Academic

Postings for library jobs remained steady in 2016, according to LRS’s popular library job posting website, LibraryJobline.org. In 2016, 673 jobs were posted—the most ever since the service’s launch in 2007. Average hourly salaries for Academic library positions remained steady ($21.96) and Public library positions ($22.09) increased by 6% since 2015. The average hourly salary for School libraries ($19.22) recovered from its low in 2015 ($16.62). Read on to learn more about how the rest of 2016 shaped up.

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Postings for library jobs continued their upward trajectory in 2015, according to LRS’s popular library job posting website, LibraryJobline.org. In 2015, 656 jobs were posted—the most ever since the service’s launch in 2007—and almost 3 times that of 2009’s low of 228 postings. Average hourly salaries for Academic ($21.79) and Public ($20.80) library positions were at an all time high, though the average salary for School libraries ($16.62) fell by 20% since its high in 2012 ($20.74). Read on to learn more about how the rest of 2015 shaped up.

Library jobs have officially recovered from the Great Recession, according to LRS’s popular library job posting website, LibraryJobline.org. In 2014, 615 jobs were posted—the most ever since the service’s launch in 2007—and more than twice that of 2009’s 228 jobs, a site low. We also saw the highest average starting wages for positions preferring the MLIS ($24.45 per hour) and requiring the MLIS ($25.31 per hour). Read on to learn more about how the rest of 2014 shaped up.

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Introduction
An examination of data from Library Jobline, a job-posting website operated by the Library Research Service, provides insight into Colorado’s library job climate. The data from 2012 shows that, for the third year in a row, the number of employment opportunities in the field has increased, but the level of compensation for professional-level library positions¹ has decreased slightly since 2011.

Job Postings
In 2012, 393 library positions were posted to Library Jobline, thus continuing the upward trend since 2009, when the number was just 228 (Chart 1).² On average, 33 library positions were posted to Library Jobline each month during 2012. Compared with other months, June saw the most postings (49), whereas April saw the fewest (25).

Subscriptions
Library Jobline’s website redesign in early 2012 may have contributed to the influx in its subscriptions. An additional 97 employers registered with Library Jobline in 2012—an increase of 19 percent over the previous year—which brought the total number of registered employers to 602. The number of registered job seekers rose by 44 percent, or 729 members, which propelled Library Jobline’s total number of registered job seekers to almost 2,400.

Views
Despite sizeable increases in the number of job postings and the number of registered job seekers, LibraryJobline.org experienced less traffic in 2012 than in the previous two years. In 2012, Library Jobline postings were viewed 521,655 times—down more than 100,000 views from 2011, and more than 200,000 views from 2010. Curiously, more than one-third (37%) of the 2012 views were of jobs that were posted prior to 2012.

The diminished traffic might be partially attributed to job seekers’ reliance on alternative notification channels. By the end of 2012, Library Jobline (@libraryjobline) had accrued 345 Twitter followers (up from 202 at the end of 2011), and tweeted 616 times—159 times more than in 2011. Additionally, Library Jobline generated 272,243 email notifications in 2012, and individual RSS feeds were accessed 64,737 times.³

Requirements and Preferences
About one-fifth (21%) of the Library Jobline postings for 2012 specified that a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree was required—a decrease from 2011, when one-third (33%) required one (Table 1). An additional 15 percent of job postings in 2012 specified a preference for candidates with an MLIS degree, compared with 13 percent in 2011. The remaining 64 percent either specified that an MLIS degree was not required, or simply included no information about it. The percentage of job postings that listed additional requirements and/or preferences changed little from 2011.

Starting Wages
Compared to 2011, the average starting hourly wage decreased by $0.34 per hour for Library Jobline postings that specified the requirement of an MLIS/MLS degree, and $0.67 per hour for those that listed it as a preference (Chart 2). Conversely, the average starting hourly wage for postings that did not require an MLIS/MLS degree increased by $0.66 per hour. Although this may be unsettling for those who choose to pursue MLIS/MLS degrees, it is too soon to determine whether the decline in compensation for professional-level library jobs since 2011 is a trend.

Conclusion
Library Jobline’s 2012 data offers mixed messages about Colorado’s library job climate. The number of employment opportunities listed with Library Jobline has steadily increased since 2009, and offers hope that it might soon reach pre-recession levels. Unfortunately, average starting hourly wages for library positions posted with Library Jobline do not demonstrate the same upward trend.

Indeed, 5 years of data suggest that starting wages are stagnant overall. Job seekers can likely expect more opportunities for Colorado library employment in the coming years; however, they should not count on higher levels of compensation.

LibraryJobline.org, an online resource maintained by the Library Research Service (LRS) at the Colorado State Library, lists job postings from employers in Colorado and beyond.⁴ Library Jobline dates back to 2007, offering 5 years’ worth of statistics about Colorado’s library job climate.

An analysis of Library Jobline statistics over time, in conjunction with data gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the American Library Association (ALA), and Library Journal, indicates slight improvements to the library job climate in 2011. This Fast Facts addresses these improvements as they pertain to the number of job postings, full-time positions, and starting salaries, and provides current job seekers with reason to feel cautiously optimistic about their quests to find library jobs.

Subscriptions
In 2011, more than 500 employers and 1,600 job seekers—223 of whom joined in 2011—were registered with Library Jobline. Almost two-thirds (63%) of those job seekers were signed up to receive email notifications of new job postings, and another 656 job seekers (39%) had opted into a custom RSS feed to stay abreast of the latest library job opportunities. Library job seekers can also monitor Library Jobline postings via Twitter; in 2011, @LibraryJobline had accrued 224 followers.

Job Postings Continue to Rise
Since bottoming out in 2009, the number of annual Library Jobline postings rose 43 percent in 2011, from 233 to 334 (see Chart 1). March, May, and June saw the most job postings, or an average of 35 new jobs per month, whereas January, September, and November were the worst months for job seekers, with an average of only 19 new postings per month. As compared to previous years, the monthly average of 26 postings per month is the highest since 2008, which saw an average of 35 new jobs per month.

The number of times that Library Jobline postings were viewed overall decreased slightly in 2011, from an all-time high of 728,024 in 2010 to 651,599—a difference of 10 percent (see Chart 2). In addition, the number of views per job posting also dropped by almost 30 percent, from an average of 2,757 in 2010 to 1,951 in 2011. While this shift could signify a healthier job market, in which fewer people are looking for open positions, it might also be attributed to the rise in the number of Library Jobline users who receive news about available positions via customized emails, RSS feed, or Twitter, rather than by accessing those postings directly from LibraryJobline.org.

*No job view data is available for 2007.

Requirements and Preferences
Across all 2011 Library Jobline postings, one third (33%) required applicants to have an ALA-accredited Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree or Master of Library Science (MLS) degree. Another 12 percent of jobs preferred candidates who had an MLIS or MLS degree. The remaining 54 percent of job postings did not require an MLIS or MLS degree.

Entry-level library job seekers may be relieved to know that in 2011, only 1 in 4 Library Jobline postings specifically required 1 or more years of library experience, and only 1 in 5 stated experience as a preference. More than 80 percent of employers did not require professional-level library experience, and 11 percent listed professional-level experience as a preference. Just 1 in 10 postings (38 in total) required 1 or more years of supervisory experience, while another 11 percent preferred it.

More than one-fifth (22%) of all 2011 postings gave preference to candidates with Spanish-language skills, and 2 percent made Spanish a requirement.

Full-Time and Permanent Postings
While just over half (53%) of job postings in 2010 were full-time positions, nearly 62 percent of 2011 postings to Library Jobline were for 40-hour-per-week positions. Only 21 postings, a mere 6 percent, were for temporary positions.

Starting Salaries
In 2011, the average starting salary for professional positions was $24 per hour, which was equal to the starting salary for professional positions in 2010, but still down from the $24.50 average in 2009 (see Chart 3). Wages for positions which did not require an MLIS continued to climb for the third year in a row.

Related National Data
In 2010, the median annual wage for a librarian, according to BLS,⁵was $54,500 annually, or an hourly rate of $26.50. Whereas data from the 2010 ALA-APA Salary Survey⁶ (the most recent year available) shows an average starting salary of $48,317 annually, or $23.23 per hour. For recent LIS graduates—notably not all librarians—Library Journal’s “Placements & Salaries Survey 2011”⁷ reports an average starting salary of $42,566, or $20.46 per hour. Although these data points are valuable in evaluating current and potential salaries for librarian positions, caution should be exercised in comparing them to each other or to Library Jobline data, as they represent different data sets and geographic areas.

Conclusion
Data collected from Library Jobline shows modest improvement in 2011 for Colorado’s library job market, as marked by an increase in job postings. Starting salaries for positions that required an MLS/MLIS remained stable, and they improved slightly for those jobs that did not require an MLIS. While restoring hope for both library job seekers and employers, this information demonstrates that despite some signs of recovery the job market has not fully recuperated.