NYC Library Heads Ask City Council
for Higher Pay for Librarians
The heads of New York City’s three library systems testified before the city council’s Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Committee December 10 in support of higher pay for librarians. The council is considering a resolution decrying the loss of library personnel due to inadequate salaries, reported the December 17 issue of the Chief-Leader, the newspaper of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees District Council 37.
“By any single measurement, New York City librarians are underpaid,” said New York Public Library President Paul LeClerc, who noted that other comparable institutions offer librarians higher wages, and that even the city’s school librarians are better paid.
“The people of Queens deserve librarians of the highest caliber,” declared Queens Borough Public Library President Gary Strong, “and you only get caliber by paying for it.” Brooklyn Public Library Director Martín Gómez spoke of a branch that has gone through four managers in three years. “In each case inadequate compensation—not lack of dedication or professionalism—was the primary factor,” he said.
District Council 37 Administrator Lee Saunders also testified, as did and the presidents of the three DC 37 library locals.
Posted December 20, 1999.
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