Comments on: A Look at Recessions and their Impact on Librarianship

By: Are You Worth It? What Return on Investment Can and Can’t Tell You About Your Library | In the Library with the Lead Pipe

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:41:26 +0000

[...] ways to save money and, in general, are tightening the purse strings a little more these days. The post on January 14, 2009 in this blog reviewed the state of libraries during recessions and pointed out [...]

By: Hilary Davis

Hilary Davis — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:13:50 +0000

There’s a nice overview in Library Journal on the state of library budgets (published Jan 15): http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6625159.html

By: Ellie

Ellie — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:10:28 +0000

Thanks for doing all that statistical research Hilary! I hope it does inspire more related research.

By: Hilary Davis

Hilary Davis — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:26:30 +0000

Hi Derik – Good question about the breakdown between types of librarianship; unfortunately the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t break down employment by public, academic, corporate, school, etc. librarians. The salary surveys are a little more helpful in that you can look at how salaries are distributed across different types of organizations, but getting historical data on salary breakdowns isn’t straightforward (and in some years, doesn’t seem to exist). This ended up being a pretty ambitious project because data collection was not easy – maybe others out there can suggest other resources, but I could not find a simple, quick method to gather the data (with the exception of the Denise David article that had already compiled a lot of salary data). It would be interesting to compare salaries, employment figures, and other factors with related professions (e.g., teaching) and my hope is that this post will fuel others to do additional research. This was just a first pass at trying to get some perspective on the impact of the economy on our profession. More robust, follow-up studies on this topic would be great for MLS students looking for compelling projects.

By: Derik

Derik — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:25:20 +0000

Interesting post, Hilary (and extra point for stats and graphs).

I have to wonder how those stats would break down if one divided librarians up by public, academic, and corporate librarians. Are public librarians affected more by economic downturns?

I wonder, but not enough to see if such a stat were possible.

By: Links for 2009-1-15 « Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Links for 2009-1-15 « Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:14:07 +0000

[...] A Look at Recessions and their Impact on Librarianship | In the Library with the Lead Pipe Er, just like the title says! (via @bookoven) (tags: books libraries) [...]

By: Emily Ford

Emily Ford — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:45:21 +0000

Also, I just saw mention of this in AL Direct. In a new podcast, George Eberhart, editor of American Libraries Direct, the weekly e-newsletter of American Libraries magazine, discusses the special edition of AL Direct being released Jan. 20. The special edition will describe the many ways the American Library Association (ALA) is involved in dealing with libraries facing a tough economy.

By: Hilary Davis

Hilary Davis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:07:24 +0000

Hi Emily – it’s possible that I missed ALA’s services for laid off librarians, but I did attempt to find something (with no luck). Hopefully others will post ALA services similar to SLA’s employment disruption program. Thanks for pointing out Jim Rettig’s advocacy toolkit link!

By: Emily Ford

Emily Ford — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:56:53 +0000

Hilary, this is certainly a timely post! Even after you wrote it ALA came out with their Advocating in a Tough Economy Toolkit. One of the strengths of your post, I think, is mentioning some of the services offered by professional organizations for librarians who are finding them hit by unemployment during this time. Where is ALA on this list? As the largest professional organization in our field, it seems as if ALA's membership might have been hit hardest, just based on sheer numbers. Were you able to find anything about initiatives from ALA that are in support of individual members? Again, ALA disappoints...

By: “A Look at Recessions and their Impact on Librarianship”…01.14.09 « The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian’s Weblog

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:04:05 +0000

[...] interesting post entitled “A Look at Recessions and their Impact on Librarianship” [http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2009/a-look-at-recessions-and-their-impact-on-librarianship/] on the In the Library with the Lead Pipe blog. Here is the [...]