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April 20, 2004

Librarians get too little compensation for all they do

Librarians have a well-deserved reputation for being outspoken when it comes to First Amendment rights for their users. Free access to information is the cornerstone of librarianship. But as a group, librarians have not spoken out about their traditionally low salaries. Statistics show that librarians, along with other predominately female professions, are underpaid relative to the amount of education required and the complexity of the services provided. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor has classified the work of systems analysts and database administrators as comparable to the work of librarians. But the salaries aren't comparable: $61,000 for a beginning systems analyst or database administrator but only $34,000 for a newly minted librarian.


By the way, the title "librarian" means someone who has a master's degree in librarianship from one of the 56 schools of library and information science accredited by the American Library Association. Some programs require a year's study and some are two year programs.


Unfortunately the low pay tradition extends to all who work in the library including other professionals and clerical staff; in any other setting they'd make more money. But library workers are finding their voice. Last June, the Council of the American Library Association approved a resolution creating National Library Workers Day (NLWD) to be held on the Tuesday of National Library Week each year. Tuesday, April 20 will be the first National Library Workers Day.


Gina Sheade, Adult Services Librarian at the Vernon Area Public Library explained that NLWD has two purposes. "The first is to remind library users about the important work that library workers do. America's libraries don't just happen. They are planned and operated by highly educated librarians and skilled library workers—unsung heroines and heroes who far too frequently are underpaid and under-recognized. The second reason is to educate everyone concerned, about library worker compensation. It's especially important that the library community value itself. If we want others to respect us with fair compensation we need to know our value and ask for what we need. It's not a coincidence that NLWD is also Equal Pay Day, an annual observance to raise awareness about unfair pay issues affecting women and people of color."


There's another reason to address pay equity for librarians and library workers. Within just seven years, nearly one in four librarians will be of retirement age. While librarianship is a great first or even second career, surely the low pay is a detriment to recruitment efforts. Library schools in the U.S. and Canada produce about 5,000 MLS graduates every year. That number has been a constant for a long time. What's going to happen in about seven years when all the retirements hit and the numbers to fill their ranks is just not up to the challenge? Pay equity would do a lot for recruitment efforts. In the words of Mitch Freedman, Immediate Past President of the American Library Association, "The stereotype of the poor but proud librarian is one that—individually and as a group—we need to dismantle and send to the Smithsonian."


Libraries across the country are being asked to celebrate the first National Library Workers Day with open houses and "behind the scenes" tours, thank you events for staff and thanks petitions signed by grateful library users. Check out this Web site for more ideas and reports of successful celebrations: www.ala-apa.org/nlwd/NLWDideas.html. At the Vernon Area Library, Sheade reported that library staff will enjoy special treats in appreciation of their efforts.


You don't need a special day to thank library workers for the good work they do all year long. Thanks are always appreciated. And if you want libraries tomorrow, for your children and their children, think of ways for increasing compensation for library workers. Money is important, even in a giving profession.

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