Why Do Librarians Starve While Executives Feast?

 

I love libraries, bookstores, literacy advocacy groups, and any cultural institutions that serve book readers and encourage the act of reading. But it saddens me to say that those who intimately work with the public and interact with readers -- librarians, bookstore workers, and literacy teachers -- are underpaid. Meanwhile, some executives are eating up valuable resources with bloated salaries. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual wage for librarians, including academic librarians, in the United States was $61,670 as of May 2020. However, salaries can vary depending on factors such as the type and size of the institution, the librarian's experience and education level, and the geographic location. 

Contrast this with what the New York Public Library CFO makes: 1.34 million dollars annually. -- even more than the system's president, who earns just under a million bucks. The Queen Public Library System serves a borough similarly sized to that of Brooklyn, yet the president of the Queens Public Library makes 336,953 -- about half that of Brooklyn's library president of $652,035 

Basically, the fat cats are earning up to 20 times what the librarians earn. In the corporate world, many executives make multiples of that above what the average worker at the company makes, but that doesn’t mean it is fair or good. When we are in the governmental or non-profit world, there should not be a huge gap between the top of the food chain and those that work hard to keep the organization running. Librarians are in the trenches and do a lot. 

Executives are basically fundraisers. They should start by not taking so much of what they raise. 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.7 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.