Regulations

The Regulations Relating to the Employment of Librarian Staff provide the regulatory framework regarding reappointment and, where appropriate, the non-renewal of librarian staff.

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Terms

Reappointments shall be for a definite term of up to three years. It is practice to grant three-year reappointments to candidates who are on track for tenure and one- or two-year reappointments to candidates whose performance of their academic duties is of concern.

An Assistant Librarian may be reappointed at this rank for additional definite term appointments of not less than one year and not more than four years, provided that the appointment and reappointments shall not exceed in aggregate seven years.

An Associate Librarian may be reappointed at this rank for additional definite term appointments of not less than one year and not more than four years, provided that the appointment and reappointments shall not exceed in aggregate six years.

A Full Librarian may be reappointed on an initial appointment of at least five years, but less than six years.

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Criteria

The McGill University Libraries shall establish written criteria for the reappointment of assistant librarians and associate librarians appointed to definite term tenure track appointments.

The Director or Dean of Libraries or delegate shall communicate the criteria for reappointment in writing to the staff member no later than 60 days after the staff member鈥檚 appointment. The criteria shall provide staff members with guidance in anticipation of meeting the requirements for reappointment and tenure.

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Dossier

The librarian staff must use due diligence in pursuing their case for reappointment, providing the committee with a dossier containing the necessary information and documentation to establish that they have met the reappointment criteria. A librarian staff member shall be guided in the preparation of her or his dossier by the requirements for a tenure dossier as set out in the Regulations Relating to the Employment of Librarian Staff.

The recommendation of the Dean to the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) must be accompanied by this dossier, as well as the report of the library reappointment committee.

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Timing

The reappointment process must be initiated one year in advance of the appointment end date. Depending on the end date of the staff member鈥檚 appointment end dates, timelines for the process are provided in the table below.

The reappointment process, including the communication of the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic)鈥檚 decision to the staff member, must be completed at least 37 weeks before the end date of the appointment. This is especially critical where the decision is against reappointment, since failure to provide the 37 weeks notification results in an automatic one year extension of the candidate鈥檚 appointment.

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Dates

Process

1. At the time of consideration for reappointment, the staff member shall provide the chair of the committee with the dossier to support their case for reappointment.

2. A reappointments committee of the McGill University Libraries considers the staff member鈥檚 case for reappointment. Where a tenure track staff member is to be appointed to a faculty or department as well as to the McGill University Libraries, the director or Dean of Libraries and the respective Dean and, if appropriate, departmental chair, shall jointly recommend the appointment to the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic).

3. The departmental committee shall submit a written report containing substantive reasons to the Dean, with a copy to the staff member, recommending either reappointment for a further definite term, in accordance with these regulations, or the non-renewal of the staff member鈥檚 appointment. The submission is done in Workday via the Update Academic Appointment BP.

4. The Dean shall submit a recommendation with substantive reasons to the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic), with a copy to the staff member and the departmental chair, containing either a recommendation for reappointment for a further definite term in accordance with these regulations; or a recommendation for the non-renewal of the staff member鈥檚 appointment. The documents are attached in Workday in the Update Academic Appointment BP (see the process in Confluence). Documents are not required to be sent separately via email to the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic).

5. Within 25 working days of the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) receiving a recommendation from the director or Dean of Libraries, the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) shall provide the staff member, the director or Dean of Libraries with a written decision either for reappointment for a further definite term in accordance with these regulations; or non-renewal of the staff member鈥檚 appointment.

6. The Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) communicates his or her decision to the staff member via Workday, The director or Dean of Libraries can access the information in Workday directly.

7. For non-renewals, the staff member must be offered a reappointment of 1 year, which is processed in Workday. Then a termination must be processed with a future date.

If at any stage in the process the reappointments committee, the director or Dean of Libraries, or the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) is tending towards a negative recommendation or decision, the staff member must be 1) notified that the recommendation or decision is so tending; 2) provided with substantive reasons (in writing) for the negative recommendation or decision; and 3) given the opportunity to address the concerns in person, accompanied by an advisor if they so wish.

Deferring Reappointment Consideration

The ordinary timelines for reappointment, set by University regulations, will apply to colleagues whose appointments began 1 August 2022 or later. Pre-tenure colleagues appointed prior to this date may still exercise the COVID-related option to defer by one year. The relevant regulations are, for libraries, the Regulations Relating to the Employment of Librarian Staff.

Librarian staff who have taken an authorized leave of three months or more prior to the beginning of their year of reappointment consideration may request a postponement of their reappointment consideration. Reappointment consideration may be postponed for a maximum of one year per authorized leave, at the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic)鈥檚 discretion. It should be understood by the staff member that postponement of reappointment consideration may delay tenure consideration. Such requests are made by email to the academic.personnel [at] mcgill.ca (Academic Personnel Office), with a copy to their Department Chair, within three months of the beginning the year of reappointment consideration.