Library Worklife

Volume 3, No. 4 • April 2006

Statistics

Keep Out the Hair Dye.

American Library Association Member Demographic Survey Update

By Denise M. Davis, Director, Office for Research and Statistics

As of March 22, 2006 we have had 6,581 eligible responses to the survey, about 10% of ALA membership. This is how the figures parse out:

Women still outnumber men 4 to 1.
Fewer than 4% of our members reported a disability.
57% of membership was born between 1940–1959; 36.5% between 1960–1979.
2.7% of membership is Hispanic or Latino; 4.5% of membership is Black/African American; 3% Asian/Hawaiian Pacific Islander.
78% have an ALA-MLS; 2.5% have MLSs from non-ALA accredited programs.
29.5% have a Master’s degree in addition to the ALA-MLS.
5.7% have a PhD.

The oldest members responding thus far were born in 1921, and neither reported a disability.

Members still want us to add questions, feel some ethnic and race terms derogatory, and others didn’t understand how the survey would help ALA provide better services to its members. Please refer to the article "Get Out the Hair Dye—We Really Are Aging" on page 35 of the February 2006 issue of American Libraries for answers to these questions.

Denise M. Davis is Director, Office for Research and Statistics

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