Librarian salaries jump 3 percent in 2010
Printer-friendly versionFor Immediate Release
Thu, 08/26/2010 - 16:28
Contact: Jenifer Grady
ALA-APA
Survey reports mean librarian salary $60,734, median $55,883 in 2010
CHICAGO – In the midst of tough economic times, job shortages and cutbacks, a report shows increases in library salaries.
The 2010 edition of the “ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian - Public and Academic” revealed average increases across all six position types, ranging from 2 percent for managers of support staff to 13 percent for directors of public and academic libraries.
The survey is based on data from more than 580 library directors and human resources staff members who reported more than 11,000 salaries, giving this year’s survey a remarkable 35 percent response rate. The data is available in two ways – immediately for subscribers to the “ALA-APA Library Salary Database” and in print from the American Library Association (ALA) online store. Data can be used by employers to justify budgets, job seekers looking for salary ranges, human resources departments conducting pay equity studies and researchers tracking compensation trends.
In contrast to 2009’s mean and median decrease, analysis of 2010 data for librarians with ALA-accredited master’s degrees showed a 3 percent mean increase from $58,860 in 2009 to $60,734 and a 2 percent median increase from $54,500 in 2009 to $55,883. Salaries ranged from $22,000 (ALA minimum) to $302,500.
ALA-APA recommends a minimum of $42,181 for librarians and $13.52/hour for support staff, based on resolutions passed in 2007 and 2008. Based on the survey results, it appears that most full-time librarians are earning at least that amount. Although the lowest actual salary reported was $22,000, beginning librarians earned an average of $48,317, a 4.6 percent overall increase from 2009, with beginning public librarians averaging $48,749 (5.9 percent over 2009) and academics $47,000 (1.2 percent over 2009).
Published by the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) in cooperation with the ALA Office for Research and Statistics, the survey shows aggregated data from 11,554 individual salaries of ALA MLS librarians. The six librarian positions are directors/deans, associate/assistant directors, department heads, managers of support staff, librarians who do not supervise and beginning librarians.
ALA-APA thanks all the library staff who completed the survey on behalf of their institutions and state data coordinators and ALA state chapter Councilors who alerted libraries. Also to be commended are members of the Association of Research Libraries who participated.
Responding libraries this year received a 50-percent discounted subscription to the “Library Salary Database” and a 25 percent discount off the print edition. The “Library Salary Database” includes data from 2006 to the present for more than 60 librarian and non-MLS positions, which can be searched by state, four regions and eight library types. The survey gives national-level mean and quartile data. The printed reports include analysis of salary trends and an extensive appendix of other sources of compensation data within and outside of the library profession.
The “Librarian Salary Survey” continues more than 25 years of collecting and reporting salary data for six positions requiring an ALA-accredited master’s degree in library science. The survey was completed with consultation from Denise M. Davis, director of the ALA Office for Research and Statistics and conducted by The Management Association of Illinois.
Libraries may purchase the “ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian - Public and Academic” from the ALA online store at $81 for ALA members/$90 for non-members, available in softcover bound edition or PDF format. The database is $50 for a 30-day and $150 for an annual subscription. Users may subscribe to the database online or using the form at http://ala-apa.org/files/2010/02/SalarySurveySubscriptionForm.pdf .
The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association: the Organization for the Advancement of Library Employees is a service organization to the American Library Association and has as one of its missions supporting salary improvement initiatives for library workers. Please contact the ALA-APA Office at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2424 or jgrady@ala.org with questions or comments.
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Comments
I question these findings.....
I have been a librarian since 1997. My current position is assistant director in a small community college library, where my salary is in the low 50’s. I consider myself to be doing okay in terms of salary, as I’ve seen jobs posted in my area (North Central Illinois) with salaries in the high 30’s to mid 40’s range.
The point I’m making here is that I really question these findings. Who is being targeted for these surveys and what kinds of questions are being asked?
Unrealistic
Could the librarians who are actually being paid the way this article indicates step forward and prove its validity? Not only did I have experience before receiving my degree, I then had two years in a "beginning librarian" role, before accepting my position as a department supervisor, and I make far less than the average indicates for a basic beginning position with no experience.
This report is definitely doing a disservice to those of us actually working in the field of public librarianship. If the public in my community saw this, it would only give them more reasons to claim that the librarians working here make "too much money," as they already do, and would only help them to justify cutting our budgets more, not to mention justification for not increasing the budget.
Quite frequently I have already felt that getting my MLS was a bad idea, that the amount I pay in student loans doesn’t justify the ROI I receive in terms of wage. In many places I could be a Librarian, in title, if not in academic credentials, and make the same amount, if not more, than I do in my current position.
This report only goes to further my growing unease and unhappiness with the profession. For all we do, and especially public librarians in urban areas with lower economic bases, social problems, and all that goes with that, we receive insufficient compensation, and frequent disrespect. And now the ALA, which is supposed to be supporting and advocating for us, makes it seem like we are making a decent wage. I would argue that, across the board, this is not the case.
Unrealistic Librarian Salaries an Understatement
I agree totally with the commenters that this survey is extremely unrealistic. I am a branch manager at the busiest public library branch of a library system that ranked 3rd in the nation for highest salary when I started in 2004 and my current salary is in the mid-$60,00’s. In 2004 before I got the Branch Manager position in the public library afore-mentioned, I was an academic library director at a private university in the Atlanta metropolitan area and my highest salary in that position was $46, 000. I have 17 years of professional librarian experience with over 14 of those years as a unit or branch manager. Somethings wrong with these statical analyses. This is bad publicity for ALA, ACRL, and any other professional library association that supports this data.
It would not take long for one to realize that professional librarians are severely underpaid and have been throughout the history of librarianship. This is a shame because I really love being a librarian as most in the field do and have a passion for educating the public to enhance their lives. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the librarian profession may die off do to lack of interest if compensation continues to misrepresent the education, merit, and value of librarianship.
These numbers do not seem realistic.
I have to agree with the other commenters. These numbers do not seem to reflect reality. I currently make about $32,000, working at a public library in a community near a fairly large midwestern city. I graduated with my MLS degree about 2 years ago, and have been working at this library every since then. I also had a total of a couple of years experience working in this library, and another public library, before I ever graduated with my MLS degree. Despite my education and my experience, I was unable to negotiate higher pay when I was hired. I am not even sure that the library administrators and board here is aware of the ALA-APA resolutions concerning suggested pay for librarians; if they are, they must not care. Additionally, neither myself nor any of my coworkers are receiving a cost of living increase this year. Last year, our cost of living increase was less than 3%.
I have seen higher salaries offered for academic and special library jobs in my area. However, the amount offered is usually a maximum of $45,000 per year for those positions, and most of those employers want candidates with at least some post-MLS experience. Many public libraries in this area are offering librarians pay that is equal or even less than mine. Some readers may wonder if the cost of living in my area justifies such low pay. I have to live on an extremely tight budget in order to live on my salary. Isn’t it sad when someone with a masters degree has to resort to only grocery shopping at ALDI in order to be able to have money left over to pay the bills? I can no longer afford luxuries, such as the ALA’s member fees. I certainly cannot afford to purchase a copy of the ALA-APA Salary Survey for $90.00.
The ALA-APA should question whether the picture these numbers paint is truly accurate, and whether they are really representing and serving the needs of all librarians. If $42, 181 is your recommended minimum pay for librarians, PLEASE do more to make library administrators and the public aware of this number, and then do a better job justifying this salary minimum.
Misleading headlines
I think headlines like these are misleading and do a disservice to the profession. As pointed out by another commenter:
"If you layoff the lowest salaried librarians, the average salary will accordingly rise. " Statistics in context 101.
Every library system I know has faced or had budget cuts this year. Every librarian and librarian assistant I know is doing at least two or three people’s jobs with no salary increase and with decreasing job security. So when misleading headlines like "Librarians Salaries Jump 3% in 2010" show up I think we are all justifiably galled. This paints an unfairly rosy picture of the job prospects for accedited librarians. I’ve been working for the same library system for 6 years and I’ve almost been laid off 3 times in that short span. I’ve seen no raise, no cost of living adjustment, no longevity bonus. And the kicker is I’m the lucky one who has a job!
About the survey
The survey, since 1982, has used a similar methodology - taking a representative sample of small through very large public (we added very small in 2005) and 2 year, 4 year and university libraries. We ask directors or HR staff to respond with actual salaries for every librarian in 6 positions. The averages, medians and ranges are based on those actual salaries through February 2010. In 2009, for the first year in several the average decreased, by 1 percent from 2008.
As you know, there are many factors that have an impact on salaries, and ALA’s and ALA-APA’s goals are to collect and publish real data for individuals and institutions to use when evaluating reasonable compensation. Each library compensation system is different, even before the impact of the economy, and we cannot assume that the state of the economy affects all libraries in the same way. However, we do know that librarians, support staff and employers have used the data and ALA-APA resolutions to raise salaries when and where it was possible.
If you have further questions about the methodology or the results, I’m happy to share it with you. Jenifer Grady, jgrady@ala.org.
I also invite those who have concerns about the survey results to express them in writing by submitting an article to the ALA-APA newsletter, Library Worklife, published monthly. Also note that the newsletter has several articles about building negotiation skills, again, acknowledging that it may not always be possible to negotiate for more money or benefits, but the first step is to ask.
Unbelievable
I have been a librarian since 1988, and my salary is $46,000 a year. I had a pay cut last year and will have a 5% pay cut this year due to the budget. I do not know on what planet in our solar system this survey was conducted, but I can assure you that this does not jive with reality.
Pure trickery by the Lie-brary assoc.
If you layoff the lowest salaried librarians, the average salary will accordingly rise. It’s not rocket science, but I guess the good folks @ ALA with their Masters in Library Science Fiction wouldn’t know any better. Cheers.
Good one!
I agree with that comment — this article is purely Library Science Fiction!
3% Jump?
I seem to remember that 3% is the usual standard cost of living adjustment intended to match the standard 4% inflation rate. Is this really jumping or just treading water? Then again, if sinking at 0% is the norm…
salaries
I’d like to know where beginning librarians are earning at least $48, 317. I’m not seeing that in my state. I’m not even making that as a non-beginning librarian.
Wow. I work two part-time
Wow. I work two part-time librarian jobs and make about $14,000/year. I would love a full-time job, maybe even benefits. In this economy, I can only dream.
seriously?
I want to know where they did this survey. I don’t know many librarians who didn’t take a pay cut this year, let alone anyone who got a raise, and I haven’t seen an entry level job promising that much pay, well maybe ever. I’ve got 2 years post-MLS experience and 2 years pre-MLS (which according to anyone doing any kind of hiring doesn’t actually count as experience) and I’m making $34k in a major city. I just don’t see how this is possible, but maybe I’m just in the wrong part of the country.
Salary survey should be free to ALA members
Why should I pay money to obtain the salary survey data? My membership dues are not cheap but I know how important it is for professional development. My salary matches the ALA-recommended minimum (not the reported average beginning amount) and I’ve been in the field 6 years. At the very least, the ALA should provide it to members for free.
numbers, numbers, numbers
Five unemployed people are sitting in a cafe. Bill Gates decides to stop in for a cup of coffee.. That makes six people now in the cafe. What is the median salary of those six people?
Median is resistant to outlying cases
The median salary is $0. That’s why stratification research almost always uses median rather than mean.
Seeing that the “median” is
Seeing that the “median” is the value in the middle, adding Gates to the group will not have much of an impact on the media. The “mean” however — aka the arithmetic average — is likely to change drastically. More importantly, we would hope that Gates would pick up the tab for the coffee.