Librarian Salaries

I had a strange conversation with a fellow librarian the other day. She was complaining about the low salaries of librarians. I asked why she didn't go do something else that paid better, like being an accountant or a lawyer or a greeter at Walmart. She said she didn't want to work that hard. What can you say to that?

Librarians' salaries in general are lower than a lot of other so-called professional jobs, but I'm hardly surprised as I survey the majority of my peers. I hate to break this to all of the poorly paid librarians, but many of the great librarians among you are making a lot more money. The rest of you are paid what you're worth, and you're bringing down the average, that's all.

And it's not like we in general can point to our superior education and training. I mean, library school, come on, it's not exactly difficult. The main challenge is staying awake. I went to a pretty highly ranked library school, and the whole time I was thinking, if this is a high-ranking school, I'd hate to see what goes on in a low-ranking one. It's not the least respectable graduate program around (thank God for the M.Ed.!), but it's hardly like real graduate school.

If you found library school intellectually challenging, I apologize for my comments. Also, I'll try to write this blog more slowly because I know you can't read fast.

I think I'm paid pretty well considering the amount of work I do. And I'm getting paid right now while I write this blog! Another reason to love librarianship.