Librarian Salary Survey Reports Mean Librarian Salary Up 2 Percent to $58,960 in 2008

Contact: Jenifer Grady


ALA-APA


(312) 280-2424


jgrady@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


August 13, 2008

CHICAGO - Results from the 2008 edition of the
ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian - Public and Academic are available in two ways – immediately for subscribers to the

ALA-APA Library Salary Database and in print from the American Library Association (ALA)
online store.

Analysis of data from more than 1,010 public and academic libraries showed the mean salary for librarians with ALA-accredited master’s degrees reported increased 2 percent from 2007, up $1,151 to $57,809. The median ALA MLS salary was $53,251, and salaries ranged from $22,000 to $331,200. ALA-APA thanks all the library staff who completed the survey on behalf of their institutions.




Published by the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) in cooperation with the ALA Office for Research and Statistics, the survey shows aggregated data from more than 16,259 individual salaries of ALA MLS librarians. The six librarian positions are directors/dean, associate/assistant director, department head, manager of support staff, librarians who do not supervise and beginning librarians.

The 2008 response rate, with 1010 libraries participating, was 29 percent, an improvement of five points over 2007. More than 3,400 were in the sample asked to respond. In 2007, 834 libraries responded to the
Librarian and
Non-MLS Salary Surveys. Responding libraries this year received a 30-day subscription to the
Library Salary Database and a 25 percent discount off the print edition. The
Library Salary Database includes data from 2006 to the present for more than 60 librarian and non-MLS positions, which can be searched by state, eight library types and four regions.

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
Librarian Salary Survey continues more than 20 years of collecting and reporting salary data for six positions requiring an ALA-accredited master's degree in library science. The survey was completed with consultation from Denise M. Davis, director of the ALA Office for Research and Statistics, and conducted by The Management Association of Illinois.

Libraries may purchase the
ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian - Public and Academic
from the ALA Store at $81 for ALA members/$90 for non-members. Database users may subscribe online at
http://www.ala.org/cfapps/salarysurvey/salarysurveyform/form.cfm. Print purchasers may order through the ALA Store at
http://www.alastore.ala.org/.





The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association: the Organization for the Advancement of Library Employees is a service organization to the American Library Association and has as one of its missions supporting salary improvement initiatives for library workers. Please contact the ALA-APA Office at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2424 or
jgrady@ala.org with questions or comments.