A Change of Pace: Successfully Transitioning to Tenure-Track Librarianship

This article explores the experiences of librarians who have transitioned from working in a non-tenured track position in any type of library to a tenure-track position in academic libraries. The author conducted a survey of librarians who have attempted the career change and shares their motivations for accepting a tenure-track position, their feelings about tenure, their scholarship experiences, and their advice to others to help them successfully navigate the tenure process. Introduction For more than 15 years, I worked in public and non-tenure track academic libraries. I then accepted a position as a tenure-track librarian at a land-grant university. My greatest apprehensions about becoming a tenure-track librarian were rooted almost entirely in the scholarship requirement inherent in any tenure-track position. After all, even an outstanding librarian could experience the nightmare of not only failing to make tenure, but losing one’s job entirely if one’s scholarship failed to match university standards. As I have progressed through the tenure and promotion process, I have begun to acclimate to the different expectations yet it still remains a stressful transition. Whereas competence and dedication were sufficient at the other libraries at which I had worked, I must now face library and university colleagues who evaluate all aspects of my work, including my scholarly output. Transitioning to tenure-track librarianship – and successfully staying there – can be a frightening experience. In this article, I hope to address the aspects that cause the most trepidations among librarians who have made or are making this transition. In this study I will explore their motivations for accepting a tenure-track position, reasons why they liked or hated tenure-track positions, concerns related to conducting scholarship as librarians, and pragmatic advice on how to navigate the process and politics of gaining tenure. Sharing the insights of tenure-track librarians might enable other librarians not on a tenure-track to make informed decisions about whether or not they want to begin the tenure-track journey. Librarians who have already made the transition may find encouragement and guidance that will be helpful to them and give them confidence as they steer their way through what can be an overwhelming and sometimes daunting process. While the academic library in which I work had a well-


Introduction
For more than 15 years, I worked in public and non-tenure track academic libraries.I then accepted a position as a tenure-track librarian at a land-grant university.My greatest apprehensions about becoming a tenure-track librarian were rooted almost entirely in the scholarship requirement inherent in any tenure-track position.After all, even an outstanding librarian could experience the nightmare of not only failing to make tenure, but losing one's job entirely if one's scholarship failed to match university standards.As I have progressed through the tenure and promotion process, I have begun to acclimate to the different expectations yet it still remains a stressful transition.Whereas competence and dedication were sufficient at the other libraries at which I had worked, I must now face library and university colleagues who evaluate all aspects of my work, including my scholarly output.
Transitioning to tenure-track librarianship -and successfully staying there -can be a frightening experience.In this article, I hope to address the aspects that cause the most trepidations among librarians who have made or are making this transition.In this study I will explore their motivations for accepting a tenure-track position, reasons why they liked or hated tenure-track positions, concerns related to conducting scholarship as librarians, and pragmatic advice on how to navigate the process and politics of gaining tenure.Sharing the insights of tenure-track librarians might enable other librarians not on a tenure-track to make informed decisions about whether or not they want to begin the tenure-track journey.Librarians who have already made the transition may find encouragement and guidance that will be helpful to them and give them confidence as they steer their way through what can be an overwhelming and sometimes daunting process.While the academic library in which I work had a well-established mentoring process to provide guidance and feedback, I still found the adjustment, at least initially, to be intimidating and confusing.

Literature Review
Despite the anxiety inherent in the tenure-track transition for many librarians, only a few professional librarianship articles address it.In Tenure and Promotion for Academic Librarians: A Guidebook with Advice and Vignettes, Carol W. Cubberley (1996) provided basic career advice for starting academic librarians but did not specifically address the concerns of midcareer librarians making the transition to tenure.Rene Tanner (2010) provided basic career advice for new academic librarians but she also focused on librarians just starting out.
Other articles investigated the supports offered to tenure-track librarians.Amy J. Vilz and Molly Dahl Poremski (2015) assessed the satisfaction of tenure-track librarians with the support systems offered to them and recommended the creation of comprehensive programs of support.Mandi Goodsett and Andrew Walsh (2015) investigated the effectiveness of mentoring programs for novice tenure-track librarians and provided examples of successful academic library mentoring programs.Kathleen A. Hanna, Ann O'Bryan and Kevin F. Petsche (2008) created a Dossier Support Group at Purdue University to help one another navigate the documentation required for tenure and promotion.Jill Cirasella and Maura A. Smale (2011) studied the establishment, evolution, and effectiveness of a peer mentoring group for junior library faculty at the City University of New York but commented on the difficulty smaller institutions may face without a sufficient number of junior faculty to make such a group viable.
Multiple authors explored the topic of librarianship as a second career.Claire Deeming and Jacqueline Chelin (2011) studied the reasons why people changed careers to become librarians.Ruth Mirtz (2011) also investigated the motives for transitioning to a second career in librarianship.Cheryl McCallips (2008) discussed the experiences of librarians who made the transition from staff to professional librarian.However, articles exploring the experiences of librarians who switched to tenure-track positions mid-career were hard to find.When such articles existed, they focused on the experiences of individual librarians.Mitchell J. Fontenot (2008) described his journey from law librarian to a reference librarian at an university and Timothy J. Johnson (2002) who wrote about his transition from working at a small college to a large university library.

Survey
To learn more about academic librarians who faced a similar transition, I surveyed librarians who attempted to switch from working at a library without tenure to a library with tenure track or the equivalent.I conducted my survey which was sent to listservs covering a variety of areas of librarianship during a two-month period in 2017, from mid-January to mid-March, receiving 115 usable responses from academic librarians across the United States and Canada.For example, what were they apprehensive about when they attempted a switch to the tenure track?What were their perceptions and misperceptions?How did they obtain success in navigating the tenure process?What advice would they give to others considering trying to work at a library with a tenure track?My questions are supplied in the appendix.I was pleasantly surprised by the many thoughtful and honest answers I received.Many librarians generously took the time to provide in-depth feedback in which they shared the good, the bad, and the ugly of their tenure-track experiences.The demographics of the respondents were 21 percent male and 79 percent female.Thirty-five percent obtained their MLS over twenty years ago.Twenty-eight percent of these librarians who earned their MLS over twenty years ago made the switch to a tenure-track position since 2010.Forty percent of all respondents took a tenure-track position in the last three years.Eighty percent of respondents switched to the tenure track from academic libraries without tenure.Twenty percent of respondents worked in a public, special, state library, community college library or a library vendor before attempting a tenure-track or equivalent position.Their comments ranged from despair to elation.Before accepting a tenure-track position, 80% worked in a non-tenure academic Library, 7% in a community college, 5% in a special library, 4% in a public library, 2% in state archives/regional state system, 1% school library, 1% with a vendor.
Due to the paucity of responses from librarians from public, school, and special libraries, the results were a bit skewed toward those who think tenure is vital for all academic librarians.Of these librarians, 74 percent were glad they went for tenure (even if some qualified their statements by commenting on the stressful process).Fifty percent of librarians who completed the survey have yet to achieve tenure but were still working toward it, while roughly 46 percent had already been awarded tenure and 4 percent left before obtaining tenure.
One predictor of the likelihood of success was whether or not respondents desired and welcomed the scholarship and service requirements of tenure.Librarians who reported that they struggled with scholarship, service, and shared governance were much more likely to report being unhappy that they had accepted a tenure-track position.Of the 35 librarians who fully embraced the scholarship, service, and shared governance responsibilities of a tenuretrack position (30 percent of the total responses), 54 percent achieved tenure, 34 percent were on the tenure track, and almost 9 percent were no longer on the tenure track.In terms of gender, a higher percentage of male respondents embraced the tenure track over their female counterparts.While 21 percent of total respondents were male and 77 percent were female in

Motivations For Accepting A Tenure-Track Position
Even though I admittedly was not thrilled about the scholarship requirement as a tenuretrack librarian, much less the public nature of the review process, I had my own motivations for making that transition.For me, tenure-track librarianship provided a welcome challenge, as well as the opportunity to work for a larger and more innovative institution.However, I was curious to learn why others had attempted a tenure-track position, especially if they had reservations as I did initially.
In 2017, Elise Silva, Quinn Galbraith, and Michael Groesbeck studied librarians' perceptions regarding the benefits of tenure by comparing the views of librarians who had tenure against those librarians who did not have tenure.Unsurprisingly, they found that librarians who had tenure valued tenure more than those who did not have it, and that faculty status motivated librarians to give extra effort to their jobs.However, their article only focused on perceptions of librarians at ARL libraries rather than on the experience of individuals moving to a tenure-track position mid-career.
Many of the reasons librarians gave in the survey for accepting a tenure-track position aligned with those enumerated by Silva, Galbraith and Groesbeck.Respondents stated they chose a tenure track position for better pay and retirement benefits, more prestige, and better career advancement.Over half of all respondents noted greater opportunities to research, receive support to attend conferences and participate in national library associations.Nine librarians expressly cited the potential for more time off (e.g. an eight-month contract), greater job stability, and the opportunity to fully participate in and influence the life of a university.Other librarians accepted positions on the tenure-track not to obtain tenure but to become administrators.Unfortunately, the typically higher salaries of tenure-track positions compelled at least 2 of the librarians to remain in unhealthy, dysfunctional, or miserable jobs.One of these librarians lamented: The tenure experience was ridiculously stressful for me and my family.I would leave if I could, but I would have to uproot my whole family, and I'm trying to wait until my kids are through high school so as not to subject them to more stress.
The other librarian who stayed in an unpleasant job wrote: My library is famously dysfunctional.Because of the relatively high salary (for librarians) and excellent benefits, it's a hard position to leave.All this sounds good, but it means that truly miserable people tend to stay at the organization instead of leaving, and that brings down the whole place.I don't think I've ever worked in such an unhealthy environment.
Beyond the financial motivations and career advancement, many librarians took a tenure-track position based on geography.Eighteen percent of respondents accepted a tenuretrack position primarily for the job location, and felt they had no choice but to take the tenuretrack that came with the position (which had either been reclassified or was simply the only job that was offered).Twenty-one percent of those who were unhappy with or had mixed feelings about the tenure process accepted their tenure-track positions mainly because of the location of the library.

How Librarians Feel About Tenure
In 1993, Bonnie Horenstein explored how tenure influenced the job satisfaction of academic librarians.She surveyed 300 academic librarians at institutions with more than 2,000 students and found that librarians with tenure felt they were more involved in their work environment and reported a higher job satisfaction than those without tenure.Librarians responded that they were least satisfied with poorly articulated promotion standards, increasing workloads, and lack of opportunity for meaningful participation in their institutions' decisionmaking process.This article studied librarian perceptions of the tenure-track in general.While many respondents in my survey truly wanted tenure, others still expressed reservations and even disapproved aspects of the tenure process.
Over thirty percent of respondents found it easy to meet the scholarship, service, and shared governance responsibilities of a tenure-track position, with only seven people not embracing any aspect of scholarship, service, or shared governance.Librarians happy with the tenure system reported that they appreciated the job security, status, academic freedom, and participation in campus life that tenure-track jobs offer.One librarian who left the tenure track wrote: Wish I was in a tenured position now!Everything was positive.Great faculty to work with.It was terrific to obtain that professional validation!There are so many rewarding aspects of service: you're often handed the reins to be in charge; it is wonderful test of your abilities and an opportunity to try out new ideas and extend your facilitation skills.I was approached by others to apply for grants, make presentations, and operate as a professional.In a non-tenure track setting, librarians are usually overlooked or conveniently forgotten.
Another librarian regretted waiting to seek tenure as she found it was easier than she expected and that she is now more engaged in scholarship.Yet another librarian echoed the value of the scholarship requirement by saying that her career was enhanced by the scholarship component of tenure.One respondent found that tenure made collaboration and teaching much easier.Another librarian discovered that she enjoyed scholarship once she had the incentive to attempt it and found it empowering to write a book.Still another librarian stated that supporting tenure-track positions should be supported and defended.To many, tenure was worth the sacrifice and hard work it took to obtain.However, a higher rate of these dissatisfied librarians reported being unhappy that they had ever attempted the tenure process.Forty-three percent of those who did not like the requirements of scholarship, service, and shared governance were dissatisfied with the tenure process compared to 17 percent of all respondents.However, it is worth noting that even among those librarians who were unhappy with the tenure process, 57 percent of these 7 dissatisfied librarians nonetheless achieved tenure.One librarian wrote, "I am glad I made the transition to tenure track.It was difficult but I was able to really cement within myself why I love working in libraries."Six librarians commented how worthwhile tenure was to help them grow professionally but then simultaneously described how stressful and/or difficult they found the tenure process to be.
Five librarians discussed how tenure distracted them and they would honestly prefer to focus entirely on their librarian duties rather than seeking tenure.In fact, one wrote, "I feel like it creates a poor climate for quality librarianship...some of my colleagues are too focused on the status it brings and not on the library itself."Another respondent commented: The time I spend trying to do scholarship does not add to my serving the researchers and students.It also really adds nothing to the body of knowledge within library science.I have always felt that "the publish or perish" atmosphere creates bad research.All it does is add stress to my life.
An additional librarian observed: I've yet to find any value for tenure for librarians.There are a host of reasons put forward, e.g.job security, freedom of expression, professional respect, professional involvement, that tenure allows, but all these were equally afforded at all the non-tenure institutions where I've worked.My opinion is that tenure hurts, rather than helps, librarians actually do their jobs.
Some librarians commented about their disdain for how political and psychologically draining the tenure process can be.Another librarian even criticized the "mob-bullying" aspect of the tenure process at her institution.A librarian disliked the more rigid, top-down work environments that she experienced more frequently at university libraries with tenure-track appointments.One librarian even characterized some of the tenure process as "time-wasting malarkey." Figure 2: Respondents Ease In Finding Scholarship Opportunities, Scholarship Support, and Service Opportunities It was easy for me to find appropriate scholarship opportunities.

Strongly Agree 10%
Agree 37% Neutral 26% Disagree 22% Strongly Disagree 5% I was provided adequate support to fulfill my scholarship responsibilities.

Strongly Agree 18%
Agree 37% Neutral 25% Disagree 14% Strongly Disagree 5% It was easy for me to find appropriate service opportunities.

Scholarship
While some writers, such as Meredith Farkas who wrote that doing scholarship is fun in her blog, Information Wants to be Free (2014), many tenure-track librarians do not share her opinion.In one of the few articles about individuals moving mid-career to an academic librarian position with tenure, Mitchell Fontenot (2008) wrote that the biggest challenge he faced was learning how to write a research paper.Fontenot's sentiments echoed many comments obtained in my survey.Numerous articles tackle the feelings of pressure some librarians experience related to the production of scholarship.In 1987, Robert Boice, Jordan M Scepanski, and Wayne Wilson examined why some librarians struggle to cope with the pressures of publish.Zara Wilkinson (2013) addressed the fear and struggles librarians often have of conducting scholarship and suggested some strategies related to time management, collaboration, and institutional support to help them.In Cynthia A. Romanowski's two-part series on how she is working to overcome tenure fears as she progresses through the tenure process, she shared how intimidated she felt about publishing (2015,2017).Fueling some librarians' trepidation with producing scholarship, Ronald Powell, Lynda Baker and Joseph Mika reported in their 2002 study that only 30 percent of respondents believed that their LIS master's degree program adequately prepared them to conduct original research.However, despite the stress many librarians experience, librarians often find value in scholarship activities.June Garner, Karen Davidson, and Becky Schwartzkopf outlined both the positive and negative aspects of publishing and research requirements (2009).
While forty-seven percent of respondents embraced scholarship, 27 percent struggled to find scholarship opportunities and 19 percent did not feel they obtained adequate support for scholarship.Only a third of these librarians who found scholarship difficult were glad that they attempted a tenure-track position.Some librarians who left before obtaining tenure complained about the lack of guidance, support, leave time, and feedback they were given in relation to scholarship requirements.
Multiple librarians also wrote about the challenge to find a research topic.Twenty-four percent discussed the difficulty they found in choosing a good topic or in finding a way to share their scholarship with others.Some commented on how difficult it was initially to find a meaningful topic to research, particularly one that would be helpful to other librarians and the profession at large.Another librarian wrote how she struggled to find a research topic that had practical applications.Some librarians also cited the lack of direction about where to publish their scholarship.One librarian thought that the requirement to publish for tenure resulted in articles that could (and probably should) have been just a poster session or blog post.
Survey participants frequently commented on the vague and inconsistent documentation related to scholarship demands.Some were concerned about the lack of clarity, transparency, and the ever-increasing scholarship requirements.They frequently discussed their frustration and resentment at the lack of continued effort of tenured faculty members, particularly as it pertained to ongoing scholarship activities.
Other librarians commented on their difficulty in finding good outlets to disseminate their scholarship and finding help with the writing process itself.A few librarians stated that they wished they had a writing group or a librarian who could provide editing and revision assistance to help them navigate the scholarship process.One library commented that he was lucky enough to be selected as a participant in the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (http://irdlonline.org/)which taught him a lot about how to conduct research and dramatically increased his level of confidence with scholarship.
One librarian summarized her initial struggles as such: The problem is that I am a relatively new librarian and am not sure where my interests lie.Perhaps this is why our professional literature is saturated with literature reviews.How can I create a theme or focus for my body of work when I am so new to the field?It feels artificial.As though I am being asked to pose as an expert in any area when I have just transitioned into this profession.
Another librarian echoed this sentiment of feeling unqualified to do scholarship when she started by stating that she didn't feel she had enough experience to work on a project on her own and felt she had to collaborate in order to create meaningful scholarship.
A few librarians wrote about how little scholarship training was offered in library school and their perception of the low-level of available library science scholarship.One librarian, in fact, wrote that he wanted to contribute to the body of library science literature because he found it lacking, while another wrote that he was not inspired by the existing scholarship in library science at all.

A librarian added:
When faculty at a research institution come into their position fresh out of grad school, they've had five to seven years of focus on a particular area of study.The research that they perform as faculty is a continuation of their graduate work.The same does not apply to librarians.Librarians come into the profession with two years of graduate school that's usually general in scope…I'd argue that, tenure track librarians at research institutions need much more guidance, support, and mentoring to develop a body of scholarship that can pass tenure review.
However, other librarians commented on how their scholarship had been rewarding, enhancing their librarianship and enabling them to see "the big picture" of librarianship, and how it actually motivated them to accept a tenure-track position.Forty-seven percent of librarians welcomed the opportunity to conduct scholarship.One librarian observed that working toward tenure with its scholarship requirements "helps to reinforce how important it is...so that... we can share this experience with students who are struggling to learn how to do it."And another librarian stated that she believed that sharing the sometimes painful journey to gaining tenure with faculty helped form a bond.Participating in scholarship and the tenure process gave librarians empathy for what students and faculty experience in academia.
Administrative support is a vital component of tenure-track success.Multiple librarians supervised by library deans or directors who did not have to publish themselves found it discouraging that administrators frequently did not value the scholarship process.Furthermore, many librarians wrote how having insufficient leave time, travel funding, and mentoring support hampered their progress with scholarship.One person was frustrated by the "you have to pay for your tenure" situation in some libraries, where attendance at library conferences was required yet no travel funding was provided.Time to do scholarship is a recurring concern in the responses.Whereas twenty-four percent reported that they were not given sufficient time to conduct scholarship, 19 percent commented that they appreciated that their institutions gave them time to devote to scholarship.Roughly seventeen percent of librarians discussed how helpful it was that they received travel funding to support their scholarship.As one librarian commented, "I also wanted more resources (not just funding--perhaps even least of all funding--but time, culture, and colleagues) to work on scholarly activities." While librarians working in all kinds of positions considered time management to be crucial, tenure-track librarians in technical services and administrative positions expressed the most difficulties with finding time for scholarship.Three librarians in technical services discussed the difficulty of taking a tenure position because of the time constraints, diminishing staff, difficulty to find scholarship opportunities related to cataloging, and administrative duties dominating their available time.One librarian wrote, "Make very sure that your management can actually manage and that someone who understands technical services workloads has designed your position."A cataloger shared that she found it difficult to find appropriate publishing opportunities but that opportunities to do presentations had been easier.

Another librarian complained,
There is no support if you are a Cataloger.My colleagues (all reference or users services librarians) talk about how wonderfully flexible their jobs are and how free they are to pursue their own professional interests.There are now 7 of them in a library with 9 faculty.They don't seem to recognize that their jobs are so flexible because I am doing what used to be 3 people's jobs.
Three administrative librarians likewise commented that it is harder for managers to find the time to complete scholarship requirements.

Advice
Many respondents noted that finding a good mentor was essential for helping candidates navigate the tenure process and especially to help them begin their scholarship.This piece of advice was expressed more than any other; over 17 percent of respondents explicitly stressed the value of finding a good mentor.Including the respondents who complained about the lack of feedback and guidance in the process, almost 21 percent indicated that a mentor was or would be helpful.Many librarians without such guidance mentioned that they felt confused and "isolated" as they struggled to make tenure.Diana Farmer, Marcia Stockham, and Alice Trussell (2009) discussed the formal mentoring program at Kansas State University Libraries.They shared advice on how to run a successful mentoring program, detailed the qualities of effective mentees and mentors, and provided written documentation for its faculty mentoring program.A good mentor will help tenure candidates navigate the often Kafkaesque morass of tenure guidelines, requirements, and scholarship publication possibilities.
Other pieces of advice that were echoed by multiple respondents stressed the importance of working to collaborate, network, and seek partnerships with other librarians.Some recommended starting scholarship by co-presenting to learn about the process and finding people to provide constructive input or collaborate on initial scholarship projects.A librarian wrote that she found collaboration to be the aspect of scholarship that she found most rewarding and challenging: I have found that scholarship is often best when done with colleagues.Collaborative projects are inspiring, an amazing learning opportunity, and produce great end results.It also requires immense sensitivity to the emotional, intellectual, and professional needs of colleagues, and sometimes requires you to not just compromise but let go of ideas that are important to you.
A librarian with a special library background advised presenting at conferences outside her own core area; she chose to present at the Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference even though she works in a reference and instruction department.Other librarians advised being involved in professional associations and recommended networking to have a support system and sources for external peer-evaluations typically required when going up for tenure or promotion.
Many librarians warned people transitioning to tenure-track to avoid overcommitting to service opportunities.One librarian commented, "I love what I do; however, my frame of mind is service rather than scholarship."Others did not realize that one set of committees would have been enough or that they had the right to say "no" if a service opportunity was not useful in gaining tenure.One librarian commented that while she was energized by participating in national library organizations and often discovered great ideas at conferences, finding time to actually implement the ideas was difficult due to her scholarship demands.
Respondents frequently emphasized the importance of asking lots of questions before accepting a tenure-track position.How do library faculty interact with each other and administration?What is the history of tenure rejections?How many people have and have not gotten tenure in the past ten years in the library?How do non-tenured faculty at prospective institutions perceive they are treated by library faculty who have already obtained tenure?Will colleagues truly be supportive?What specific support will be offered to librarians seeking tenure?Is the scholarship requirement determined by published research or by teaching?Ask these questions of as many people as possible and see how consistent the answers are.Different people giving wildly different answers about tenure criteria could be a red flag.
One librarian recommended that job seekers avoid working in libraries where some librarians are classified faculty and some are classified staff as it creates a tension-filled work environment.Another librarian suggested building collaborative relationships as this will help tenure-track librarians significantly in meeting the tenure requirements.Librarians wrote that it is important to hit the ground running to document progress.
One particular librarian commented, "Have confidence in yourself and be prepared to defend yourself.Being popular and being collegial are two terms that sadly often get confused in librarianship."Ideally, evaluation for tenure should rely solely on performance-based criteria but unfortunately many librarians commented in the survey how non-performance criteria can frequently and unfairly factor into the tenure evaluation process.Much of the advice regarding time management, the value of networking, and finding a good mentor reiterates basic career advice given to new librarians (Tanner, 2010).However, many of the respondents' comments expanded on this as they advised investigating the institutional health of and support provided by prospective employers, seeking clarification on tenure guidelines that seem unclear, being aware of overcommitting to service obligations, and preparing from the start on ways to deal with the stress of conducting and writing scholarship.Many librarians outlined the supports they found most useful to achieve tenure and stressed the importance of providing support to enable librarians to successfully navigate the tenure-track process.

Conclusion
Tenure-track librarians may have nothing to fear but fear itself, but the fear of attempting the tenure-track process-regardless of what point a person is in their career-is widespread and very real.Despite how tricky the transition can be, advice by librarians who made or are making it can still be reassuring, particularly in sharing strategies for how they successfully handled the tenure process.I particularly was encouraged by a comment from one librarian who said that she found herself taking on projects that took her out of her comfort zone, but that such discomfort turned out to be a blessing in disguise as she ultimately found her new responsibilities to be educating, rewarding, and fulfilling.The transition to a tenure-track position may initially seem daunting for non-tenure track librarians, but with guidance, persistence, and even a little luck, it can turn out to be a worthwhile journey.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Demographics of Respondents , Jordan M. Scepanski, and Wayne Wilson, "Librarians and Faculty Members: Coping with Pressures to Publish," College & Research Libraries, 48 (6), (1987): 494-503.Cirasella, Jill, and Maura A. Smale, "Peers Don't Let Peers Perish: Encouraging Research and Scholarship among Junior Library Faculty," Collaborative Librarianship, 3 (2), (2011), 98-109.Cynthia Hughes (chughes5@uwyo.edu) is Metadata Librarian, Coe Library, University of Wyoming ____ Capitalist class/Wealthy ____ Other, please specify:____________________ Adjusting to Scholarship, Service, and Shared Governance Responsibilities 8.It was easy for me to find appropriate scholarship opportunities.do you find most rewarding or challenging in discovering scholarship opportunities? 10.I was provided adequate support to fulfill my scholarship responsibilities.support for your scholarship activities did you find most or least helpful?12.It was easy for me to find appropriate service opportunities.do you find most rewarding or challenging about service activities?14.I enjoy participating in the shared governance of a library and university.do you find most rewarding or challenging about shared governance activities?Your Personal Experiences and Perspectives 16.Did you successfully achieve tenure?____ Yes ____ No ____ I left prior to a tenure decision, for another tenure line.____ I left prior to a tenure decision, for a non-tenure line.____ Other, please specify: __________________________ 17.What are the most important factors in your decision to accept or to leave a tenure track position?18. Are you glad you made the transition to a tenure track position?Why or why not? 19.What advice would you give to others attempting to make the transition to a tenure track position?20.Is there any other information about your transition or your tenure journey that you would care to share?