The issue of faculty status for academic librarians has been the hotly and much debated topic in recent decades. There are those who believe that librarians have no business operating under the rubric of faculty, while there are others who just as fervently assert that librarians have rightly won the status and must do any thing in their power to keep it. Central to the issue is how faculty status is defined. The purpose of this paper is to examine the key points raised during this debate. The paper shows that with faculty status, academic librarians receive the same rights and privileges as other faculty members in the academic institutions.  

Keywords: Academic Librarians; Status; Faculty; ACRL; United States of America.