Average MLS Salary Up 2.8 %, Says ALA-APA Survey
Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 9/7/2007
The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) reports that the average salary for librarians with ALA-accredited master’s degrees increased 2.8 percent from 2006, up $1,550 to $57,809. The median MLS salary was $53,000. (Equal numbers of people have higher and lower salaries.) For the first time, the surveys included data for non-MLS salaries, including 62 non-MLS positions. They range from $10,712 to $143,700 and indicate the minimal educational requirement for each position. These statistics and more are available in two recently released surveys, which contain data from more than 800 public and academic libraries: “ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian - Public and Academic” and “ALA-APA Salary Survey: Non-MLS - Public and Academic.”The surveys show aggregated data from more than 7500 MLS librarians and almost 20,000 non-MLS individual salaries at the state and regional levels. Librarian positions included are directors/deans; associate/assistant directors; department heads; managers of support staff; librarians who do not supervise; and beginning librarians. Non-MLS positions are library specific (e.g., library technical assistants and clerks by functional area, bookmobile drivers, and collection development managers) and nonlibrary specific (e.g. senior accountants, administrative assistants, proposal writers, human resources managers, and information technology managers). 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 surveys are available in two ways—for subscribers to the ALAAPA Library Salary Database and from the ALA online store.
