Recommendation for Minimum Starting Salaries For 2010

The model salary schedules have been prepared as a guide for libraries.  The only recommended beginning salaries approved by the NJLA Executive Board for 2010 are the beginning Librarian position at $ 50,765 and the beginning Library Assistant position at $ 27,691.  The Personnel Administration Committee recommends that each library develop its own salary schedule.  Factors to be considered in its development should include the size of the library, educational requirements for the position, job responsibilities, length of service and supervisory responsibility.

Minimum Salary Guide Statement

This statement is intended for Trustees and Public Officials who may be looking for salary information.  Listed below are some of the statements to be taken into consideration:

• Public Library employment environments in New Jersey vary widely, from very small one-employee libraries to much larger organizations with many departments.
  
• Some library workers have collective bargaining arrangements, but the majority of librarians are left to grapple with the issue of low salaries on an individual basis.  Hence there is the need for salary guidelines.  In such a varied professional landscape, quantifying minimum salary guidelines presents numerous challenges. 
  
• Librarians who possess a master’s degree, like other professionals, deserve a salary that enables them to support themselves and their families.
  
• Public librarianship, in particular, suffers as new graduates of accredited library and information science programs avoid public library work in favor of more lucrative positions in the academic, school, and private sectors.
  
• New Jersey Library Association fully supports the concept of equal pay for equal work and for work of comparable value.

(Please note that Library Boards and County Library Commissions using state report data to compare their director salary with others should be aware that the data presented by the New Jersey State Library is skewed because it fails to differentiate between the salaries of full-time and part-time library directors and also includes directors in libraries serving directors in libraries serving communities with few than 5,000 residents who are not  currently required by New Jersey state law to hold a master’s degree in library science.)

Quick Supporting Facts

Due to the varied employment environments among New Jersey public libraries, quantifying minimum salary guidelines presents numerous challenges. New Jersey Library Association fully supports the concept of equal pay for equal work, and endorses the following facts in support.

• CPI Index for Northern New Jersey & New York Area rose 0.2 percent over the month; up 2.4 percent from year ago.

• CPI Index for Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia area rose 0.2 percent over the month; over the last 12 months, the index increased 2.6 percent.
  
• Current salaries fail to reflect the professional qualifications, preparation and challenges that librarians meet every day serving our New Jersey communities.
  
• Average librarian salary growth consistently fails to keep up with inflation (current Consumer Price Index information available at http://data.bls.gov).
  
• New Jersey has one of the highest income levels in the United States but starting librarian salaries typically fall below the national average, even while requiring a master’s degree and state certification.
  
• Compensation for librarians, after adjusting for inflation, increased at a far slower rate than salaries earned by other professionals, including teachers, private sector workers with similar educational backgrounds and local government employees.
  
• Wages for librarians lag in two critical areas:
  
• Starting salaries remain lower, and
• Average salaries remain lower.

This document was adopted by the NJLA Executive Board at its meeting of March 16, 2010

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