(14 Jul 2022) The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Annual Salary Survey 2020, which analyzes salary data for professional staff working in 123 of the 124 ARL member libraries during 2020. Data are reported for 10,626 professional staff from 115 of the 116 university ARL libraries in Canada and the United States* and for 3,514 professional staff of the 8 US federal and public ARL libraries. In the Salary Survey, data for university library staff are usually reported in three distinct groups: general library systems, health sciences libraries, and law libraries.
The median salary for professionals in US ARL university libraries in 2020 was $76,400, an increase of 0.4% over the 2019 median salary of $76,076. The US CPI rose 1.0% during the same period. The Canadian CPI rose 0.1%, and median salaries in Canadian university libraries decreased 0.4% from $104,123 (Canadian dollars) to $103,662 (Canadian dollars). The median salary for US federal and public ARL libraries decreased 5.2% from $95,101 in 2019 to $90,119 in 2020.
The ARL Annual Salary Survey 2020 analyzes salary data from a number of different perspectives, including race, ethnicity, and sex. Individuals from historically underrepresented groups make up 17% of the professional staff in US ARL university libraries; the percentage of individuals in managerial or administrative positions who are also from historically underrepresented groups is lower. Women make up 64% of historically underrepresented staff members. Sex-based salary differentials persist in ARL libraries in 2020. The overall salary for women in 115 of the 116 ARL university libraries is 95.5% of that paid to men.
Other characteristics of ARL university libraries illustrate differences in salary. Some of these indicators are outlined in the Salary Survey’s introduction and extensive tables.
The online version of the ARL Annual Salary Survey 2020 includes access to a downloadable Microsoft Excel file of the data tables that are presented in the publication.
ISBN 978-1-948964-35-7
$170 (ARL member institutions have free IP access as a benefit of membership.)
The press release is here.
