jan07b.indd


Kevin Deemer 

A view from above, looking back, 
moving forward 
A librarian’s experience working as an interim assistant dean 

Ihave been away from my library for almost a year. I have not been on sabbatical, but 
rather serving my campus as interim assis­
tant dean for academic affairs. My primary 
responsibilities included creating and staffi ng 
the class schedule, hiring full­ and part­time 
faculty, participating in new academic program 
development, celebrating student successes, 
holding students accountable for their aca­
demic transgressions, and generally telling a 
lot of people no. 

Working as assistant dean was an eye­open­
ing journey into aspects of higher education 
administration I never knew existed. Stepping 
outside the library and seeing it through a dif­
ferent lens was a gift. Not only did I develop a 
newfound appreciation for academic adminis­
trators, but the different vantage point enabled 
me to see new opportunities for the library, as 
well as past oversights in library service. 

Looking back, the experience of being as­
sistant dean transformed my view of librarian­
ship two ways. First, I discovered new ways 
for the library to help academic administrators 
with the work they do; and, more importantly, 
I realized how as a librarian I was oblivious to 
the needs of a growing campus population: 
part­time teaching faculty. 

In 1968 librarian Robert Munn wondered 
if academic administrators thought about the 
library and upon investigation he concluded, 
“They (administrators) do not think much 
about the library at all.”1 Until recently, I have 
always been disappointed and skeptical of 
Munn’s conclusion. Now, it saddens me to 
admit he was right. 

While “assistant deaning,” I thought very 
little about the library. Since it did not cre­

ate work or problems, it received minimal 
attention. When the day­to­day demands of 
enrollment, budgets, schedules, and student 
complaints arose, the library was simply 
pushed to my periphery. It was too easy to 
get caught in the crisis(es) du jour trying to 
extinguish the proverbial fires; the position 
should come with oven mitts! 

The experience of being assistant dean 
changed how I viewed the library’s role on 
campus. On the one hand, I am disappointed 
by how easily I forget about the library; but 
on the other hand, I now see new opportuni­
ties for my library to enhance the campus’s 
educational and social missions. These op­
portunities may have always been there, but 
until I stepped outside the library I never knew 
they existed. 

Since returning to the library, I took the ini­
tiative to learn about the information needs of 
other campus administrators and then showed 
them how the library could be leveraged to 
their advantage. For example, I volunteered 
my research skills and library resources to 
help a campus fundraising committee gather 
data regarding healthcare issues and trends in 
preparation to meet with local business owners 
and potential donors. I also helped our Offi ce 
of Corporate and Community Services gather 
demographic and business data they needed. 
Then, I showed how using a few library da­
tabases could help streamline the process of 
identifying potential clients. I helped another 
administrator use library resources to create a 

Kevin Deemer is library director at Kent State University-
Ashtabula, e-mail: kdeemer@kent.edu 
© 2007 Kevin Deemer 

C&RL News January 2007  26 

mailto:kdeemer@kent.edu


mailing list for a needs assessment survey to 
prepare for a potential new degree program. 

The administrators I have helped are genu­
inely appreciative and often surprised by how 
the library can assist with solving problems and 
saving time. More importantly, I was able to 
showcase to campus leaders the importance 
and relevance of information literacy and its 
practical application as it relates to institutional 
advancement. 

Don’t forget part-time faculty 
As rewarding as it is to help administrators redis­
cover the library, the biggest “Ah­ha!” moment I 
had as assistant dean came while working with 
part­time teaching faculty. Experiencing fi rst­
hand how they are hired and orientated opened 
my eyes to how much my institution relies on 
part­time teaching faculty and how diffi cult it 
can be to hire qualified part­time faculty. 

Part­time faculty are an ever increasing popu­
lation on most campuses and, in my opinion, 
overlooked and underserved by librarians—a 
point reinforced when I searched the library 
literature and found very little in regards to pro­
viding library services or outreach specifi cally 
to part­time teaching faculty. As a profession, 
I hope more librarians will begin to examine 
part­time faculty’s unique library needs. 

As assistant dean I realized how disconnected 
and isolated part­time faculty can be from campus 
resources. For example, they do not have offi ces, 
phones, or computers provided by the university. 
They may only be on campus one night a week 
and often work part­time (if not full­time) in addi­
tion to their teaching. They tend to teach primarily 
freshman and sophomores, two groups librarians 
are always trying to create relationships with. Part­
time faculty receive minimal training or exposure 
to campus resources like course management 
software, e­mail systems, multimedia equipment, 
and the library. My conversations with part­time 
faculty members helped me see that as a librarian, 
I rarely interacted with them, but as the assistant 
dean, I realized part­time faculty would greatly 
benefi t from a better understanding and access to 
campus resources. 

I have a new commitment to understanding 
and meeting the needs of part­time faculty. I see 

numerous opportunities for librarians to help 
them. Simply inviting part­time faculty to use 
library spaces for work or meeting with students 
is a great first step in building a relationship. 
As I move forward in my own library, I plan 
to modify and expand services for part­time 
faculty and continue the conversation I started 
with them as the assistant dean. 

The expression about not seeing the forest 
for the trees rings true for me. As the campus 
librarian, I thought I had a clear understanding 
of my role on the campus. Once I was no longer 
the librarian, I began to see new connections 
and opportunities for partnering and service to 
the campus. I believe if you look within your 
institution you too will see new opportunities. 
From my perspective, I am a better campus 
citizen and certainly a better librarian. At least 
that is the way I see it, now. 

Note 
1. R. Munn, “The bottomless pit, or the 

academic library from the administration build­
ing,” College & Research Libraries 29 (January 
1968): 51–54. 

January 2007  27 C&RL News