Shared Governance in the Libraries

Aligning with our expressed values of openness, effective communication, and collaboration, the JMU Libraries engages faculty and staff from across our organization to participate in shared governance through the following key groups, whose purpose statements are reproduced below.

Dean’s Council

Dean’s Council (DC) is an advisory body to the dean of the JMU Libraries. It is comprised of senior organizational leaders and elected or appointed representatives of various internal Libraries constituencies, including the Library Faculty Assembly and Staff Advisory Council. Additional members represent annual and ongoing strategic initiatives or areas of focus for the Libraries.

As a group dedicated to shared governance and rich counsel through well-informed, substantive discussions, the Libraries’ Dean’s Council shapes and informs executive-level decision-making, strategic planning, allocation of resources, and Libraries communications, and helps assure the organization’s service to its users and fidelity to JMU goals. Decision-making at DC does not typically proceed by vote, but in cases where a poll may be called, all participants have full voice and vote.

Libraries Faculty Assembly

The Libraries Faculty Assembly (LFA) is the governing body for all Libraries faculty.

Together, the LFA and its subcommittees:

• advise and make recommendations to the deans and other appropriate bodies concerning Library budgets, policies, personnel, and curriculum as stated in the JMU Faculty Handbook.
• evaluate, create, and approve policies related to promotion, tenure, performance assessment, and other faculty governance-related matters.
• elect and recommend for appointment faculty representatives to various university committees.
• provide a forum for any faculty member to raise issues.
• inform our faculty senator and university committee representatives’ advocacy, representative, and communicative roles.
• provide a safe and welcoming environment for communication across the academic unit, being mindful to include all Libraries employees’ voices on topics of mutual interest and coordinate with the Libraries’ Staff Advisory Council to direct topics of mutual interest to Libraries leadership.

The group endorses the Association of College and Research Library’s Standards for Faculty Status for Academic Librarians.

Staff Advisory Council

The Libraries’ Staff Advisory Council (SAC) champions a safe and welcoming environment throughout the JMU Libraries by advocating for staff matters to Libraries leadership. SAC co-chairs fulfill this mission by representing staff voices on Dean’s Council, offering workshops and Q&As, and sponsoring events that help to connect staff with Libraries leadership.

Related Groups

Additionally, other internal committees, councils, boards, and working groups provide venues for Libraries employees to apply their expertise and contribute to decision-making around services and programs, policy development, and specific areas of resource allocation in our organization.

Finally, the Libraries solicits perspectives from our community through regular user surveys, partnership activities, and the work of our Student Advisory Board and new Libraries Faculty Advisory Board.