Results of the 2007 LTAIG Salary Survey

British Columbia Library Association
Library Technicians & Assistants Interest Group

Table of Contents

Who Responded?
Formal Library Training
Non-Library Education
Years Since Completing Library Studies
Employment Status
Work Experience
Current Employment Setting
Type of Library
Average Wage by Library Type
Average Wage by Years of Experience
Duties Performed
Job Titles
Volunteering
Comments
Credits

 

Who Responded?

NB: Please note that this summary only reflects the responses we received from people in British Columbia. As respondents were able to choose more than one answer to some questions, the percentages will not always total 100%.

A total of 322 people responded to the survey and of those respondents, 261 (81%) were from British Columbia.

Formal Library Training

Of the 261 respondents from British Columbia, 56.7% of them completed a 2 year LT training program while 35.25% indicated that they had received on the job training or continuing education.

The vast majority of respondents reported attending post-secondary institutions in British Columbia: 50% attended Langara College, 20% attended UCFV, and 5% took the joint Langara/UCFV program. There were also respondents who attended SAIT Polytechnic (4%) and Grant MacEwan College (3%), both of which are in Alberta, as well as various other institutions such as Seneca College in Ontario (2%), School of Economics in Poland, University of Natal South Africa – Pietermaritzburg and the National Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Non Library Education

In addition to library training, many respondents have taken courses or obtained degrees. 35% of respondents have completed a bachelor’s degree, 18% have completed one or more years at a university, 15% have completed one or more years at a college or institute, and 13% have completed a program at a college or institute.

Years Since Completing Library Studies

A large portion of the respondents are recent grads with 26% graduating 0-2 years ago and 15% graduated 3-5 years ago. There was also a large group (22%) who graduated more than 11 years ago.

Employment Status

The vast majority of respondents (87%) indicated that they are currently working in a library setting. Another 14% are currently students in a library technician program, 6% are seeking work in a library setting and 4% are volunteering in a library setting.

60% of respondents indicated that they are employed in a permanent full-time position, 24% are permanent part-time, 12% are currently on-call and 14% are in contract positions both full and part-time. There were also three respondents who indicated that they are self-employed.

Work Experience

As was indicated previously, the majority of library technicians and assistants are fairly new to library work which is shown by the 26% who have one to five years of work experience. 19% have six to ten years experience, 13% have 16 to 20 years experience, 10% have 11 to 15 years experience and 9% have less than one year of library work experience.

Current Employment Setting

It is also interesting to note that 44% of respondents indicated that they were hired before they graduated. 29% were hired within 3 months of graduating and 10% were hired 4-6 months after graduating.

79% of respondents indicated that they are a member of a union and 59% responded that their position requires a library technician diploma.

Type of library

As for the types of libraries that respondents are employed by: 39% academic libraries, 35% public libraries, 12% school libraries, 6% government libraries, 4% legal, 3% corporate, and 3% non-profit.

Average Hourly Wage by Library Type

Staff in legal libraries top the hourly wage scale, earning an average of $23.73, with self-employed library technicians coming in second at $23.40. Staff in corporate, medical, and government libraries follow at $23,22, $23.20 and $23.18 respectively. The elusive “Other” library workers earn the next highest at $21.86, followed by those in public libraries at $21.36 and those in media libraries at $20.96. The largest number of respondents are employed at academic libraries, who earn $20.55. They are followed closely by school library staff at $20.54. The lowest average hourly wage is earned at non-profit libraries ($17.84).

Average Hourly Wage by Years of Experience

Respondents with 11 to 15 years of experience were the top earners, averaging $23.81 an hour. Those in the next year range (36 to 40 years’ experience) earn $22.54 an hour, followed closely by workers in the 26 to 30 years’ range, who earn $22.51 an hour.

The next highest were staff in the 21 to 25 years’ experience range, earning an average of $22.31 an hour. Those with 16 to 20 years’ experience earn an average of $21.87 an hour.

The respondents with no library experience earned the next highest at $21.71 an hour, followed closely by those with six to 10years’ experience (at $21.54 an hour). Workers with 31 to 35 years’ experience earn an average of $20.78, while those with one to five years’ experience earn an average of $20.54 an hour.

The lowest hourly earners based on years of experience were those who had worked less than a year, at an average of $17.83 an hour.

** The hourly wage was rounded to the nearest cent.

 

Duties Performed

Survey respondents perform a wide variety of tasks in their jobs but the top 5 duties in each area are:

Public Service Duties

• 70% respond to telephone or email inquiries
• 64% do circulation
• 55% provide computer or technical assistance for patrons
• 52% do reference/research
• 39% do interlibrary loan/document delivery

Technical Service Duties

• 55% do filing/shelving/shelf reading
• 45% do cataloguing/classification
• 40% assist with training of staff or volunteers
• 39% supervise staff or volunteers
• 34% do collection development/management

Job Titles

Library technician was the most frequent job title among respondents at 32%. The next most frequent job title was Library Assistant with 30%. The next two job titles are tied with 6% Library Clerk and Librarian.

Other job titles provided: Information Assistant, Community Librarian, Researcher, Research Specialist, Supervisor, Graphic Design & Clerical Support, Data Manager, Audiovisual Technician, Circulation Assistant, System Support Technician, Digital Asset Coordinator, Library Paraprofessional, Community Branch Supervisor, Youth Services Technician, Cataloguing Technician, Operations Supervisor – Technical Services, Secretary, Library, Configuration Manager, Instructional Media Centre Technician, Instructional Assistant, Library Manager, Circulation Supervisor, Auxiliary, Chief Librarian. Bookshelver.

Volunteering

47% of respondents indicated that they had volunteered in a library setting. The vast majority of respondents volunteered in a school library setting. Other libraries volunteered in were: church libraries, medical libraries, Jewish public library, museum & art gallery libraries, non-profit organization libraries, small public libraries, small academic libraries and the Expo 86 library.

Duties peformed included: shelving, shelf-reading, circulation, filing, card filing, newspaper clippings, story time, reference, reader’s advisory, displays, av-bookings, cataloguing, processing, clerical, collection maintenance.

53% of respondents have not volunteered in a library setting.

Summary of General Comments

Respondents left a variety of comments, including gratitude for the work LTAIG is doing and comments regarding wording of questions or clarifications. Here is what some of you had to say*:

*These comments reflect the opinions of individual respondents, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Library Technicians & Assistants Interest Group or the British Columbia Library Association.

“The college program provides students with education and training for all of the library departments. Just a few of us manage to get a library job that will allow us to apply our knowledge in more than one area of the library… It would be interesting to know if library technicians are interested in updating and reviewing their knowledge by participating in workshops provided by themselves, college instructors, or other library professionals.”

“It might be useful to ask about union or non-union status as it relates to wages. In my case, I work in a non-union environment and even though I have worked regularly for over 3 years as a casual employee have not had any pay raise in that time.”

“I'd like to see how Library Technicians compare to Librarian salaries? I think we're making great strides in catching up -- however this is just conjecture on my part. After all, we do the work of Librarians so we should get paid at a higher rate! We're not Librarians in name only.”

“I'd like to know if LT in libraries must have a performance review every year. I can understand management wanting a review after a probationary period when staff are first hired, and also a disciplinary meeting if there are problems, but a yearly performance review seems unnecessary. I'd be interested in what other public systems do.”

“The survey is an excellent idea to help keep a person posted as to what tasks other library techs perform and for wage comparison. It helps promote your group and make you more visible.”

“I am disappointed that I will not be able to advance to a higher level within the circulation department of the library without specific library tech training from an institution, even though I am fully capable of learning on the job. I won't seek further training at the tech level because I am finishing my bachelor's degree right now and will want to build on that, rather than enter a program that only requires high school graduation. I can go upwards and apply to do an MLIS degree, but I can't move into a more responsible position at the circulation level. All of the people except for two currently working in circulation at my library have no tech training; they started before it was a requirement.”

“One question that might be worth asking is, if people are already working in a library and do not have a degree or diploma, are they in the process of getting one, or are they planning/considering getting one? Why? Why not? These issues may or may not be of interest.”

“I'd be interested to find out how many librarian positions are being replaced with clerical staff or library technicians. I suspect this is high and will continue to increase as librarians become obsolete. This trend will provide great opportunities for library techicians!”

 

CREDITS

2007 Survey Team

Courtney Walker
Jennifer Brown
Samantha Bloomfield

Reporting and Analysis

Courtney Walker
John Alexander
Emma Wood

Web Formatting

Rob Golbeck

© 2007 Library Technicians & Assistants Interest Group (LTAIG)
British Columbia Library Association

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