ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ARL Salary Survey

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) recently released its 1977-78 Annual Salary Survey. Compiled by Associate Executive Director Suzanne O. Frankie, the new report includes data assembled from ninety-four university library members and eleven nonuniversity library members.

Salary figures in the tables indicate that for 1977-78 librarians did little more than break even in terms of real purchasing power, and 1978—79 projections show that librarians will probably experience a 2.9-percent decline in purchasing power.

Basic tables in the survey show average, median, and beginning professional salaries for ARL libraries. Beginning salaries at university libraries for 1978-79 range from $9,000 at the University of Southern California to $16,500 at the University of British Columbia.

Supplementary tables have permitted a number of different analyses, and among the findings Frankie points out that of the filled professional positions, 62 percent are held by women and 38 percent by men. As shown in other surveys, there are imbalances in the distribution of staff by sex, with most of the top administrative posts held by men. The average salary for men is higher than that for women in fifteen of the nineteen position categories used.

Except for top administrators, librarians in public institutions earn higher average salaries than do librarians in private schools, and with few exceptions the bigger libraries pay more than the smaller ones. In general, librarians in the Pacific region earn the most while librarians in the East South Central region earn the least.

Copies of the survey are available from the Association of Research Libraries, 1527 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036, for $5. ■■