Wow, so unlike Indy public where salaries for a MLS start below 29k. Just as the prosecutor's office publishes those deadbeat dads perhaps you could publish deadbeat libraries.

Posted by vangorilla on October 18, 2010 04:39:51PM

University and Private Sector Librarian salaries push the average up. Public Librarian salaries averaged $37,319. Still higher than anything I've seen in Michigan lately, and more than I'm making 4 years post-degree.

Posted by Jocelyn on October 19, 2010 02:31:47PM

I have been a librarian for over 12 years. Salaries are disgraceful. I live in the northeast and it is impossible for anyone to live on these salaries. I believe the reason for these low salaries is the fact that para professionals often function as a librarian and diminish the value of the profession. I know how valuable paras are in a library but they are not LIBRARIANS, it is unfair to hire them under the guise of a "non-professional" and then have them do reference and collection development work. I am presently out of work and very frustrated, I love what I do but I also have to have a roof over my head and eat now and then. It is time for change and more respect for librarians, libraries and how they can transform lives.

Posted by Cathyc on October 19, 2010 04:38:04PM

I don't want to sound disheartening, but the job hunting experience was not a positive one for me. I graduated in 2008 with an MLS from a top university. Suddenly, the economy took a nose dive and I found myself sending out copious amounts of CVs. I began to think that it was all a sick joke--my higher education degree and the fact that I was not even getting invited to interview for jobs. The experience was surreal. I sent CVs from one end of the country to the other, even overseas. I was offered a part-time position (20 hrs. a week) at a small business college that would barely pay my rent, let alone school loans, the electric bill, gas bill, car insurance (and gas), plus scant groceries. The interviewer told me, "Frankly, I don't see how you'll be able to make ends meet with this job. You might have to get a night job at Wal-Mart or somewhere. Also, you might have to move in with a friend as rents around here are not cheap." Finally, I found library employment as a library assistant in a university. The pay is good for full-time work that I really like. I guess one has to sometimes make trade-offs in life.

Posted by Beans_and_Rice on October 20, 2010 11:07:08AM

Like others, I too graduated from a top program (Syracuse University) with an Master of Science in Library and Information Science. I was under the impression that doing well in my studies (3.889 GPA when I graduated) would at least get me interviews. I was wrong. The bottom line is that this profession is garbage. There are no jobs, and if you do somehow miraculously get a job, tarting salaries (even in some university libraries) may be as low as $20,000. So basically, you can go work in a call center that requires no degree at all and make 20k, or you can go get a Master's degree; spend thousands of dollars, and end up with a job (if you can get a job, that is) that pays you the exact same salary. Unbelievable. I have to share an absolutely hilarious experience that I had. I applied for a job at a University library, and the on the "team" of people that interviewed me, there was NOT ONE person that even had their MLS! Yet, somehow I didn't get the job. Incredible. Like others have speculated, it seems that they love to give jobs to paraprofessionals because of course they can pay them much less; meanwhile, they totally ignore those of us that devoted a ton of time and effort to get a Master's degree. In fact I just gave up on this profession. I'm so disgusted with this that I'm going back to school to get another Master's degree. This time, however, I'm getting one that means something.

Posted by Anonymous on October 28, 2010 12:39:42PM

Jocelyn: I see your point! I am currently a para-professional doing professional- level work (i have my MLS degree). it's frustrating on this end of it, too. check out this article: http://www.libraryjuicepress.com/docs/deprofessionalization.pdf

Posted by erin moore on November 1, 2010 10:14:54AM

So of the three graduates you reported were "successful" in the job hunt, only one has landed a full time professional job. Yet, the others also had a "successful" experience because they actually found jobs. Sure, they work for low wages as assistants. We clearly don't need to be recruiting more people into the field. The stats you report are terrible.

Posted by MT on November 1, 2010 03:29:55PM

I admit it. I'm old. I've been a librarian since who knows when, and became a librarian in part because my MFA was going nowhere and I was sick of starving. I've kept my skills current, have lots of experience, and am a hard-worker with good references. One of my previous employers even labeled me "too technology oriented"! Bad fit. But when I moved back to my hometown several years ago, I found the interviews were scarce, the employers were often exercising not-too-thinly veiled age discrimination, and I was ultimately faced with under-employment. I'm back in the saddle now, working at a great library that utilizes my skills, but making the same salary I did in 2004. Sad. But it seems I am one of the lucky ones with a job. Don't give up.

Posted by Jessie Affelder on November 27, 2010 01:00:58PM

I have another unusual take on the whole profession. I've been a public librarian for almost 25 years. The library world has really changed over the years. With the Internet expanding, it seems that my skills as a reference librarian are no longer needed. Probably because city and state budgets are in a real mess, they probably believe they can get away with hiring paraprofessionals who they can pay less. I think this might work for them because If you have a good knowledge of computers, as a paraprofessional you can probably do a very goog job as a public librarian.

Posted by Michael L. Martin on February 5, 2011 04:39:54PM

I was already underemployed, working at two small academic libraries in Southern California, for a total of 32 hours per week and not enough pay to live on my own. Then in the final months of 2010 I was laid off from both jobs due to lack of institutional funding. At one I was told "your services are no longer required", and at the other I was told "your position has been eliminated." Prior to moving to CA I had 20 years of full-time professional experience. Now I know what it's like to be "downwardly mobile." My husband had left the library field because the public library system he had worked in was so evil and cut-throat, and he was just terminated from a federal government job in another field. Now we are both applying like mad for what few mostly pathetic library jobs there are in our area.

Posted by Marina on February 17, 2011 10:19:45PM

School library jobs are enjoyable (if you like working with kids, etc), but the hours and pay are still too low to not have a second job. As a school librarian in Canada, the hours are normally 20-25 a week and only about $23,000 - $25,000 a year. Barely enough to pay bills (including saving for the summer when you're out of work). Most of us have part time jobs on the side, including myself.

Posted by Mel on May 20, 2011 04:46:16PM

The economy did not "take a nose dive" (per comment by Beans and Rice). Most Americans have been educated and taught to believe that "collectivism" is the answer. When people in a society destroy "capitalism" for 100 plus years and then get the inevitable economic downturn, they shouldn't complain about what they receive. Vote for "collectivist" minded people and reap the benefits, or Educate yourself and decide if you want a society of handouts or one of self determination and advancement. Previous generations planted the tree and nourished it. Current generations have been cutting it down. If more people would become "individualists" we might be able to turn this country around.

Posted by Malfi on September 6, 2011 02:44:42PM