LIS Grads Break $40K Barrier In Annual LJ Salary Survey

Stephanie Maatta -- School Library Journal, 10/27/2006

Starting salaries for library and information science (LIS) graduates have broken through the $40K barrier. In 2005, the average starting salary for LIS grads was $40,118, and for minority graduates, an annual increase of six percent, to $42,333. In Canada and internationally, salaries (converted to USD) averaged $40,719. This translates to an increase of 2.58 percent, lower, however, than the annual inflation rate of 3.4 percent.

Certain types of jobs significantly affected salaries this year. Good news for children's services, as placements continued to rise, to 6.46 percent from 4.75 percent in 2004. When combined with youth services, these jobs comprise 11.4 percent of primary jobs reported. Salaries for children's librarians rose as well, about two percent, to $36,363. School library media specialists earned an average starting salary of $42,731.

Database management (up 15 percent, to $42,833) and usability testing (up 12 percent, to $65,611) salaries pushed up overall earnings.

Salary inequality is still an issue for women, however, as they continue to dominate in areas that have lower compensations, mostly public libraries. They comprise less than 50 percent of the LIS work force in private and corporate organizations. Women do comprise 85 percent of all LIS graduates, yet their average starting salary is $39,587, a 2.28 percent increase, or less than $1000, over 2004 statistics. Men earn an average of $42,143, a 4.49 percent increase from 2004, and 6.46 percent more than women.

Some 39 percent of estimated graduates, or 1,736, responded to this year's survey. Of these graduates, 1,572 (90.5 percent) reported employment of any type, which is down slightly from 2004, when 92.8 percent (1,779) reported employment. For 2005, a higher percentage of graduates reported part-time positions (17.08 percent compared to 14.1 percent in 2004). More graduates reported holding multiple (two or more) part-time positions in 2005 (4.07 percent compared to less than one percent in 2004).

Salary leaders continue among the graduates with technology skills. Automation/systems ($44,972), electronic/digital services ($41,344), and knowledge management ($51,451) all follow this trend of compensating for technological skills. Those serving in adult services ($36,047), reference/information services ($38,522), and cataloging/classification ($37,130), all more traditional library activities, fall below the starting average salary for 2005 LIS graduates.

More respondents reported assuming multiple duties; approximately eight percent held mixed job assignments. Some of the popular combinations include reference/interlibrary loan, children's services/cataloging, community outreach/adult reference, and database management/collection development. Such mixtures occur most frequently in public libraries, followed by academic institutions.

LIS graduates continue to be career changers. Some 49 percent reported this position as their second, third, or fourth career, with about 35 percent coming from an educational background. Some 17 percent, however, reportedly had business and finance positions.

Institutional and individual respondents, numbering 4,368 graduates, represented 38 of the 56 LIS schools surveyed in the United States and Canada. The following schools didn't participate: Albany, Arizona, British Columbia, Dalhousie, Denver, Florida State, McGill, Maryland, Montreal, North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Pratt, South Carolina, Southern Connecticut, Southern Mississippi, Texas Woman's, UCLA, and Western Ontario.To read the Library Journal article, click here.