Salaries Stalled, Jobs Tight

The good news: academic librarians and those from minority groups saw salaries that indicate the influence of new dollars from distance education and parallel efforts to recruit talent from minority populations. The bad news: in 2002, the job market proved tighter than expected, salaries stalled across the board, and the gender gap widened. Nonetheless, during another year of poor economic performance nationally, with an increasing number of layoffs and the highest national unemployment rate (5.8%) since 1995, LJ's annual Placements and Salaries Survey indicates that librarians continue to find employment in a wide range of traditional and nontraditional positions.

Graduates from American Library Association (ALA)–accredited library and information science (LIS) schools in 2002 report an average starting salary of $37,456, a 1.73% increase over the 2001 average of $36,818. This increase is only slightly higher than the 2002 national inflation rate of 1.6% and is a serious departure from salary trends over the last several years, which saw average annual increases of 5.03% since 1998.

Average starting salaries for men were 7.1% higher than salaries for women, reversing a shift seen in 2001. In 2002, men continued to earn better average starting salaries: $2,836 more per year than women. However, women continued to draw higher pay than men at the top end of the salary scale. A comparison of average high salaries, by school, shows women slightly ahead on the high end in 16 of 30 schools that submitted gender breakdowns.

Over nine percent of the 842 who reported full-time permanent jobs identified themselves as members of a minority group. This group started with salaries an average of 3.9% higher, or $1,463 more than the overall average of starting salaries of all graduates who reported full-time salary. This is a significant improvement over the .94% difference in 2001. This may be due in part to the emphasis on recruiting a diverse professional population via ALA's Spectrum Initiative and other state and regional diversity recruitment programs. Mentoring programs, library trainee programs, and recruiting from within the organization may also be aiding the improvement of minority salaries and greater retention.

While slightly below the minority graduates' salary increase of 1.9% in 2001, minorities overall experienced a 1.05% growth in 2002 starting salaries, with an average starting salary of $38,886. This growth is below the overall national average (1.73%), which may be indicative of the types of libraries in which they are obtaining positions. As Table 7 shows, public libraries, which employ the largest percentage of minority graduates, offer the lowest starting salaries. Location may also impact the salary average of minority graduates. Mirroring the average salaries of overall graduates reporting full-time placement, minority graduates report the lowest average salaries in the Southeast ($32,861) and the highest averages in the West ($44,828).

The largest group of minority graduates (40%) found jobs in public libraries, followed by 33.91% in academic libraries, 13.91% in K–12 school media centers, 7.83% in special libraries, 2.61% with vendors, and 1.74% in government libraries. Minority graduates found the highest salaries for employment with vendors at $48,667 annually, which is less than the national salary average for library vendors ($51,000). School media centers offered higher salaries to minority graduates than the national average, $46,871 compared with $40,161. Special libraries, academic libraries, and public libraries also offered higher salaries for minority graduates than the national averages.

Men had higher salaries in all types of libraries by 7.1% in 2002. This continued the trend for school, academic, and special libraries and reversed the gains made by women in public and government library salaries in 2001.

The difference in average salaries between men and women was $2,836, widening the salary gap of 2001 ($2000, or 5.2%). Men make up 21.4% of the graduates reporting a salary. They show up disproportionately in academic (28%), special (27.8%), and government (25%) libraries, as well as in library cooperatives (33%) and with vendors (50%). However, women represent 92.3% of the reported placements in school libraries.

Men reporting placement and salary in "other" organizations comprise 56% of the placements, with an average salary of $50,522, which is 28% higher than women reporting similar placements. This suggests that men continue to dominate the information technology fields, while women continue to be drawn to service agencies. Salaries for women in the technology-based "other" category lost significant ground, falling from $43,184 in 2001 to $39,413 in 2002 (a decrease of 8.7%), while salaries for men remained flat, with an increase of less than 1% from 2001.

Table 1 shows the employment status—both by region and in total—of the 1,094 graduates (of 1,322 total) who reported job status. Of those, 1020 (93.2%) were employed in some library capacity. Of those employed in libraries, 950 (93.3%) are in permanent or temporary professional positions, with the remaining in nonprofessional positions. The percentage of graduates working in temporary positions continues to increase in 2002. The 842 graduates employed in permanent positions represent 82.5% of those employed in libraries, compared with 83.8% in 2001 and 85% in 2000. Tightened budgets, hiring freezes, and a weak national economy all affect the availability of and funding for permanent positions. For many library agencies, hiring temporary employees is a stopgap for providing necessary services while awaiting an improved fiscal outlook. In addition to temporary employment, 12.6% of graduates reporting any type of placement were employed in part-time positions. This may also be indicative of an attempt to weather a soft economy.

In line with trends from previous years, institution type has significant impact on salaries. Table 7 compares the placements and full-time salaries by type of organization. While experiencing a slight increase (2% above 2001) in average salaries, public libraries continue to offer the lowest average salary ($34,065, compared with $33,345 in 2001). Despite being the second lowest in national salary averages, academic library salaries enjoyed a healthy increase, to $36,610, compared with last year ($33,380, up 9.6%). Increased income from distance education initiatives and increasing student populations may be contributing to the availability of additional funds for academic library services, including salaries for professional staff.

School media center positions experienced a modest increase of 2% to $40,161 (compared with $39,371), while last year's leader, special libraries, had a decrease in average salaries of 2% to $39,484 (compared with $40,293 in 2001). Salaries in government libraries also decreased 2.7%, from $39,538 in 2001 to $38,463 in 2002. The decreases in salaries in public institutions may be a symptom of reductions in state and federal funding and local governments being stretched too far in providing operating capital for too many agencies.

Library vendors, followed by other types of information agencies, continue to be the national leaders in average salary for LIS graduates. However, reported placements have fallen off for a second year, down 26.6% since 2000. With only eight graduates reporting (down from 30 in 2000 and 14 in 2001), library vendors experienced the most dramatic increase in salaries. The average starting salary reported in 2001 was $41,373. Graduates reporting salaries in 2002 had an overall average salary of $51,000 for library vendors (an impressive increase of 23% or $9,627).

Leading in 2001, and again in 2002, the "other" category offers competitive salaries and great diversity in positions filled by LIS graduates. Some of the job titles reported in 2002 include digital services and initiatives, information technology supervisor, animation production, and interface design consultant. A small number of graduates identified their jobs as webmaster and database management, and some reported these as part-time and temporary positions. This year's graduate placements in the "other" category account for 1.9% of the overall professional placements in all types of organizations. The 2002 average of $45,294 is up 1.3% from $44,669 in 2001.

As in real estate, location is everything in salary success. Once again placements in the West have the highest average annual salary, $41,950, and include a slight rise (1.3%) over 2001. Average annual salaries of $38,394 in the Northeast rose 2.8% in 2002, keeping the Northeast as the second highest library wage area in the United States. Salaries in the Southeast continue to have the lowest average—$34,300 in 2002—compared with the rest of the nation. In 2002, they slipped 1.9% from 2001 levels ($34,963). Similarly, reported salaries in the Southwest ($35,343) declined 2.2% in 2002, compared with $36,137 in 2001.

Some 16 schools responded to inquiries about the availability of jobs. The reported number of available positions at individual schools or their placement offices ranged from a low of 200 to a high of 6290 potential jobs. One school reported a 39% decrease in the number of available positions, and another reported approximately 400 fewer available positions. Three schools noted that in 2002 the job search and placement were somewhat more difficult than in 2001 for most students. Graduates seeking positions in business and information technology seemed to face the greatest obstacles owing to tightened budgets. One career placement director noted that "it was challenging for some students to maintain an optimistic outlook given the media attention on the bad economy and job market." Nevertheless, LIS graduates reported an average of 1.3 months to secure full-time permanent employment. Searches ranged from less than one month to a lengthy search of 18 months.

Table 4 shows 2002 placements by type of organization. Reported placements in college and university libraries (29.2%) is down slightly compared with placements in 2001 (29.4%) and in 2000 (29.7%). Public library placements (30.15%) fell after an increase in 2001 (31.8%), mirroring the decrease in 2000. Placements in special libraries (11.6%) and in the "other" category (7.1%) increased in 2002.

Ninety-eight graduates (8.8%) reported a student status compared with 19 graduates in 2001 (1.3%). It appears that a small portion of the LIS graduates are seeking additional educational opportunities before entering the job market. This may reflect the depressed economy nationwide, with fewer jobs and more competition, or it may indicate a greater emphasis on LIS schools recruiting graduates into advanced graduate studies, including doctoral degree programs. In addition to the graduates continuing their education, 122 graduates reported being unemployed in 2002, three-quarters of whom are seeking library-related jobs.

When asked what experiences from LIS school were the most helpful in obtaining their current positions, graduates agreed that fieldwork or internships had the most impact. One graduate cited "practical experience and a willingness to work with new technologies and new ideas" as the most important elements to overall success in a new position. Graduates also agreed that technological skills, including information searching and retrieval and concrete skills in designing databases and Internet resources, contributed to successful job placements.

See all tables associated with this article:

Table One Status of 2002 Graduates, Spring 2003
Table Two Placements & Full-Time Salaries of 2002 U.S. Graduates/Summary by Region
Table Three Total Graduates and Placements by School
Table Four Placements by Type of Organization
Table Five Average Salary Index Starting Library Positions, 1990-2002
Table Six Salaries of Reporting Professionals by Area of Job Assignment
Table Seven Comparison of Salaries by Type of Organization
Table Eight Placements and Full-Time Salaries of Reporting 2002 Graduates