Professional Sustainability: The Elephant in the Archives

Dana MillerSAA Session #106August 13, 2009

The Elephant in the Room

According to Wikipedia:

“The term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue that is obvious, but which is ignored by a group of people, generally out of embarrassment or taboo.

The idiom can imply a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.”

Archival sustainability and the questions we dare not ask…

Who can afford to become an archivist in 2009?

How bad is it out there?

What does the job market

look like?

How long can I afford to remain an archivist?

Why don’t we have more diversity in our ranks?

Are there enough jobs to go around?

Will I be able to find a permanent position?

Does my organization really value the work I do if they do not fund my programs?

What does it mean to work in a “feminized” profession?

Representatives from the Archives Career Spectrum

Recent graduate: Michelle Bogart

Early-career professional (3-5 years experience): Dana Miller

University Archivist (Manager): Elizabeth Slomba

Expatriate: Dayna Holz

Dissecting the Elephant- The Issues

Insufficient Opportunity More temporary positions than

permanent ones Limited advancement options

inside current repository Not enough jobs to go around

Lack of Diversity in the Workforce Archival Education

Proliferation of graduate programs misleading prospective students into thinking steady employment is easier to attain

Exorbitant cost of archival graduate education Not enough funding to help graduate students

Low Salaries

Is this really an elephant?

Analyze archives job announcements for January-July 2009 (last 7 months) to compose snapshot of current job market

Review A-Census 2004 with special attention to salary, diversity, regional differences.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data and Comparisons- archivist profile, compared to librarian and secondary education teacher (ie public school teacher w/ a masters degree)

Graduate archives programs- how many programs are there, how many graduates are they producing, how much do they cost to attend?

Job Market Snapshot

Sources of Job Announcements: SAA Online Career Center ALA Joblist- “archives” search GetArchivistJobs.com aggregator

Eliminated duplicates, non-archives announcements, and unpaid opportunities

My total: 114 unique job announcements Estimated total: 143 job announcements

(including those not listed on my source sites)

Criteria by which I analyzed job announcements: Level and type of position

Entry-level/Project/Processor: mainly processing Mid-level: non-management, duties beyond processing Manager/Director/Curator: mainly supervisory role

Temporary vs. Permanent If temporary, how long? 1-3 years

Type of repository Academic Historical Society Public Library Corporate/ Non-profit Government

Geographic region Pay range

Job Announcements 2009: Type of Repository

Academic Special Collections/University Archives: 55%

Corporations and Non-Profits:17%

Government: 12%

Historical Societies: 9%

Religious Archives: 4%

Public Libraries: 3%

Job Announcements 2009: by Region

West: 14 jobs (12.3 %)

Mountain States: 11 jobs (9.6%)

Midwest: 22 jobs (19.3%)

Southwest: 11 jobs (9.6%) South: 21 jobs (18.5%)

East: 35 jobs (30.7%)

Job Announcements: Types/Levels

Management21%

Mid-Level38%

Entry Level: Project, and Processing

41%

Insufficient Opportunity: Temporary vs. Permanent Positions

Permanent71%

Temporary Positions

(1-3 years)29%

Of temporary positions,half were 2 year projects, nearly half were 1 year or less,and only 5 were 3 years.

Job Announcements 2009

Insufficient Opportunity: Temporary vs. Permanent Positions

Of 47 entry level project or processing jobs, 25 were temporary

Of 43 mid-level jobs, 6 were temporary Of 24 management jobs, 1 was temporary

05

10

152025303540

4550

Entry Level Mid-Level Management

Total Jobs

Temporary Jobs

Job Announcements 2009

Insufficient Opportunity: Limited options to advance within one’s current organization

Job announcements not informative on this issue Obvious: not everyone can expect to be the boss A-Census 2004 expects large numbers of Baby

Boomers reporting they plan to retire in “3-9 years” (from 2004)

Not every position that is vacated through retirement will continue to exist at that repository

Many must leave their current repository in order to move up

Can you hold on until 2013?

Insufficient Opportunity:Not enough to go around There were only approx.127-143 job announcements

over 7 months (versus how many job seekers?) Other evidence:

Archivists leave the profession every year – not because they want to, but out of necessity.

Recent graduates commonly spend 6 months to a year job-hunting after graduation

A-Census 2004: despite an anticipated workforce shortage upon Baby Boomer retirement, there is at present a dire shortage of available archives jobs.

Shared problem with librarians and historians.

Lack of Diversity

As a profession archives is composed of only 7% minorities, as opposed to 25% of the general population.

The largest identifiable group is African Americans at under 3%.

Approximately 80% of all archives program graduate students in 2004 were white; 90% for full-time students.

Among students, men were only 16% of the population.

--Brenda BanksA-Census, p. 490

Special Section on Diversity

Archival Education

The MLIS is now the accepted standard entry method (formerly it was on-the-job training)

Too many programs? Too many graduates? Cost of attendance is often exorbitant or

prohibitive, out of proportion to average earning capacity

Not enough funding for students A need for more scholarships Is it ethical to accept students who may never

work in the field?

Archival Education: Too many graduates, not enough jobs

Listed on SAA website:San Jose State UniversityUCLAIndiana University at BloomingtonLoyola University ChicagoLouisiana State UniversityUniversity of MarylandSimmons CollegeUniversity of MichiganWayne StateLong Island UniversityNew York UniversityPratt InstituteSt. John’s University

SUNY AlbanyNorth Caroline State University Kent StateDrexel UniversityUniversity of Pittsburgh Temple UniversityEast Tennessee State UniversityWestern Washington UniversityUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Not listed on SAA website:University of Texas, AustinUniversity of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill

Archival Education: The Cost of Tuition for the Top 5 Programs *

Estimates are based on 3 semesters and do not include any living expenses or fees.

UT Austin: $17,800 in-state, $33,800 non-resident U Michigan: $32,700 in-state, $66,100 non-resident U Pittsburgh: $24,900 in-state, $44,000 non-resident UCLA: $16,000 in-state, $25,700 non-resident U Maryland: $17,000 in-state, $36,600 non-resident

*According to U.S. News Rankings 2009

Salaries: Job Announcements 2009 Starting Salaries

$35K-$39K: 8%

$30,000 or less: 5%

$73K: <1%

$91K: <1%$64K-$66K: 2%

$54K-$55K: 1.5%

$58K-$60K: 4%

$40K-$42K: 12%

$44K-$46K: 7%

$48-$50K: 8%

$134K: <1%

No Salary Information

50%

Of the 57 job announcements that included salary information, approx. 70% of the starting salaries were between $35,000 and $50,000. 10% offered less than $35,000 and 20% offered more than $54,000.

Salaries: A-Census 2004 DataAverage Salaries Reported $20K or less: 2.6% (about 100 respondents) (p 371 also) $20K-$29K: roughly 10% (just over 400 respondents) $30K-$39K: 22% (almost 1000 respondents) $40K-$49K: 22% (almost 1000 respondents) $50K-$59K: 14% (600 respondents) $60K-$69K: 9% (just under 400 respondents) with the remaining 25% spread between ranges from $70K and

over. --A-Census p. 371

The $30,000 to $49,000 ranges were the most common pay ranges in 2004, reported by 44% percent of the respondents.

As compared to my 2009 job market analysis which showed that 70% of archives positions had a starting salary between $35,000-$50,000.

The mean salary of all archivists in 2004 was $49,329. --A-Census

Salaries: Job Announcements 2009 High End of Salary Ranges

38 job announcements listed a range rather than a minimum or flatnumber. As follows:

1 job topped out at $32K.4 jobs topped out between $38K-$42K3 jobs topped out between $43K-$46K6 jobs topped out between $49K-$50K3 jobs topped out between $52K-$55K3 jobs topped out between $59K-$62K5 jobs topped out between $64K-$67K7 jobs topped out between $72K-$78K6 jobs at the top of the pay scale topped out between $90K and $132K, with one very high level job going up to $162K

Salaries: Is your collar pink?

A-Census 2004: 65% of respondents were female mean salary for men in FY2003 was $55,302 mean salary for women was $46,604

--A-Census, p. 371 Largely dependent upon what types of repositories

women work at versus men and what type of work they perform, as well as slightly more men in management positions.

Feminized or “pink collar” professions like nursing and teaching are historically underpaid, undervalued.

Throughout A-Census, it is clear that minorities also make slightly lower salaries than average, for many of the same reasons.

Salaries: Regional breakdown

Mid-Atlantic: 56,517 Upper Mid-Atlantic: $50,632 (PA, NJ) South Mid-Atlantic: $63,687 (DC, MD, DE, WV) West: 55,403 (CA, NV, HI) New England: 49,365 (ME, VT, NH, RI, MA, CT) Northwest (WA, OR, AK): $48,905 Mountain: 46,815 (ID, MT, WY, CO, UT) Midwest: $46,296 Great Lakes: $47,632 (IL, IN, MICH, MINN, OH, WI) Plains: $43,226 (ND, SD NE, KS, IO, MO) Southwest: $43,901 (AZ, NM, TX, OK) South Atlantic: 43,217 (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA) South Central: 41,801 (AL, AR, KE, LA, MS, TN)

--A-Census p. 373

Salaries: Know your neighborhood

Determining your cost of living is vital…

$50,000 in Oakland, CA = $45,000 in Boston, MA = $42,500 in Boulder, CO and Seattle, WA = $38,000 in Chicago, IL = $35,000 in Laramie, WY and Milwaukee, WI; = $30,000 in Memphis, TN and St. Louis, MO. But you would need $75,500 to live at the same standard in Manhattan.

CNN Money cost of living calculatorhttp://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html

Salary.com’s Salary Wizard reports the median expected salary for a typical “document librarian.”

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard

What other tools do you use?

Salaries:Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2009

5,330 Archivists: mean annual salary $48,220

10,820 Curators: mean annual salary $51,540

151,170 Librarians: mean annual salary $54,700

Mean annual salaries for teachers, nationwide:

1,544,270 Elementary school teachers: $52,240

661,820 Middle school teachers: $52,570

1,090,490 Secondary school teachers: $54,390

Helping the archives profession to love you back…

Increase opportunity! All archivists, but especially managers, can advocate more loudly for our

programs, and do more effective outreach. Managers can advocate for permanent processor positions in appropriate

repositories. Increase diversity!

Archives leaders could work towards diversity by embracing the suggestions of A-Census experts.

Rethink the approach to education! Graduate programs could limit the number of students they accept each

year. More scholarships and graduate funding can be made a priority.

Better salaries! SAA could follow the lead of larger sister organizations

In June 2008, the ALA passed a resolution endorsing a non-binding minimum salary of $41,680 for professional librarians.

Require job announcements to include some salary information. Job seekers can more assertively advocate for themselves when

negotiating salaries.

No matter the issue, Outreach is KeyOutreach is Key…

“The fact that there is an abhorrent lack of knowledge about who we are and what we do continues to be a major drawback for recruitment for the profession in general. While other professions have launched major public awareness campaigns, we are hiding in the stacks waiting to be discovered by the best and brightest students. It is the responsibility of professional organizations as well as archival institutions to make drastic changes in our attitude, and to remedy the lack of action in this area.”

--Brenda Banks,

A-Census 491

So long, elephant in the room…