2010 Academic Librarian Salaries: West and Southwest Region Offers Competitive Pay

At a time when unemployed academic librarians worry about the prospects of finding a job, many employed librarians face cuts in pay or hours and wonder how their salaries compare to those of other librarians in similar positions across the country. Using the 2010 American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) Salary Survey[note]2010 ALA-APA Salary Survey (2010). Chicago, IL: American Library Association-Allied Professional Association.[/note]data, this Fast Facts compares the average academic librarian salaries in the West and Southwest region,[note]The West and Southwest region includes: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.[/note] which includes Colorado, to the salaries of academic librarians in all regions. These regional comparisons are broken down by type of academic institution and job category,[note]See the 2010 ALA-APA Salary Survey for definitions of the job categories.[/note] so that a total of 18 comparisons are presented.

The ALA-APA Salary Survey is a national survey conducted to ensure librarians, and those who hire librarians, have accurate and timely salary data. Information about the methodology, as well as additional data and findings, can be found in the 2010 ALA-APA Salary Survey.

University library directors in the West and Southwest region are the highest paid academic librarians. They averaged a yearly salary of $140,456 in 2010 (see Chart 1).

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That figure is 16 percent more than the average reported for university directors in all regions, and 97 percent more than the national average salary of a director at a two-year college. Similarly, university deputy, associate, or assistant directors in this region were the highest paid librarians in their job category. Their average salary was 14 percent higher than those in all regions.

The West and Southwest region also has the highest average salary for department head/coordinator/senior manager positions; this position at a two-year college has an average salary that is 26 percent higher than the national average (see Chart 2). Yet that same position and region also has the lowest average salary at a four-year college, making 17 percent less per year, compared with all regions. The manager/supervisor of support staff category in the West and Southwest follows this trend, with those at two-year colleges making the highest average salary in this category, and those at four-year colleges making the lowest average salary. In fact, four-year colleges pay the lowest average salaries in every job category except beginning librarian.

297_Chart 2

For the job category “librarians who do not supervise,” the highest average salary is for librarians in the West and Southwest region in two-year colleges (see Chart 3). Similarly, beginning librarians at two-year colleges in this region make the highest average salary of all academic institutions in this job category.

297_Chart 3

In 2010, the West and Southwest remained a competitive region for academic librarian salaries. Academic librarians in the West and Southwest received higher salaries than the national average in 11 of the 18 comparisons reported here. This was particularly the case in two-year colleges; academic librarians in the West and Southwest who worked in this type of institution reported the highest average salaries in each job category except director/assistant director.