For immediate release:
October 21, 2008
For more information, contact:
Kristina Justh
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
kristina@arl.org
Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Annual Salary Survey 2007–08, which analyzes salary data for all professional staff working in the 123 ARL member libraries during 2007–08. Data are reported for 9,983 professional staff in the 113 university ARL libraries and for 3,797 professional staff in the 10 non-university ARL libraries. In the Salary Survey, data for university library staff are usually reported in three distinct groups: general library systems, health sciences libraries, and law libraries.
The 2007–08 data show that ARL librarians’ salaries outperformed inflation for the fourth consecutive year. The combined median professional salary in US and Canadian ARL university libraries was $61,833—a 3.7% increase from the previous year. Over the same period, the Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% in the US and 2.5% in Canada.
The ARL Annual Salary Survey 2007–08 analyzes salary data from a number of different perspectives, including race, ethnicity, and gender. Minority librarians make up 14.1% of the professional staff in US ARL university libraries; the percentage of minorities in managerial or administrative positions is lower. Women comprise 69.4% of minority staff members.
Gender-based salary differentials persist in ARL libraries in 2007–08. The overall salary for women in the 113 ARL university libraries is 95.4% of that paid to men; this figure compares to 95.7% in 2006–07. While the data show a marked closure of the gender gap in ARL libraries over the long term—in 1980–81, women in ARL libraries were paid roughly 87% of what men were paid—the data also raise the possibility that the closure has peaked, and that a 5% gap between men’s and women’s salaries may persist.
Other characteristics of ARL university libraries, such as size, public/private status, and location are also significant determinants of salary. The current state of these indicators is outlined in the Salary Survey’s introduction and extensive tables.
For more information about the ARL Annual Salary Survey or to download a PDF of the publication, visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/salary/arl-annual-salary-survey-2007-08.shtml. See below to order print copies of the publication.
ARL Annual Salary Survey 2007–08
Martha Kyrillidou, Mark Young, and Jason Barber, comps. and eds.
2008 * ISBN 1-59407-809-2 * 116 pages
$150 ($75 ARL members)
Order from:
ARL Publications Distribution Center
PO Box 531, Annapolis Junction MD 20701-0531
Fax: (301) 206-9789
Phone: (301) 362-8196
E-mail: pubs@arl.org
http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/pubsorderform.shtml
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.