Now is the Time: Advocating for Better Salaries & Pay Equity for All Library Workers*

By Maurice J. Freedman, MLS, PhD

*Adapted from the 2002 Nasser Sharify Lecture, presented by Maurice J. Freedman, October 19, 2002, School of Library & Information Science, Pratt Institute

Last year, a columnist for USA Today applauded a New Hampshire librarian for loving her work so much that she retired, but then came in everyday to do her old job as a volunteer. Why? She did it to save enough money for her small town library to buy new books. MORE

Employee Benefits

By Mary Jo Lynch, Director, ALA Office for Research & Statistics

Since 1993, the annual questionnaire for the ALA Survey of Librarian Salaries has included a “Supplementary Questions” section to gather, for one time only, information needed to answer questions from the field about library human resources. In 2003, the questions asked about employee benefits. Twenty commonly known benefits (shown in Figure 1) were listed on the questionnaire. For each one, respondents were asked to circle one or more of the five staff categories shown in Figure 2. In reviewing the results described below, the reader must remember that this survey did not cover all libraries. Rather, the sample was restricted to academic and public libraries with at least two ALA-MLS librarians. MORE

2003 Salary Survey

By Raymond Roney and Charlie Fox

Our last survey, conducted in 2000, reflected a continuing focus by library support staff on the issues of salaries, salary ceilings and pay equity. In the past three years, these topics have moved from general discussion and the work of a few determined people, into the spotlight of LSSIRT, the American Library Association and a growing body of individuals dedicated to the cause of fair compensation for the national community of library support staff. As interest has continued to grow, so have the numbers of requests to Library Mosaics for an updated salary survey. MORE

Networking for Career Success

By Vicki Burger

Whether you're looking for a new job, or not, career experts recommend that you continually do some career networking. It is tempting to procrastinate when it comes to networking... it is one of those things that we often don't do until we need it! MORE

Pay Equity: The Means to Close the Wage Gap

By Michele Leber

The gender-based wage gap is real. And it continues to hit library workers in the pocketbook.

Women, Work, and Wages, a 1981 report from the National Research Council, noted: “Not only do women do different work than men, but ... the more an occupation is dominated by women the less it pays.” Recent studies have shown that this is still true. MORE

The Certified Public Library Administrator

By Linda Bostrom

The Certified Public Library Administrator—or CPLA—designation is planned as the first certification to be launched by the ALA-APA. It has been developed by a joint effort of the Public Library Association (PLA), the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), and the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), to encourage early career librarians to pursue senior level library management. MORE

Director Named

By Mary Ghikas, ALA Senior AED

The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jenifer Grady as Director, American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), effective December 22, 2003. She will meet with the ALA-APA Salaries and Status Committee and other ALA members at the upcoming Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. Grady has an M.S.L.S. (1993) from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. (2003) from Case Western Reserve University. MORE

Providing a Financial Foundation for the APA

By Teri Switzer

Advocating for America's library workers is taking on a new look with the establishment of ALA's Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA). As a 501(c)(6) professional association, the ALA-APA actively supports and promotes many of the issues that have long been priorities for ALA members, but could not be assertively addressed by ALA due to its 501(c) (3) (non-profit educational association) status. MORE