Position Descriptions

Audience:

Supervisor and supervisory chain
Promotion and tenure committees
Peer Review Committee
Salary Equity Review Committee
Sabbatical and Research Leaves Committee

Scope:

Should cover only those aspects of your professional responsibilities which are appropriately described in the Annual Review under the heading "Performance."
The only committee assignments which would be appropriate are those the present form refers to as "ex-officio"; e.g. as a unit head one becomes a member of an administrative committee (or more than one); as a fund manager one is a member of the Fund Managers Council; as a technical services unit supervisor, one may serve as a representative to the Cataloging Congress.

Length:

Should be succinct and describe only responsibilities, not tasks; what one is responsible for, not how that responsibility is met or discharged.

Detail:

It should, however, describe those responsibilities with enough detail to assist peer committees and upper-level administrators in quickly and clearly assessing the scope of the responsibilities. Some examples:

Instead of: "As department head, responsible for all personnel matters."

Perhaps: "As department head, responsible for supervision, mentoring, and evaluation of two librarians, four support staff, and one professional/administrative appointee."

Instead of: "Webmaster"

Perhaps: "Responsible for creating and maintaining individual web pages in [unit or dept]" or
"Responsible for designing, creating and maintaining the entire site of department x, including soliciting and editing contributions from others within the department."

Instead of: "Teach XXX credit course once annually."

Consider the nature of the teaching responsibility. Include only those credit course-teaching responsibilities, which should be included and evaluated under the category of "Performance"
Example: If you teach a credit course which was included in the description of the position for which you were hired or one which you subsequently agreed to take on as part of your regular performance responsibilities it should be noted here.

If you teach regularly or occasionally in a school or program on an overload basis and will include that activity under the category of service or professional development/research, that commitment should not be noted on the position description.

Instead of: "Consult with others internally and externally on matters relevant to [a responsibility]."

Perhaps: "Serve as Libraries' official representative to [a named external cooperative cataloging agency or Office of Intensive Freshmen Seminars]

Updating of Position Description:

The position description should be reviewed each year with the officer to whom one reports at the time of the annual review. Ongoing, permanent assignments, which have been added, removed or fundamentally altered suggest needed changes for the position description itself as may limited period responsibilities expected to extend past the next twelve months (e.g. participation in a two-year grant project).

Other significant responsibilities which begin and end within a twelve- month period, such as serving as head of a unit during the head's five-month sabbatical leave, should be documented at the beginning of such a period. This could be done by drafting a separate position description for those responsibilities or simply by a memorandum of record between you and your supervisor stating areas of responsibility.

--BLFC Faculty Standards Committee
November 2000


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Comments: bobay@indiana.edu
Copyright 2000, The Trustees of Indiana University