|  HOME
RESOURCES FOR LIBRARIES
|
Recommendation for Minimum Salary Guidelines Statement, 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 statements in support.
- Current salaries fail to reflect the professional qualifications,
preparation and challenges that librarians meet every day serving
our New Jersey
communities. (Please note that data from the NJ Public Library Statistics
complied by the NJ State Library, often used as a guideline to directors’ salaries,
is skewed because it fails to differentiate between the salaries
of full-time and part-time library directors.)
- Average librarian salary growth consistently fails to keep up
with inflation (current Consumer Price Index information available
at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?r2).
- 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 and private sector workers with similar educational
backgrounds.
- It is useful to compare librarian salaries to reasonably equivalent
teacher positions in local school systems for three reasons:
- School
systems are a competitive market for professionals in public
libraries,
- Both fields are traditionally female professions, and
- Both
areas are sometimes a low funding priority in their communities.
- Unlike many librarians, teachers receive an annual percentage
increase (e.g., cost of living) added to a “step” based
on years of demonstrated successful service.
- Wages for librarians lag
in two critical areas:
- Starting salaries remain lower than teachers,
and
- Average salaries remain lower than teachers.
Adopted by the New Jersey Library Association Executive Board Dec. 19,
2006.
Adapted from Maine Library Association Public Library Standards.
|
