2002 SLA Salary Survey
2002 SLA Salary Survey
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Index
2002 Basic Annual Salaries
Survey Administration
Organization of the 2002 Report
Summary of Contents
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2002 Basic Annual Salaries: Canada and the United States
 
Salary
Percent
Change
10th Percentile
First Quartile
25%
Median
50%
Third Quartile
75%
90th Percentile
Number
Mean
Mean
Percent Change
All Canadian Respondents*
40,009
47,925
56,653
69,656
80,000
300
59,328
4.0%
All U.S. Respondents
37,287
45,450
56,500
71,817
89,000
1,933
60,583
4.2%
*All salaries in Canadian tables are reported in Canadian dollars. The exchange rate on April 1, 2002 was $1.55 Canadian = $1 U.S.
  SLA's 2002 Salary Survey indicates an overall increase in earnings since 2001. As indicated in the table above:
• The median pay (the salary in the middle of the distribution) for full-time information professionals in Canada as of April 1, 2002 was $56,653; the average, or mean, was $59,328;
• The U.S. median pay for full-time information professionals as of April 1, 2002 was $56,500; the average, or mean, was $60,583;
• The median increase in salary for information professionals in Canada was 2.4%, while a healthy increase of 3.7% was reported in the United States. The overall inflation rate for Canada, measured by the Consumer Price Index, was 1.3%, the very same rate as in the United States.
• Canadian respondents in the same positions between April 1, 2001, and April 1, 2002, reported a mean percent change in earnings of 4.0%. The Mean Percent Change reported for respondents in the same positions is the U.S. was 4.2%. Importantly, the Mean Percent Changes in this report are calculated only for respondents in the same job and at the same organization in the 2002 that they were in 2001 and does not represent the Mean Percent Change from the data in the 2001 survey.

Survey Administration
In early April, 2002 SLA mailed questionnaires to a random sample of less than half of the U.S. membership and to all of the regular and associate Canadian members, a total of 6,038 surveys. Members returned a total of 2,778 surveys to Association Research, Inc. (ARI). As in prior years, data from the 2002 salary survey were entered and tabulated by ARI to ensure respondent confidentiality. A member in good standing of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), ARI has extensive experience in both designing, tabulating, and interpreting surveys and also in working with the greater association community. A second mailing was sent in May reminding respondents who had not completed the survey of its importance. Simultaneously, SLA posted a similar reminder on SLA discussion lists. After eliminating the 40 surveys returned for incorrect addresses, the completion rate for the 2002 salary survey is 46%.

Organization of the 2002 Salary Survey Report
The 2002 SLA Salary Survey report is organized so that information likely to be of use to a single user is more likely to be grouped together.
• Data on the United States and Canada has been separated so that all tables relevant to each country are now grouped together. Chapters one through five include Canadian data, while chapters six through ten are comprised of U.S. data.
•Each chapter represents the data for a specific job description. Chapters one and six are for all Canadian and US respondents, respectively; chapters two and seven refer to data for those serving primarily in an administrative or managerial capacity; chapters three and eight relate to data for reference librarians and professionals; chapters four and nine are for those with "general responsibilities" and chapters five and ten report data for those performing technical services. Approximately 65% of all respondents fit into one of the four job-descriptions above, with the other 35% of respondents fragmented among the remaining twenty or so descriptions.
• The data within each chapter is divided into three sections: demographic, institutional and job-specific. Demographic data relates to personal characteristics of the respondent, institutional data relates to characteristics of the respondent's employer and job-specific data is that which relates to the particular job held by the respondent.

Summary of Contents
Chapters
 
Canada      
  Chapter One:   All Canadian Respondents
  Chapter Two:   Primary Responsibility - Administrative/Management
  Chapter Three:   Primary Responsibility - Reference
  Chapter Four:   Primary Responsibility - General Responsibilities
  Chapter Five:   Primary Responsibility - Technical Services
United States
  Chapter Six:   All United States Respondents
  Chapter Seven:   Primary Responsibility - Administrative/Management
  Chapter Eight:   Primary Responsibility - Reference
  Chapter Nine:   Primary Responsibility - General Responsibilities
  Chapter Ten:   Primary Responsibility - Technical Services
 
Tables within Each Chapter
 
Demographic Data  
  Table 1 - Salary Distribution by Region/Census Division  
  Table 2 - Salary Distribution by Metropolitan Areas  
  Table 3 - Salary Distribution by Subject Degree Field  
  Table 4 - Salary Distribution by Library/Information Science Degree  
  Table 5 - Salary Distribution by Degree Held  
  Table 6 - Salary Distribution by Years of Library Experience  
  Table 7 - Salary Distribution by Years of Total Work Experience  
  Table 8 - Salary Distribution by Gender  
  Table 9 - Salary Distribution by Ethnicity/Race  
Institutional Data
  Table 10 - Salary Distribution by Number of Employee  
  Table 11 - Salary Distribution by Non-profit Status  
  Table 12 - Salary Distribution by Business Sector  
  Table 13 - Salary Distribution by Institution/Industry  
  Table 14 - Salary Distribution by Union v. Non-union  
Job-specific Data
  Table 15 - Salary Distribution by Number of Years with Present Employer  
  Table 16 - Salary Distribution by Number of Employees Supervised or Managed  
  Table 17 - Salary Distribution by Primary Job Responsibility  
  Table 18 - Salary Distribution by Primary Job Title  
  Table 19 - Salary Distribution by Library or Information Resource Center Setting  
  Table 20 - Salary Distribution by Library/Information Center Annual Budget  
  Table 21 - Salary Distribution by Full-time Equivalent Employees in Library/Information Center  
  Table 22 - Number and Percentage of Employees by Type of Benefits Provided by Institution Group  
  Table 23 - Salary Distribution by Self-Employed Status  
  Table 24 - Salary Distribution by Contract Basis at Primary Job  
  Table 25 - Salary Distribution by Number of Part-time Jobs Held  
  Table 26 - Salary Distribution by Number of Part-time Hours Worked per Week  
  Table 27 - Salary Distribution by Reasons for Working Part-time  
  Table 28 - Average Hourly Rate for Part-time Employees by Census Division  

Also available are Executive Summaries of SLA's annual salary surveys for earlier years included in the Salary Surveys Information Portal.

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