General

 A study reported in 1982 of academic job advertisements at 5-year intervals (1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, and 1979) over a 20-year period taken from 3 library journals (Library Journal, ALA Bulletin/American Libraries, and College and Research Libraries/College and Research Libraries News), excluding jobs that were primarily administrative or technical in nature for a total of 1,254 jobs, showed thatin 1959,70 (37.8%) of the jobs advertised required library experience, of which 20 (10.8%) required specialized experience, while by 1979, 171 (68.4%) of the jobs required library experience, of which 138 (55.2%) required specialized experience.                  (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that generally prior experience was associated with higher salaries, while subject master’s degrees were associated with higher salaries only recently. Specifically, advertised salaries of positions requiring experience were statistically significantly higher than salaries of positions not requiring experience in 4 of the 5 years studied (significance level at .001 or better), while advertised salaries of positions requiring subject master’s degrees were statistically significantly higher only in the 1974 and 1979 periods studied (significance level at .05 or better).                  (Source)

 Academic

 A study of academic job advertisements at 5-year intervals (1959,1964, 1969, 1974, and 1979) over a 20-year period taken from 3 library journals (Library Journal, ALA Bulletin/American Libraries and College and Research Libraries/College and Research Libraries News), excluding jobs that were primarily administrative or technical in nature for a total of 1,254 jobs, showed thatin 1959, 70 (37.8%) of the jobs advertised required library experience, of which 20 (10.8%) required specialized experience, while by 1979, 171 (68.4%) of the jobs required library experience, of which 138 (55.2%) required specialized experience.                       (Source)

 A 1979 survey of members of the ACRL Discussion Group of Personnel Officers (sample size: 45; responding: 30) concerning entry-level requirements for professionals showed that24 out of 27 agreed that previous nonprofessional experience was an important requirement for an entry-level position. The “majority” also indicated that the experience should be in an academic library.                   (Source)

 School

 A 1983 survey of a systematic sample of school library media centers concerning data for fiscal year 1982-83 (survey size: 2,000 centers; responding: 1,297; usable: 1,251 or 62%) showed thata comparison of schools with (666 schools) and without (597 schools) district-level library media coordinators revealed that schools without district coordinators spent more money per student on resources and had more books per student than schools with district coordinators. However, schools with district coordinators paid media specialists higher salaries, had more AV items per student, had more clerical assistance, and used more adult volunteers than schools without district coordinators. Specifically:

                 total materials expenditure per student in schools with coordinators averaged $8.80 and in schools without coordinators averaged $10.92;

                 average books per student in schools with coordinators averaged 18 and in schools without coordinators averaged 20;

                 number of AV items per student in schools with coordinators averaged 3.45 and in schools without coordinators averaged 3.03;

                 media specialist salary in schools with coordinators averaged $20,699 and in schools without coordinators averaged $19,354;

                 the number of clerical assistants and adult volunteers in schools with coordinators averaged .83 and 2.46, respectively, and in schools without coordinators averaged .77 and 1.85, respectively.                         (Source)

 Special

 A preliminary analysis reported in 1976 of a survey of American Association of Law Libraries members (survey size: “approximately 2,000” individuals; responding: “approximately 1,400” or 70%, of which responses from 888 respondents were analyzed at the time of the report) showed thatthe experience of the respondents (as law librarians) was as follows:

                   3 years or less                              36% respondents

      4-7 years experience                       26% respondents

               8-10 years experience                      13% respondents

               over 10 years experience                  26% respondents

This is a younger group than indicated by an earlier survey of AALL members in 1970, which showed that46% respondents had over 10 years of experience while 22% had 3 years or less of law library experience.               (Source)

Dr. David Kohl

 "Libraries in the digital age are experiencing the most profound transformation since ancient Mesopotamian scribes first began gathering and organizing cuneiform tablets."

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