The librarianship portfolio

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to describe the development of a Librarianship Portfolio for the purposes of permanent status evaluation and rank promotion at a small private university with a unionized faculty. Design/methodology/approach – The Librarianship Portfolio was conceived and based on teaching portfolios and evaluative documents at other colleges and universities and is also a direct result of collective bargaining negotiations. Findings – Interest in outcomes assessment and evaluation is increasing in the educational institutions where academic librarians work. One assessment strategy that has been developed for teaching faculty is the professional teaching portfolio. Librarians have not widely adopted this type of documentation for the purposes of tenure evaluation or work performance assessment. Practical implications – Portfolios such as this one can serve as a basis for collecting documentation and highlighting excellence in job performance at other academic libraries, whether or not librarians are faculty or belong to a union. Originality/value – The Librarianship Portfolio as described here is a unique creation in job performance evaluation.