization of disciplinary faculty.For this reason, this literature review discusses orientation of disciplinary faculty separately from that of the orientation of academic librarians.

Orientation of New Disciplinary Faculty to Academic Institutions
New faculty teach and engage in scholarship and service.Graduate students have wide-ranging experiences as preparation for this role.Doctoral students who work with faculty mentors on research can observe the dynamics that occur among faculty, administrators, and students over a number of years.They learn about some of the important issues in their departments and on their campuses.But even with preparation for academic careers while in graduate school, new faculty need further grounding once they hold a tenure-track position. 10ccording to Lucas and Murry, "the presumption lingers that new faculty members are fullfledged professionals who already understand what their job will demand…the critical consideration is an institutional climate in which novices' questions are welcomed and treated with the attention they deserve." 11There are indications that "doctoral students often graduate with little understanding of the breadth of faculty roles and responsibilities across varied institutional contexts." 12Students in some disciplines, 13 those who are not fully funded by their programs, and those who pursue degrees online are unlikely to have a prolonged, in-person observational learning experience.While the socialization of doctoral students generally occurs in research institutions, those who take positions in institutions that emphasize teaching may be less prepared for the expectations in those settings.
Cox maintained that new faculty "often begin their years in the professoriate under serious pressures and in dysfunctional academic communities. 14Major and Dolly's study of education faculty concluded that faculty who do not have anticipatory socialization processes as graduate students "may not have high self-efficacy and thus may not be as likely to persist and succeed in their new roles." 15Different forms of orientation vary in effectiveness as preferences of new faculty vary. 16Although the content and structure of existing orientation programs differ greatly, there is widespread recognition that they are important. 17Terosky and O'Meara developed a framework that explored four aspects of faculty socialization: learning, agency, professional relationships, and commitment." 18"Agency" means "how faculty members can structure their own careers in ways that foster meaningful work, effective contributions, and professional passions." 19n Maanen and Schein's dimensions of organizational socialization 20 can be a reference point for a systematic approach tailored to particular organizational cultures.They inferred that socialization is a process that is contingent on many factors.This perspective seems particularly suited to the academic library environment.Those dimensions are:  Collective vs. Individual.Collective socialization occurs in groups of similar individuals, such as cohorts of new faculty.Individual socialization occurs in isolation, which might happen in small departments or departments that hire new faculty infrequently. Formal vs. Informal.An example of formal socialization is a structured orientation program, whereas new faculty engage in informal socialization that is unplanned or unstructured. Random vs. Sequential.The tenure process is an example of random socialization because it is unclear.Sequential socialization occurs when the steps toward a goal are clear and specific.The range of possible activities inherent in this framework align with Tierney's suggestion that socialization should "accept difference and discontinuity, rather than similarity and continuity…when an individual is socialized, this individual is participating in the re-creation rather than merely the discovery of a culture." 22ble 1 lists some of the topics identified in the literature that could be included in the orientation of new disciplinary faculty.Wheeler  1992   The institution; the department; faculty service; the nature of committee work; promotion and tenure expectation, process, and timeline; library resources; performance expectations; policies and practices Ortlieb, Biddix & Doepker  2010; Doyle & Marcinkiewicz  2001; Tierney & Bensimon  1996; Wheeler 1992; Baldwin  1990  The discipline: epistemological and pedagogical traditions; its history and distinctive culture; theories and philosophical perspectives that guide work in the field; methods considered appropriate to address questions in the field; the forms in which work is typically presented; criteria used to assess excellence Austin 2011; Crone 2010   The types of higher education institutions; history of higher education and its contribution to the public good in America through knowledge production, preparing students for citizenship and employment, and knowledge application to societal problems  1996; Tierney 1997; Wheeler  1992; Baldwin 1990   *Complete references for the sources cited in the tables are in Appendix 1.

Methods for Orientation of New Disciplinary Faculty
The literature describes many methods for orientation of new disciplinary faculty.Basic information is fundamental to an orientation program: lists of contact information, organizational charts, community resources, and items conveying institutional symbols such as pens or name badges. 23In a successful orientation, the content is not overwhelming; the program duration is less than a day; and there is collegiality and small group interaction with new and experienced faculty. 24But Tierney found in his study on faculty socialization that new faculty "learned the pace of work, what was important and what was not, by being involved in the microscopic aspects of the culture of their organizations"-not through formal orientation programs. 25ew faculty can seek advice and discuss their needs through ongoing forums and faculty learning communities. 26Mentoring is an important aspect of orientation.One study reported that "new faculty who are mentored feel more connected to their work environments than their non-mentored peers" thus benefitting both the new faculty and the institution. 27Healy and Welchert proposed that "the degree of maturity that both parties bring to the relationship influences its outcome" and that "mentorships pass through qualitatively distinct periods." 28entors may include people from different domains of the faculty member's work, such as the department chair, senior faculty, and informally through social gatherings. 29Peer group support has advantages."Writing about experiences, then sharing in peer groups, fosters transformative learning, suggesting that critical reflection and dialog, key tenets of the theory, support faculty development." 30Retreats can facilitate social and intellectual bonding; they are a means of developing networks and conveying lore. 31epartment chairs have a key role in mentoring, connecting new faculty with resources and other mentors, representing the institution as an authority, evaluating, and serving as a role model for work-life balance. 32Chairs have detailed knowledge of the institution and know what the expectations are for success, however "new faculty may feel intimidated by and insecure with the chair, who not only hired them but also is probably responsible for their evaluation." 33Chairs as well as senior faculty can be role models. 34

Orientation for Academic Librarians
Oud categorized the literature on orientation of academic librarians as: descriptions of library programs; discussions of the faculty role; and reports of librarian attitudes and expectations.Lacking are studies of how new librarians progress through the socialization process; 35 how effective existing orientation programs are; or how to develop an orientation program based on a synthesis of the faculty socialization and librarian orientation literature.
Since the masters degree is the terminal degree for librarians, their preparation for the academic profession is more limited than that of disciplinary faculty who have completed doctoral programs. 36Academic librarians who are faculty may have teaching responsibilities and they may be expected to engage in scholarship and committee work.
Characteristics of the institution, such as history, mission, funding, governance, student body, research productivity, size, and geographic location should be considered in planning an orientation program.Those characteristics have an influence on the institutional culture and on the roles of new faculty. 37The program should have flexibility based on individual needs and preferences.A formal but adaptable orientation program will result in a common understanding of the culture, procedures, processes, and functions of a library and its role in the larger institution and society.It should not be prescriptive, or imply that there is only one understanding of the faculty role. 38Assessment of the program should occur to ensure that it benefits the new faculty. 39The literature provides insight on topics that should be included in the orientation of new academic librarians (see Table 2).The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) published a "Spec Kit" that includes sample orientation programs. 40

Methods for Orientation of New Academic Librarians
Librarians in different types of positions have different learning styles, implying that a variety of learning methods should be included in an orientation program. 41Flexibility is an important factor for the success of orientation programs for new academic librarians. 42Peer support groups, orientation programs, and writing groups "clearly can be used effectively to mitigate some of the issues that new librarians experience.The success of support programs for new librarians, though, heavily depends on the unique library environment that a new librarian may be entering…which is why library administrators, supervisors, and colleagues need to consider overall best practices for supporting new librarians, and then adapt those to each library's unique community and culture." 43ntoring is a common practice.Librarians who had mentors found it helpful, giving them a better understanding of promotion and tenure expectations, library "politics and personalities," job responsibilities, networking, and research and publication.Mentoring influenced publication productivity among Penn State librarians.New Kansas State University librarians appreciated mentors because of their discussions and encouragement; their willingness to meet and advise; and their genuine concern.At Louisiana State University, mentors attended a professional development workshop on how to mentor. 44These are best practices in mentoring from the literature:  Articulate guidelines, roles, timelines, and expectations of mentors and mentees  Articulate the purpose of mentoring  Establish the frequency and length of meetings, whether they will take place in person; and prepare agendas  Consider factors such as backgrounds, personalities, and availability when matching mentors and mentees; mentoring should not be a mandatory responsibility  Begin mentoring within the first month of the new librarian's work  Share professional connections 45 Disadvantages to mentoring are: increased workload for mentors; inconsistencies in advice given by mentors; differing understandings of promotion and tenure expectations among mentors; incompatibility of individuals; mentors who may not be engaged or may not be positive role models; programs with no guidelines or goals; and a lack of alignment between traditional mentoring and transformational change to develop a learning culture. 46eer mentoring can supplement or replace traditional mentoring.Henrich and Attebury favored peer mentoring through a community of practice on scholarly research and publication at the University of Idaho.Communities of practice typically have a common topic of interest; a community; and activities to develop knowledge about their topic.The Colorado State University Libraries at Fort Collins offered peer mentoring in addition to formal mentoring with tenured faculty.
The California State University Long Beach library implemented another alternative to traditional mentoring: the Resource Team Model.Three senior librarians mentor each new librarian during her/his first six months of employment.Bosch et al reported that the program "was worthwhile in the long run as it fostered constructive attitudes about the work environment." 47 summarize, there is little overlap between the topics reported in the literature that should be included in the orientation of disciplinary faculty and the topics that should be included in the orientation of academic library faculty.The topics for disciplinary faculty tend to be focused on the discipline, the institution, achievement of expectations for tenure, and professional networking.The topics for academic librarians tend to focus on the institution and job skills, but do include expectations for tenure for faculty and networking.This can be explained by the fact that much of the literature on orientation of academic librarians is written for those who do not have faculty status.There is little written about the socialization of those who are members of an academic library faculty or that synthesizes the literature to develop evidence-based methods for orienting library faculty.

Development of the Purdue University Libraries Faculty Orientation Program and Background of the Purdue University Libraries
Purdue University is a large research and land grant university in the Midwest.Purdue enrolls 39,000 students, 76% of whom are undergraduates, and employs 1,800 tenured and tenure-track faculty. 48The school is particularly strong in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines, with more than half of the students enrolled in majors in those areas. 49There are professional schools of business, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.The Libraries organization includes twelve Libraries and the units Research and Assessment, Planning and Administration, Strategic Communication, Collection Management, Scholarly Publishing Services, the Purdue University Press, and the University Copyright Office.
The Libraries align closely with the priorities of the University and adapt as those priorities change.As a result, the Libraries faculty and staff have a wide range of qualifications and experience.Some have library, information, and archival science degrees; others have advanced degrees in other disciplines.This results in a richly talented faculty and staff who are well-qualified to address the information needs of the university.However, new faculty and staff began their positions in the Libraries with a wide range of knowledge about the academic environment, expectations in colleges and universities, and the functioning of academic libraries.Orientation of Libraries faculty occurred primarily through supervisors, Human Resources, an annual orientation for all new Purdue faculty; and a Faculty Review Committee assigned to each faculty member that provided feedback and mentoring.There was a need for a more extensive, formal, and consistent approach to orienting new faculty.In 2013, the Dean of Libraries charged a Libraries faculty committee to develop an educational program that would effectively orient and socialize new faculty, archivists, and the professional staff who were required to have library degrees.The committee designed the program for tenure-track faculty; it is adaptable for those who are not in tenure-track positions.

Method
The committee developed the program by using several methods: an examination of the literature; focus groups with untenured Libraries faculty; and requests for feedback from all Libraries faculty and administrators on program drafts.The literature on higher education faculty socialization provided a broad perspective on issues that all new faculty face and ways that they can be addressed.The literature on academic library orientation described best practices of existing programs.Focus groups with the untenured Libraries faculty revealed what they would have liked to know within a year of hire."Junior faculty offer a wealth of information about how academe incorporates new members into the academy, and in doing so they teach us about organizational norms, values, and culture." 50The committee developed the questions for the focus groups (see Appendix 2).Two untenured faculty members conducted the focus groups and summarized and anonymized the responses.
The guiding principles for the committee members were that the program should:  Occur during the first year of employment. Incorporate existing structures and programs, such as administrative oversight; relevant committees; supervisors and mentors; the University's orientation for new faculty; brown bag seminars, and staff meetings. Be based on collegiality, flexibility, and a desire to support new faculty in learning about Purdue, its libraries, academic librarianship, archives and special collections, and promotion and tenure.
 Be customized for individual faculty members (See Appendix 3 for checklist for the supervisor and mentor to select activities that are relevant).Gender and cultural differences in orientation preferences should be taken into account. 51 Include activities in a variety of formats, including self-study, lecture, and discussion.Some of these could occur in-person and some online.They could be group or individual activities (Appendix 4 is a suggested schedule for topical discussion meetings). Include social activities as these are important for networking, for understanding cultures and organizations, and for learning social norms.

Results
The preamble to the program stated that orientation is an ongoing process and a shared responsibility.These points came from the literature review.The program stated, "Established Libraries faculty and archivists are responsible for participating in the orientation of new LFAP [libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff] and they are role models.New LFAP are responsible for ongoing and open communication with their supervisors/Faculty Review Committees (FRCs) about orientation; for participating actively and often in Libraries and University activities; for completing this orientation program; for continuous learning about the library, information, and archival science professions, the Libraries, and the University; for developing their professional networks; and for ongoing progress in the areas of learning, discovery, and engagement." 52ecause Purdue is a large research university with library units in many locations, communication is an ongoing challenge.The orientation program stated that it was important for new LFAP to recognize this and to be proactive in reaching out to others in the Libraries and on campus to network, learn, and collaborate.The orientation program was to be a foundation to learn basics about the organization, the people, and expectations, as well as the complementary professions represented in the Purdue Libraries.Tierney and Bensimon stated that new faculty "are responsible for the structure of their professional lives." 53and Miller similarly stated, "new librarians themselves need to take the initiative to gain awareness about their situation and take advantage of relationships and opportunities that are known to increase new librarians' happiness and success." 54This agency is reflected in the Purdue Libraries orientation expectation that new library faculty should take the initiative to continually build on this foundation.
The committee members identified general knowledge domains to be included in the program from the data gathered.These were: academic librarianship and archival science; Purdue University and Libraries; promotion and tenure; and informal networks and culture.They developed learning objectives, activities, and recommended readings for each domain.They drafted a program and disseminated it to the faculty and archivists in the library for comments, then revised and disseminated it for comments again.Appendix 5 consists of suggested readings for the orientation program.These are the modules with some of the learning objectives and suggested activities drawn from the new orientation program. 55Academic Librarianship and Archival Science.

Learning objectives:
New libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff will: Be able to discuss:  The history of libraries and archives  Operations of academic libraries (including public services, reference services, interlibrary loan, information literacy, acquisitions, cataloging, metadata services, technical services, library management systems functions, library information technology, institutional repositories, archives, and special collections)  Issues in academic librarianship and archival science and emerging roles   The changing face of collection development and collection management  The current climate with for-profit publishers Have the ability to communicate with disciplinary faculty about:  Scholarly communication issues  E-science and data management and preservation   The differences between missions of different types of libraries (academic, public,  special, school), archives, and special collections Have an understanding:  That academic libraries and archives support units across institutions (unlike academic departments,)  That academic libraries are oriented around learning and pedagogy  Ofthe missions and structures of different types of higher education institutions (i.e., research university, masters comprehensive, or liberal arts college) Know how to keep up with the literature Activities: Discuss readings with the Faculty Review Committee and with experts among the Libraries faculty and in the LIS profession.

Higher Education and Purdue University
Learning Objectives: New libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff will: Be able to discuss:  At a general level, higher education in the U.S.

Informal Networks and Cultures
Learning Objectives: New libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff will: learn about:  The informal organization, relationships, values, and cultures of practice within the Libraries  How decisions are made and how to get things done  Libraries administrative structure, including the various decision making bodies Activities: FRC or mentor/supervisor discussion of strategic plan values; faculty member will attend meetings of the faculty and discuss observations with mentor.

Other
The Libraries send a post-offer packet of information to new hires.The committee recommended that the packet include a link to a LibGuide that will include:

Discussion
The literature and the results of the focus groups with new library faculty provided much data for the content and format of the Purdue Libraries orientation program.The literature provided the perspective of issues that both new disciplinary faculty and academic librarians on content to include in orientation programs and on learning methods.Recognizing that individual needs and preferences for orientation vary and that organizations differ, the data from the focus groups yielded data that was specific to Purdue and its Libraries.
The program incorporated aspects of Van Maanen and Schein's framework for the dimensions of organizational socialization because of its relevance to university faculty.This framework is flexible and contingent on characteristics of the individual, the organization, and the orientation process itself. 56Collective socialization will occur through the cohorts of untenured faculty and with the establishment of Faculty Review Committees for each new faculty member.Since the Libraries are a large organization, individual socialization in isolation will not occur and is not desirable in this program.Formal, sequential, and fixed socialization will occur through the structured orientation program and the timeline for the tenure process.Informal and variable socialization will occur spontaneously initiated by the new faculty member or by those who are not new.Random socialization will occur because the tenure process is unclear.Serial socialization will occur through mentorship.The program will be implemented for a year and assessed.Formative assessment will consist of completion of the designated sections of the orientation program by new faculty and discussion of the content with the FRC or mentor.Summative assessment will be implemented by the Associate Dean for Planning and Administration.An ARL "Spec Kit" offers sample forms for program evaluation from several universities .57

Conclusion
Orientation programs are important for the success and satisfaction of new faculty in libraries.The literature identified general issues and existing research and programs.The focus groups provided an institution-specific perspective.These can be incorporated into a program that aligns with available resources.An effective program should include learning goals that cover the different dimensions of the faculty member's work.The duration and intensity of the program can vary depending on willingness to commit resources and the time available for it.Participation in orientation programs should be recognized by faculty, supervisors, and mentors through performance evaluations and other means.While it is essential that organizations offer orientation formally and informally, new librarians should note that they have a responsibility to take initiative in this area as well.
Using this systematic approach, academic libraries can develop orientation programs for their faculty that are customized to their institution and build toward self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and retention.

Published: November 2015
Sharon A. Weiner (sweiner@purdue.edu) is Professor of Library Science and W. Wayne Booker Chair in Information Literacy at the Purdue University Libraries heads and discuss:  High-level view of the Libraries  Which Libraries faculty members and staff to meet  With whom should the Libraries faculty member be working in the Libraries and how  What research partnerships might be possible Visit the libraries and units Get to know possible mentors Promotion and Tenure (although the archivists and professional staff are not tenure-track faculty, they may benefit from some of these topics) Learning Objectives: New libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff will learn:  How Libraries faculty are similar to faculty in academic departments  The process and expectations relating to promotion and tenure  Research methods  The literature of library and information science  Developing a research agenda and a tenure "theme"  Relevant conferences  Demonstrating impact  Finding collaborators and being a good collaborator  Time management and prioritizing


Photos of Libraries faculty and staff  How to reserve rooms  Maps  Org charts; listing of liaisons and archivists  Internal communication mechanisms (intranet, shared drives)  Links to background materials related to Libraries initiatives  Promotion and tenure information  Link to "Practice into Research, Research into Practice" research methods training program; Bibliography of Research Methods Texts  Contact information  Key library professional organizations  Glossary of library terminology  Link to Chronicle of Higher Education columns on being a new faculty member

Table 2 . Selected Topics to be Included in Orientation of New Academic Librarians
Complete references for the sources cited in the tables are in Appendix 1.
Participation in University's orientation programs for new faculty or staff  Discussion with Faculty Review Committee/mentor  Meet with key people at Purdue related to their position responsibilities  Discuss readings with with experts at Purdue and in the library, information, or archival profession How faculty in academic departments differ from Libraries faculty  The different units and the roles of individuals in the Libraries  How programs, positions, initiatives relate to strategic plan/directions  The performance evaluation process  Archives and Special Collections; Purdue University Press, and Libraries publishing services  Projects, research, and engagement activities in which Libraries faculty, archivists, and professional staff are involved to share with the academic departments  How to hire and recruit student assistants  Support and guidance for professional development