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Overview, Outlook & Statistics - Career Guides & Resources - Job lists

Overview, Outlook & Statistics

The American Library Association: Career Overview, Salary Information and Labor Trends & Statistics

Each year, the Library Journal conducts a placement survey of all library school graduates with results printed in the October issue. As alumni, you will be contacted to participate in this online survey. Please do so to help increase response rate, represent UB graduates, and provide these statistics for future students. Library Journal's article of 2006 MLS grads, earnings and career trends.

US Department of Labor: Occupational Outlook Handbook:

  • Librarians held about 159,000 jobs in 2004. Most worked in school and academic libraries, but one-fourth worked in public libraries. The remainder worked in special libraries or as information professionals for companies and other organizations.
  • Salaries of librarians vary according to the individual's qualifications and the type, size, and location of the library. Librarians with primarily administrative duties often have greater earnings.
  • Median annual earnings of librarians in May 2004 were $45,900.
  • The middle 50 percent earned between $36,980 and $56,960.
  • The lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,930.
  • The highest 10 percent earned more than $70,200.
  • Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of librarians in May 2004 were as follows:
    Colleges, universities, and professional schools $47,830
    Elementary and secondary schools $47,580
    Local government $42,500
    Other information services $40,000
  • The average annual salary for all librarians in the Federal Government in nonsupervisory, supervisory, and managerial positions was $74,630 in 2005.

Is Librarianship For You?, Master of Library and Information Science Program, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario.

The Top 10 Reasons to be a Librarian, by Martha J. Spear, American Libraries, October 2002, p. 54–55. Accessed 2/18/2009.

Today's Information Professional, by Rich Gazan, University of Hawai'i, Library and Information Science Program, Class of 1998, "You're studying to be a what?" Accessed 2/6/08.

Negotiating Isn’t Just For "The Donald", by Vicki Burger and Valerie Stern, Library Worklife. Accessed 10/7/08.

Tips That May Surprise You about Salary Negotiation, by Christine Martin, Library Worklife. Accessed 10/7/08.

Salary Negotiation Success Putting (New) Knowledge into Practice, by A Delighted Library Director, Library Worklife. Posted August 2005. Accessed 10/7/08.

How to Get What You Are Worth, by Mary Pergander, Library Worklife. Posted September, 2005. Accessed 10/7/08.

Librarian: Executive Summary by Marty Nemko, U.S. News and World Report. Posted December 19, 2007. Accessed 3/5/08.

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Career Guides & Resources

  • UB's Career Services Office can help students learn about job searching, résumés/cover letters, on-campus interviews (through BullsEye), interviewing and more...
  • National Center for Education Statistics Research Academic and Public Libraries through this resource. Learn about a library's collection, electronic services/technology, expenditures, organizational characteristics, services and staffing.
  • Pathfinder: Includes job listings for academic, public, school, special and other libraries in New York, New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ontario. Plus, there are links to listservs and related informational sites. Created and maintained by UB's ALA Student Group.
  • 2006 ALA APA Library Salary Survey: Includes current aggregated salary data for 68 library positions from more than 35,000 individual salaries of actual employees in academic and public libraries in the United States. This resource is available through UB, in Lockwood Library's Reference Section: Z682.3 .A4
  • Straight from the Stacks: For library students, paraprofessionals, and librarians who are wondering if they have their ladder against the right wall, Straight from the Stacks fills the need for an up-to-date resource that uncovers the amazing and varied jobs available in the library field. Encompassing both traditional and nontraditional career paths in libraries, this comprehensive and engaging guide makes it easy to get a grip on these and other information science career path questions and see the possibilities! This resource is available through UB, in Lockwood Library Z682.35 .V62 K36 2003
  • Don't forget about those social networks like www.linkedin.com
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Job lists

Many professional associations maintain job lists as well.

Job Resources for New York State
Job Resources for the United States of America

Individual Libraries in the USA

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