Library Interviews and Salary Negotiations

Part of negotiating your salary is brushing up on what you are worth to the organization. You can find this information by looking up other people in your field, and their average salary. It's important to consider geographic location and cost of living, as this greatly fluctuates. Use this Took Kit Salary, and this section of the guide,  to find places to look up potential salaries. Remember, one of the most powerful tools that you have when you start any salary negotiation is information!

​Salary by Library types differ greatly, so it's important to know and understand the differences when you are out on your job search, and while negotiating that salary. Here are the in depth details of the full report. 

• Public Libraries: Public Libraries have the lowest salary level average coming in at $44,565. However, this represents the second year of an upward trend with a substantial increase of 9.7% in the last year, and is now almost tied with the salary level of archives/special collections. 
• Academic Libraries: Salaries for college or university libraries average around $46,850 which is up by 9.4% from the previous year. These salaries greatly differ regionally, as the Mountain states were 17.9% above the average, and Pacific region libraries are well below average by 11.7%.
• School Libraries: The reported average from the survey of $52,848 is 9.3% higher than the overall average and up about 8.8% from last years survey. School libraries in the Midwest are well above average at 11.2% and the Pacific region is above at 19.5%. Note that Media Specialist titles are separate than School Librarian titles, and people with the School Librarian title are paid below the average.