Fair Pay Is an Issue for Managers, Too, Too

If you manage library personnel, you know that the slogan "Everyone loves libraries, but Library Workers cannot live on love alone" has meaning. A willing manager can make a big difference in the pay of library workers. In my current position as manager of libraries at Montgomery College, I have already seen some success. After concerted effort since 2001, half of the total library staff, including all librarian staff and half of the nonlibrarians, received eight to ten percent salary increases, roughly equaling $7000 per person or an after-tax increase of about $350 per month.

As a manager you must advocate for your staff and ensure that there is dialog to push pay equity for library workers. Do not wait for disgruntled employees to bring the problem to your attention. Library managers have the moral obligation to advocate for pay equity. This is not about doing a good deed. It is about ensuring that staff can feed and care for themselves and their families and plan for a healthy retirement.

Pay equity for library workers is not just about individuals. It's also about ensuring quality service. Well-paid staff tend to stay in their jobs longer, thus ensuring a stable work force. A stable work force is a key to your initiatives as a manager. With a well-paid and stable work force, you can plan for long-term expansion of services, develop a positive organizational culture, and build strong tries between your staff and patrons, thus personalizing service.

When openings occur, the pool of qualified applicants will be much larger as higher salaries draw highly qualified candidates. This will give your library a competitive edge over other institutions. Think of library workers as free agents. Recruit talent by showing that you respect them and will pay them for their hard work, knowledge, and expertise.

Pay equity for this staff has been a long journey. Two previous attempts in the 1990s did not bring salary increases. When I began the pay equity initiative again in 2001, shortly after my arrival, staff assumed it wouldn't amount to anything.

I split my advocacy between promoting the issue of pay equity for library staff externally within the college administration and providing support, guidance, and leadership internally to make sure we did not lose the spirit, cohesiveness, and collaboration that the review process demanded.

I knew that the key was to stay on message and work within the college's guidelines. In November 2001, we began the pay equity initiative by reviewing, updating, and consolidating our Job Information Questionnaires (JIQs)—the administrative tool in use to evaluate and classify all staff, relative to each other in terms of work and pay. I did not include my own JIQ, to show that I did not have a conflict of interest. I wanted and still wish that all my staff receive salary increases before I do. To me, a hallmark of leadership is to place your staff's needs before your own.

In doing their evaluation, the college's Office of Human Resources requested additional information from me. I took this as an opportunity to educate the administration. In "Trends in the Library Profession and the Impact of Technology at the Montgomery College Libraries" (available at www.mjfreedman.org/orenstein.pdf), I illustrated that all library staff are knowledge workers; that information technology has complicated and changed how we perform our jobs; that even with this complexity, we still offer traditional library services; and, finally, that a job review and analyses were sorely needed.

I also supplied the college's HR unit with statistics from the Association of College and Research Libraries, various for-profit companies that list salary surveys on the web, and federal government resources. I showed that the statistics indicate that librarians and library staff are underpaid professionals. I also showed that our librarian staff, all of whom have at least two master's degrees, are underpaid when their public service responsibilities and technology skills are compared with others who work in IT.

My argument that got the most positive response from the administration was the concept of the library staff as knowledge workers—not just book stampers and sedate keepers of information, as is assumed by most laypeople. That is, we use our expertise to promote access to information in multiple formats to provide our students and other users with the best resources, services, and assistance. Showing that there is a direct link between student success and library usage only helped my efforts to win salary equity for the majority of my staff. I provided both internal library statistics on usage and unsolicited testimonials from students and faculty thanking the librarians and library staff for their assistance.

After a year and three major edits of the staff's JIQs, the college's HR department recommended increasing both the salary and classification of most of the library staff. The college also included an additional one-time merit increase of approximately $500 to the staff who saw increases in pay.

The journey is not over. The library assistants did not receive any pay increases. As front-line staff whose manipulation and use of technology is extraordinary, they should have been included. Library staff are low paid, but those who work the circulation desks receive the least compensation of all. Consequently, they should be first and not last in any initiative to increase salaries. Had I had a crystal ball, I would have ensured that that would have been the case.

For those who already received salary increases, I am happy that our collective advocacy led to more money. In their joy comes my ultimate satisfaction. I know that I've done right by them and that they in turn will do right by those we serve. No one goes to work in libraries expecting to make millions. However, as a manager and leader of a library system, I can make sure my staff can make a good living, even if it takes me years to do so.