SPEC Kit 315: Leave and Professional Development Benefits · 71
Tuition waiver benefit personal leave without pay administrative leave
The university has a pilot program called Faculty Enhancement Opportunities (FEOs). FEOs are intended to be more
flexible in nature and duration than traditional sabbaticals. Thus FEO funds are to be expended primarily for salary/
benefit offset, travel costs and/or fees for conferences or similar learning experiences. FEO funds are generally not
intended to fund such things as equipment/supply purchases, pilot studies, GRAs or similar items for which other
sources of support are available.
University-wide opportunities that I mentioned earlier.
We have a robust training and professional development program which offers programs on a host of topics relevant to
their duties. There is no charge for these programs and staff are paid when attending.
Additional Comments
33. Please enter any additional information about leave and professional development benefits for
librarians at your library that may assist the authors in accurately analyzing the results of this
survey.
Benefits for librarians are the same as those provided to the entire Smithsonian Institution.
Besides the formal programs, we would be willing to consider leave requests that benefit the librarian and the libraries.
Any creative idea would be considered.
Due to budget restrictions, professional travel/leave funding is under review. How we allocate funding now may not be
the same as how we do it in another year or so, and is not what we did a year ago (were more generous for post-sixth
year review faculty). It’s a moving target.
Librarians do not have a fixed amount of professional development money per librarian but rather get partial
reimbursement for as many events as they want to attend each year.
Librarians each have 20 days a year which may be applied to work on research projects and/or attend conferences and
workshops. Librarians may take university courses as their “sabbatical project” when they are on sabbatical leave.
Policies regarding sick leave, vacation, and tuition benefits are university policies available to all full-time and part-time
staff.
The responses reflect policies that apply to all university staff. There are no special benefits for librarians, with one
exception. The 80% reimbursement of travel costs and 100% reimbursement of registration fees is library policy, not
university-wide.
There is considerable discretion for approving professional development activities at the branch/division head level.
Benefits are identical to faculty for study leave/sabbatical leave, sick leave, professional development reimbursement
fund.
When I keep referring to the professional development allowance, this means that all librarians are given a fixed amount
each year for funding that would not be paid through our tuition assistance program or through travel expense. This
includes, book and material costs, membership fees, electronic devices used for professional development (i.e., laptops).
When their fund is used for the year and if there are more expenses it must be paid through the librarian’s own pocket.
Tuition waiver benefit personal leave without pay administrative leave
The university has a pilot program called Faculty Enhancement Opportunities (FEOs). FEOs are intended to be more
flexible in nature and duration than traditional sabbaticals. Thus FEO funds are to be expended primarily for salary/
benefit offset, travel costs and/or fees for conferences or similar learning experiences. FEO funds are generally not
intended to fund such things as equipment/supply purchases, pilot studies, GRAs or similar items for which other
sources of support are available.
University-wide opportunities that I mentioned earlier.
We have a robust training and professional development program which offers programs on a host of topics relevant to
their duties. There is no charge for these programs and staff are paid when attending.
Additional Comments
33. Please enter any additional information about leave and professional development benefits for
librarians at your library that may assist the authors in accurately analyzing the results of this
survey.
Benefits for librarians are the same as those provided to the entire Smithsonian Institution.
Besides the formal programs, we would be willing to consider leave requests that benefit the librarian and the libraries.
Any creative idea would be considered.
Due to budget restrictions, professional travel/leave funding is under review. How we allocate funding now may not be
the same as how we do it in another year or so, and is not what we did a year ago (were more generous for post-sixth
year review faculty). It’s a moving target.
Librarians do not have a fixed amount of professional development money per librarian but rather get partial
reimbursement for as many events as they want to attend each year.
Librarians each have 20 days a year which may be applied to work on research projects and/or attend conferences and
workshops. Librarians may take university courses as their “sabbatical project” when they are on sabbatical leave.
Policies regarding sick leave, vacation, and tuition benefits are university policies available to all full-time and part-time
staff.
The responses reflect policies that apply to all university staff. There are no special benefits for librarians, with one
exception. The 80% reimbursement of travel costs and 100% reimbursement of registration fees is library policy, not
university-wide.
There is considerable discretion for approving professional development activities at the branch/division head level.
Benefits are identical to faculty for study leave/sabbatical leave, sick leave, professional development reimbursement
fund.
When I keep referring to the professional development allowance, this means that all librarians are given a fixed amount
each year for funding that would not be paid through our tuition assistance program or through travel expense. This
includes, book and material costs, membership fees, electronic devices used for professional development (i.e., laptops).
When their fund is used for the year and if there are more expenses it must be paid through the librarian’s own pocket.
