Library Worklife

Salaries & Pay Equity

The Kansas Public Library Salaries Project Works for Improved Compensation for Kansas Directors

By Shannon Roy, Kansas State Library

When the 2000 revision of the Kansas Public Library Standards was published, the response from the Kansas public librarians made it clear that it was time to seriously consider the problem of compensation guidelines. This was easier said than done, even with an excellent working committee.

It was decided that the new guidelines would address only the compensation of library directors, although we hope to work for support positions at a later time . The committee members decided that they could not base salary guidelines on current Kansas library budgets. Instead, they considered the proper market value of a profession where the practitioners must have formal education, lifelong training, sophisticated skills and a strong commitment to the quality of life in the library's service community.

The committee assigned base salaries on the basis of the population served by the library and then tried to give effective guidance on additional compensation that should be given on the basis of education, training, special skills and accomplishments. They also tried to make a very strong case for good benefits, which are a critically important part of good compensation.

For service populations that were greater than 8,000, the guidelines specified that the library should have an MLS director and the baseline salaries were set at percentages over a minimum MLS salary of $30,000. For service populations under 8000, the baseline salaries were set at hefty percentages over the proposed minimum wage. The baseline salaries had to be a real benchmark all over the state, which meant that in certain regions, the proposed salaries were a real stretch that could only be reached in increments.

After the Compensation Guidelines for Kansas Public Library Directors were published in 2003, the Kansas State Library started the Kansas Public Library Salaries Project. They established a website, where they posted not only the Compensation Guidelines but sample cases for justifying improved compensation and a template for building such a case. They also posted an article that advised library trustees on effective techniques for salary negotiations with the parent government.

The Kansas Library Trustee Association enthusiastically endorsed the Salaries Project and sponsored a number of programs for public library trustees that explained why effective compensation was so critical to retaining good library staff. The Kansas regional library systems have also been very supportive of the project.

A number of Kansas librarians have reported that the Compensation Guidelines have helped them negotiate for improved salaries and benefits. Half a dozen librarians have worked directly with the Local Library Development Division at the Kansas State Library to build the case for more realistic compensation. The librarians are often surprised and pleased when their skills and accomplishments are collected and documented. These cases help trustees gain a better understanding of how demanding modern public library administration actually is.

Although the successes of the Salary Project have been gratifying, the work has also been frustrating. Some trustees are still not convinced that effective compensation is critically important to quality library service. Even trustees who are supportive often say that supporting decent benefits, especially health insurance, has placed such a strain on their resources that they cannot finance more than cost-of-living increases.

The Kansas library leadership is realistic about the problems. But they have also firmly stated that library salaries will remain a strong priority in the coming decades. Kansas librarians have worked hard to develop excellent public libraries and they know that professional salaries are essential to maintaining that quality.

Sources

Kansas Public Library Salaries Project Web site, http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/development/salaries

Show Me the Money! Tri-Conference 2004—includes salary and budget scenarios and handouts from the program, http://ice.emporia.edu/salaries

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