Paycheck matters

Citation

Fitzsimons, E. (2000), "Paycheck matters", The Bottom Line, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2000.17013aab.006

Paycheck matters

Keywords Salaries, Librarians

According to the Special Library Association's 1999 Salary Survey, the push for pay equity between male and female information professionals has had salutary effects. Survey results show that female SLA members have a median salary figure of $49,550 compared to that of $48,672 for male SLA members. In Canada, the report says, the median salaries paid to SLA members of both sexes come out to be $52,000. The survey shows in the USA the mean pay for men is slightly more ($53,440) than that for women ($52,730), while in Canada the gap is just under $500 ($55,646 for men and $55,149 for women). SLA will release the entire salary survey in November.

Of course, SLA members are only a portion of the library workforce. On October 1 several hundred staff from Queens Borough (NY) Public Library demonstrated to draw attention to the need to boost salaries of New York City librarians. The rally was a "Day of Mourning" with participants donning black ribbons to lament the fact that over 17 percent of the borough's librarians leave the system for better-paying jobs each year. It was held in front of Antun's Restaurant in Queens Village shortly before the library's annual staff-recognition awards ceremony was to take place inside. John Socha, president of the library union's local, said that one-third of city librarians quit in the first three years, and by the sixth year 60 percent have gone to other systems. Socha observed that Queens librarians' starting salary of $29,000 is $2,000 less than on Long Island and nearly $15,000 less than starting salaries in San Francisco.