THE ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN DECISION MAKING IN TWO-YEAR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE

Purpose. This study examined the nature and extent of librarian participation in institutional decision making in two-year public higher education institutions in Tennessee. This participation was investigated primarily in terms of participation by librarians on institution-wide committees and the extent to which they performed research within the library to aid administrators in making decisions. Other factors, such as attendance at faculty assembly and committee meetings and attitudes toward committee participation, were also surveyed. Furthermore, librarians and college administrators were asked about their perceptions of the status of librarians within the institution.;Method. The investigator developed a questionnaire for librarians and one for presidents and academic deans. In total, sixty-six questionnaires were mailed to all librarians, presidents, and academic deans at Tennessee's ten public community colleges and four public technical institutes. Sixty responses were received.;Although this study was primarily descriptive in nature, the Mann-Whitney U test was applied to the three hypotheses which explored possible reasons for librarian participation in decision making.;Findings. The typical librarian surveyed had a master's degree in library science as the highest degree earned, had been employed at the present college for more than three years, and held faculty rank or a library equivalent. Eighty-five percent of these librarians had served on at least one institution-wide committee within the past two years; their feelings about committee participation were generally positive. Ninety percent of them indicated that they attended almost every meeting of committees of which they were members.;The study was based on theory of the participative mode of management.;Forty-eight percent of the responding administrators reported a very favorable attitude toward faculty status for librarians, with none strongly opposed. Seventy-six percent of them felt that the librarians in their institutions were very much aware of institutional mission and goals and that they should be more concerned with institutional affairs. Fifty-six percent of the administrators felt that their libraries had adequate resources to support their needs in decision making. Only one administrator had never called upon the institution's librarians for research related to institutional decision making.;Three hypotheses explored possible relationships between length of employment, level of education, and faculty status and rate of participation on institution-wide committees. The Mann-Whitney U test, as applied to the data collected, showed no significant differences in the rate of participation between those librarians who had a single master's degree and those who had a second master's degree or higher, between those who had been employed at the present institution from one to three years and those who had been employed for three years or more, and between those who had faculty rank and those who did not.;Recommendations. Because the librarians surveyed responded positively about their committee participation, academic librarians who have been excluded from institutional decision-making processes, or who have excluded themselves from such activities, should attempt to assume a more collegial role with the teaching faculty. This study also leads to the recommendation that librarians should make known to administration the types and quality of decision-making support they can provide.;This study also indicates that academic administrators could benefit from making more use of library resources and by making more demands upon the librarians to find and report information which will aid institutional decision making.