Older than the IRS but young at heart
Librarians are cool--again?
According to a recent article in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html, a hipper crowd of shushers now reign where "bespectacled women with a love of classic books" once did. Wow! I love these articles because they make me feel somehow cooler than I am as I approach 50. The writer even extols hip, young librarians for their thrift store clothes. Wait a minute. I thought that’s why librarians get major demerits from the fashion police. We’re sort of renowned (even amongst ourselves) for our polyester-now-back-in-fashion, thrift-store clothes. Can I just say this? That’s all most staff librarians—young or old—can truly afford on their own wages. I have a fetish for clothes and other material things I could never afford without my brush with the for-profit world: a husband who makes more than I and some previous jobs that paid more than a librarian makes.
The reporter cites a median salary for librarians is $51,000. Let’s review what that means: half the samples make less than or equal to the median and half the samples make greater than that. When you really think about it, our median salary is not all that impressive. I’ve never known any public librarian who wasn’t a top administrator who made more than $50,000. I’ve known many top administrators who made far less than $50,000. I was once an mid-level administrator and I made far less than that. My anecdotal knowledge suggests three things to me about the half who fall above the median: 1) they are top administrators in a public library system that’s large, complex, and prosperous enough to pay above the median 2) they are librarians in public libraries where the cost of living is so high that they are paid above the median or 3) they are not PUBLIC librarians, but instead, work for corporations, universities or other organizations which may have the ability to place more value on their roles.
I love hearing we’re cool people in yet another venue--because we are. What I don’t love is a story that misleads idealistic young people to believe they can live on the salary of a librarian in the same style they may have grown accustomed to in their parents’ home. We do what we do because we love it. We all need to learn to live on what we make, doing what we love. Working toward better pay for our profession is a good goal, yet it is still mitigated by all sorts factors which have nothing to do with us or how valuable we are. That’s all I can think to say about that.
The reporter cites a median salary for librarians is $51,000. Let’s review what that means: half the samples make less than or equal to the median and half the samples make greater than that. When you really think about it, our median salary is not all that impressive. I’ve never known any public librarian who wasn’t a top administrator who made more than $50,000. I’ve known many top administrators who made far less than $50,000. I was once an mid-level administrator and I made far less than that. My anecdotal knowledge suggests three things to me about the half who fall above the median: 1) they are top administrators in a public library system that’s large, complex, and prosperous enough to pay above the median 2) they are librarians in public libraries where the cost of living is so high that they are paid above the median or 3) they are not PUBLIC librarians, but instead, work for corporations, universities or other organizations which may have the ability to place more value on their roles.
I love hearing we’re cool people in yet another venue--because we are. What I don’t love is a story that misleads idealistic young people to believe they can live on the salary of a librarian in the same style they may have grown accustomed to in their parents’ home. We do what we do because we love it. We all need to learn to live on what we make, doing what we love. Working toward better pay for our profession is a good goal, yet it is still mitigated by all sorts factors which have nothing to do with us or how valuable we are. That’s all I can think to say about that.
Comment
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Comment by Robert Dumas on July 12, 2007 at 12:42am
- The trouble with that article is that it talks more about what librarians wear or eat, or where they hang out, than it does about what we do at work. And really, isn't that supposed to be the point? Who cares what people are like outsode of work? Aren't we just like everyone else, when we're outside of work?
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