Retaining Intellectual Capital: Retired Faculty and Academic Libraries

Together, these small group meetings with retired and soon-to-be retired faculty provided important insights into how retired faculty use the library, and how library services can be improved for this extremely important clientele. There is no reason to believe that retired faculty from other research universities would be any different from those at Rutgers in their needs and desires for continued access to their university’s research libraries. However, as a point of comparison before making general policy recommendations, the author examined the information and services provided to retired faculty by other public university libraries.

Study 2: Faculty Retirees and Library Services at Public ARL Institutions

To determine what public research university libraries were doing for emeriti faculty, the author examined the webpages of the sixty-six ARL public university members for listings of services provided to retired faculty.¹⁴ This environmental scan was conducted between April and June 2007 using the local search box to look for any references to “emeritus,” “emeriti,” “retired faculty,” and “retirees.” The available services could be grouped into information about borrowing privileges, interlibrary loan, library cards, remote access to electronic resources, and whether study carrels and study rooms were available to retired faculty. Other types of information the libraries provided specifically for retired faculty (e.g., spouse privileges, proxy borrowers, public computer use the library, etc.) were also noted.

Results

The data are summarized in figure 1. The first bar in the figure indicates the proportion of libraries whose webpages make any reference to retired faculty. The great majority (86 percent) of ARL public university libraries do target some information to this group. More than half specifically mention borrowing privileges for retired faculty. Beyond this, however, the breadth of the information that is provided to retired faculty falls off precipitously. Less than 30 percent of the library homepages provide information about interlibrary loan services for retired faculty, and only 17 percent communicate anything about remote access to online resources for retired faculty, the single issue that my sample cared about more than any other. Only 12 percent—less than 1 in 8—provide information about the availability to retired faculty of carrels and study rooms in the library—another issue one could imagine would be particularly important to people who may no longer have an office on campus. The miscellaneous category includes other services for emeriti, but none are individually mentioned by more than a handful of libraries. Thus it may be fair to conclude that most university libraries recognize that retired faculty are still part of their clientele, but that the libraries are not especially sensitive to this population’s particular needs.

Discussion

Many emeriti faculty remain professionally active long after they have officially retired from their jobs. Many engage in research and a large percentage continue teaching. A surprising number of retired professors in my sample saw retirement as an opportunity to pursue new intellectual interests unrelated, or minimally related, to their former careers. The university library often plays a critical role in the pursuit of all of these professional activities.

Yet information about services for retired and emeriti faculty, if provided, is often difficult to locate on the web-pages of public university research libraries. It is frequently buried several levels down and scattered across several pages. Nor is the amount of information provided to retired faculty extensive. A notable exception is the University of Michigan website, which includes on its homepage a link to information for retired faculty and staff.¹⁵

The one issue that came up repeatedly in all of the discussion groups was the continuation of remote Internet access to the library’s online resources for retired faculty. The faculty who attended these discussions were local residents. One can only assume that the demand for (and benefits of) online access would be even higher for people who have moved away from the university area. Indeed, the only interaction these people can have with the library is through the Internet, and university libraries can continue to aid in the productivity of emeriti faculty if they can make many scholarly databases and other academic resources available electronically.

As a result of the current project and continued input from emeriti faculty, the Rutgers University Libraries developed a webpage for this group. The page is an option under “faculty services” and describes the range of services available to emeriti faculty.¹⁶ These services are congruent with the needs articulated by the retired faculty and include remote access to electronic resources. The author is a designated contact person for this user group, and the services continue to be evaluated.

Conclusions

Several service and policy recommendations for how university libraries can facilitate the continued productivity and successful retirement of emeriti faculty from their institution emerged from these studies:

1. Universities should have clear, well-thoughtout policies for the types of library privileges available to retired faculty, in the same way that they have clear policies about health insurance, office space, use of university facilities, and a host of other issues that typically fall under employment benefits. These privileges should be communicated by human resource specialists to retiring faculty at the time of their retirement. These same library privileges should also be listed on a library’s webpages, with clear links to “emeriti” and “retired faculty.”

2. Remote-access privileges should be routinely extended to all emeriti faculty. Licensing and implementation issues must be addressed to make it possible for retired faculty to have remote access to proprietary electronic databases. These individuals have made significant contributions to the mission of the university; they should be defined simply as faculty, and therefore included under current licensing agreements. Their research and teaching, which brings prestige to the university, is greatly facilitated by continued access to library resources.

3. As academic libraries develop institutional repositories to preserve and disseminate the intellectual capital of their faculties, it seems logical to encourage retired faculty to deposit their intellectual products. Emeriti faculty can also serve as links to their departments and cultivate this behavior in their colleagues.¹⁷ Academic libraries and retired faculty can both benefit from such activity.

4. Finally, connection to emeriti faculty can be incorporated into the library organization through specific appointment of a liaison to this user group. Additional avenues for mutual benefit would be routinely explored by the liaison. For example, interested retired faculty could help teach library research clinics specific to their disciplinary areas. Most importantly, the liaison would have responsibility for regularly reviewing and updating current policies for emeriti as the needs of this group evolve.

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