ECONOMIC STATUS OF LAW LIBRARIANS TOOLKIT
Prepared in conjunction with the
AALL Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee Program
Who Really Sets Our Salaries? A Discussion Among Decision Makers and Librarians
Presented at the 2007 AALL Annual Meeting
Core Competencies | Best Practices | Surveys and Statistics | Compensation | Salary Negotiation | Career Trends | General Resources | Relevant Organizations
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The relatively low compensation earned by librarians compared with other professions requiring similar levels of education discourages many from choosing librarianship as a career. For those already in the profession but unwilling to leave their chosen careers, it contributes to feeling unappreciated and recognized for the valuable contributions made to their law firms, academic institutions, courts, or corporate settings.
In recognition of this problem, the AALL Executive Board, in 2004, created the Committee on the Economic Status of Law Librarianship. In 2006, the Committee recommended to the Board that the name be changed to the Economic Status of Law Librarians to better reflect the charge of the Committee. This change was approved at the Fall 2006 AALL Board Meeting.
The AALL Committee on the Economic Status of Law Librarians created this toolkit to help law librarians - in law firms, academia, and government settings - advocate for improvements in compensation, both individually and collectively. The 2006-07 Committee appreciates the work of the AALL Economic Status of Law Librarianship Committee, 2004-2006, for laying the groundwork of this toolkit.
The term “compensation” is used to denote both salary and compensation packages.
“The American Association of Law Libraries seeks to define the profession of law librarianship and its value to the legal field, today and in the future, by identifying, verifying, and actively promoting competencies of law librarianship. Competencies are the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics that help distinguish superior performance…These competencies may be acquired through higher education such as library and information science programs…, through continuing education, and through experience.”
http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/competencies.asp
This section highlights activities of AALL members that have served to improve their own or their colleagues compensation, either through direct pay increases or through improved compensation rewards.
If you have a best practice you would like to share, send your success story to Merle Slyhoff, Chair, AALL Economic Status of Law librarians Committee at mslyhoff@law.upenn.edu . You can keep your story anonymous. Just provide information as to your type of law library (academic, state/county/court, etc), and the region.
Applying for Grant convinces employer to pay for conference attendance
In 2005 Claudia Jalowka, from the CT Judicial Branch Library applied for a State Court County Law Library SIS grant to attend AALL in St. Louis. Part of the application form included questions which asked specifics on how the applicant planned on using information from the conference in their duties and how their employer would benefit by their coming to the conference. Claudia’s application was very complete, noting specific sessions which were especially important to some projects the court was considering. The application also required a letter of recommendation from the employer. When the employer saw the answers to the questionnaire, she was so impressed with the specifics that she found money in the court budget for the conference attendance.
Barbara Fritschel
2005 SCCLL Grants Chair
In 2006, the AALL Executive Board approved a Committee request that the Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee assume an advisory role in the Association’s Biennial Salary Survey. In addition to refining the questionnaire to more accurately reflect the information needed, the Committee asked the library-type Special Interest Sections (Academic, Law Firm, State/County/Court) to define the jobs as relevant to their constituency. This information will appear in the 2007 survey results as an Appendix.
In addition to the AALL Biennial publication, check with your AALL chapter to see if they have conducted a compensation survey. State library associations may also provide data.
If using other published compensation surveys, determine how positions are defined for that specific survey. Not knowing how each survey is defining specific jobs, or what library positions are included can result in the proverbial “comparing apples to oranges."
Library Association Surveys
AALL Biennial Salary Survey and Organizational Characteristics (online version restricted to AALL member access; the hardcopy edition maybe purchased by going to http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_salary_survey.asp)
AALL Law Librarian Compensation Special Committee, Report to the AALL Executive Board, May 23, 2003
- Report of the Special Committee on Law Librarian Compensation
- AALL/Altman Weil, Inc. Compensation Satisfaction Survey Results March 2003
American Library Association, ALA-APA Salary Surveys (available for purchase or as online database)
Art Libraries Society of North America. Dodds, Kathrin and Heather Ball. ARLIS/NA 2004 Art/Architecture Librarians and Visual Resource Professionals Compensation Survey. Art Libraries Society of North America, 2005.
Association for Research Libraries, Annual Salary Survey
Medical Library Association. Hay Group/MLA 2005 Salary Survey. (available in print or as pdf)
Special Libraries Association, Annual SLA Salary Survey (excerpted information freely available; full report available for purchase)
Other Surveys
Altman Weil, Inc. Publications (includes information on surveys)
Association of Legal Administrators Compensation and Benefits Survey
Primary Research Group. Compiles numerous surveys, including Law Library Benchmarks, 2006-07 and Corporate Library Benchmarks, 2007.
Abram, Stephen. Pushing The Pay Envelope: Y2k Compensation Strategies. Information outlook, 1999.
ALA-APA Campaign for America's Librarians, ADVOCATING FOR BETTER SALARIES AND PAY EQUITY TOOLKIT (4th ed. April 2007). This toolkit is designed to assist librarians and library workers to advocate for improved compensation and pay equity at the institution and community level. It includes advocacy and communications strategies, information on the pay equity and compensation issues; and a bibliography of resources relating to these issues. http://www.ala-apa.org/toolkit.pdf
Baldwin, David. A Librarian Compensation Handbook: A Guide for Administrators, Librarians and Staff. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.
Burnham, Kate. The Librarians' Pay Equity Case 2002: Not Just a Pay Rise, 53 AUSTL. LIBR. J. 361 (2004) (describes successful litigation by New South Wales librarians for pay equity). See also In re Crown Librarians, Library Officers and Archivist Award Proceedings - Applications Under the Equal Remuneration Principle, 2002 NSWIRComm 55 (Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales), (choose 2002 Judicial Decisions and scroll to decision no. 55). Decision finding that in New South Wales, librarianship "has been and is undervalued on a gender basis."
Burstiner, Marcy. Law Librarians Should Learn to Drive Their Stock Up, The Recorder, March 21, 2007.
Butterfield, George. Commentary: Is a J.D. Necessary for Law Librarians? LLRX.com, June 25, 2007.
Danes, K. Matthew. Commentary - Buying E-Content: Librarians, Salaries, & Opportunities. CopyCense.com. Food for thought…
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2006-07 Edition, Department of Labor. The Handbook “is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is revised every two years.” The reference in the A-Z listing : “Law librarians: see Librarians”
Federal Classification and Job Grading Systems. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. “Position classification standards provide information used in determining the occupational series and title for positions performing white collar work in the Federal Government. They also provide grading criteria for positions classified under the General Schedule (GS) Classification System.”
Grant, Virginia t and Luis Acosta, Principles Governing Compensation of Law Librarians, Altman Weil Report To Legal Management, February 2004, at 5. A modified version of this article appeared as: Perspectives: Principles Governing Compensation of Law Librarians: Law Librarians' Education Levels, Contributions Not Equal to Salaries, AALL Spectrum, June 2004, at 16.
NJLA PAC Recommendation for Minimum Salary Guidelines Statement. NJLA.org. (New Jersey Library Association) This is an example of a statewide library group’s salary work. Check local library associations for similar reports.
Salaries of Librarians and Other Professionals Working in Libraries. Fast Facts: Recent Statistics From the Library Research Service, ED3/110.10/No. 238, 10May 17, 2006. Compares librarian salaries to other professional library positions.
Salary Calculator. Online resource to find the median salary for a given job in a given location. Librarian is not a specific job category. Librarian is included in the Research & Science job category. A good resource to compare librarian positions to other professional positions.
Simmons-Welburn, Janice and Beth McNeil. Human resource management in today's academic library meeting challenges and creating opportunities. Wesport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
Singer, Paula M. . Developing A Compensation Plan For Your Library (American Library Association 2002). Details how to conduct a compensation study, perform job analyses, prepare job descriptions, establish internal compensation equity, etc.
Maatta, Stephanie. Starting Pay Breaks $40K—Placements and Salaries 2005 . Libraryjournal.com. October 15, 2006.
Adelman, Elizabeth G. The Librarian's Taboo: Negotiating Salaries: Session Provides Tips to Increase Job Compensation, AALL SPECTRUM, September/October 2004. http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_sp0409/pub_sp0409_Salaries.pdf
- The program on salary negotiation at the 97th AALL Annual Meeting in Boston, on which this article was based, is available on ALLNET in two streaming audio files:
Salary Negotiations
Salary Negotiations Q&A
Kolb, Deborah M. & Ann C. Schaffner, Negotiating What You're Worth, LIBRARY JOURNAL, October 15, 2001, at 52-3.
Topper, Elisa F. Working Knowledge: Salary Negotiation 101, AMERICAN LIBRARIES, February 2004, at 58.
Capell, Perri. The Hiring Tide Turns for Corporate Librarians. Career Journal.com, The Wall Street Journal Executive Career Site, November 22, 2003.
Steven, Laura. Where the Jobs Are: Librarians Break into Strategic Roles. Career Journal.com, The Wall Street Journal Executive Career Site, April 20, 2005.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2006-07 Edition, Department of Labor. The Handbook “is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is revised every two years.” The reference in the A-Z listing : “Law librarians: see Librarians”
Shontz, Priscilla K. The Librarian’s Career guidebook. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Working @ Your Library: For Love or Money?. Chicago : Allied Professional Association, 2004. DVD.
ALA Allied Professional Association ("ALA-APA"). This 501(c)(6) professional association affiliated with the American Library Association was established to promote the professional interests of librarians and library workers, including directly supporting pay equity/comparable worth initiatives and other activities to improve the salaries and status of library employees.
- ALA-APA's Best of Library Worklife Special Issue (June 2007) includes articles on salary and pay equity.
National Committee on Pay Equity ("NCPE"). The NCPE is a national coalition working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and achieve pay equity.
Special Libraries Association ("SLA"). The professional association for special librarians in corporate, academic and government settings conducts studies of the markets for information professionals, undertakes various efforts to increase the demand for special librarians, and provides associational support to special librarians.