Minimum Salaries by State

At ALA’s Annual Conference 2008, the ALA-Allied Professional Association: the Organization for the Advancement of Library Employees (ALA-APA) Council adopted a resolution to endorse a minimum salary for professional librarians of not less than $41,680 per year.

At present, the library associations of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin have also recommended minimum salaries. Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey meet or surpass ALA’s recommended $41,680 minimum salary.

Connecticut Minimum Salary Guidelines

The Connecticut Library Association recommends a minimum salary for entry-level positions requiring an MLS. As of July 1, 2010, this salary is $26.00/hour.

For full-time jobs, this translates to:

$47,320/year for a 35 hour week
$50,700/year for a 37.5 hour week
$54,080/year for a 40 hour week

For more information, see the Connecticut Library Association.

Maine Minimum Salary Guidelines

The Maine Library Association salary guidelines cover eight job levels or distinct classifications and are based upon a “Livable Wage” computation issued by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

Position (required degree)	Compared with	Hourly entry level recommended wage	Annual entry level recommended wage
Library page	—	Minimum wage
Clerk	—	$10.30	$21,424
Technician (High School diploma)	Ed Tech I	$10.84	$22,547
Technician (Associates degree)	Ed Tech II	$12.01	$24,980
Librarian (Bachelor’s)	Teacher with Bachelor’s	$13.98	$29,078
Librarian (MLS or equivalent)	Teacher with Master’s	$15.15	$31,512
Department Head (MLS or equivalent)	Assistant Principal	$16.51	$34,340
Library Director	HS Principal	$21.46	$44,636

Massachusetts Minimum Salary Guidelines

$47,957/year – Full-time professional librarian

Rather than establish one statewide salary minimum, the Massachusetts Library Association has adopted a formula (see note at top of page). Before applying for a library position, job seekers should contact the state association for minimum salary information. For more information, visit the Massachusetts Library Association.

New Jersey Minimum Salary Guidelines

$50,765.00/year (hourly $27.89) – New full-time professional librarian

For comparison, view the previous year’s recommendation. For more information, visit the New Jersey Library Association.

Pennsylvania Minimum Salary Guidelines

$35,132/year – New full-time professional librarian

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Library Association.

Texas Minimum Salary Guidelines

$40,000/year – New full-time professional librarian

For more information, visit the Texas Library Association.

Vermont Minimum Salary Guidelines

$40,300 – Full-time public library director

For more information, see the Vermont Library Association.