Library directors: gender and salary

Mary Jo Lynch, Director, ALA Office for Research and Statistics

The ALA survey has always asked for the salary of the director. In 1999, we also asked the respondents to indicate the gender of the director. Results are summarized on Tables 1 and 2 below.

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Table 1: Gender of Library Directors

Male %

Female %

Total %

Academic

43

57

100

Public

35

65

100

Combined

39

61

100



Table 2: Average Salary of Library Directors

Male

Female

Total

Academic

$62,961

$58,202

$60,232

Public

$75,383

$64,549

$68,299

Combined

$68,586

$61,614

$64,304


The gender distribution for directors shown on Table 3 is different from the gender distribution for all MLS staff in the same types of libraries, as revealed by results of a "supplementary question" on race/ethnicity and gender in the 1998 salary survey. Those results are included below. Regarding gender, (Table 3) they show the following pattern:

Table 3: Gender by Library Type

Academic

Public

Female

67.99

78.91

Male

32.01

21.09

Total

100.00

100.00


The conclusions from this data are not a surprise. Though most library directors are women, the percentage of directors who are men exceeds the percentage of librarians who are men. Also, men's salaries tend to be higher than women's, even for the same position.

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