Poll Results
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"What was your first LIS professional salary out of school?"
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"How important are professional development opportunities when choosing a job?"
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"What is your favorite brand of shoes to wear when working?"
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"If you have a full-time job in the LIS field, do you have another job/s to help pay the bills?"
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"How long after graduating did it take you to get your first professional position?
Q. "What was your first LIS professional salary out of school?"
A. There were 32 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
4 (13%) recieved under $25,000
7 (22%) received between $25,001 and $30,000
11 (34%) received between $30,001 and $35,000
7 (22%) received between $35,001 and $40,000
0 (0%) received between $40,001 and $45,000
3 (9%) received over $45,000
What does this mean?
Well, I hope that those who received less than $25,000 were only working
part-time. This may not be the case though. Your starting salary probably
depends most on the area (geographical) where you are working. I have
seen postings for branch managers in Louisiana for less than $25,000.
Conversely, I have seen lower ranked librarians receive more than $45,000
for working in Los Angeles. It is much cheaper to live in Louisiana than
in Los Angeles. As with all jobs, you must consider the work required
of you and the institution with which you will be working to help determine
what kind of salary to expect. The other thing to consider is how much
you need to live "okay" on. Then ask for 20-25% more.
Q. "How old were you when you received your LIS degree?"
A. There were 34 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
18 (53%) were 20-25 years old
14 (41%) were 26-30 years old
2 (6%) were 31-35 years old
0 (0%) were 36-40 years old
0 (0%) were 41-45 years old
0 (0%) were 46-50 years old
0 (0%) were 51-55 years old
0 (0%) were 56-60 years old
0 (0%) were 61-65 years old
0 (0%) were 65+ years old
What does this mean?
All this means is that the majority of people who read The Young Librarian,
and chose to participate in the poll, were under the age of 30 when they
received their degree. I can't know how old the respondents currently
are or the ages of non-respondents at time their degree was awarded.
I once heard on a listserv that someone had a professor who kept the demographics of his classes over a period of 20 years or so and came to the conclusion that 1/3 of the people studying for an LIS degree were in their 20's, 1/3 in their 30's, and 1/3 over the age of 40. These demographics are going to be different from school to school and program to program. Some schools cater to residential students who generally tend to be younger, and some programs appeal to those already established in their lives who can't drop everything to go back to school for two years or more. What this means for people considering going to school for their LIS degree is that they have to research not only the school, but the types of programs offered to students to see which might best fit their career goals and lifestyle.
Q. "What kind of car do you drive?"
A. There were 16 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
1 (6%) prefers to bike/bus/hoof it.
0 (0%) like the new technology hybrid cars (ex. Honda Insight).
2 (13%) prefered economy cars (ex. Hyundai Accent, Ford Fiesta).
7 (44%) like a little room, but not much (ex. Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla).
3 (19%) need 4 doors and leg room for their back-seat drivers (ex. Chevy Malibu, Honda Accord).
1 (6%) has a sports car baby! (ex. Ford Mustang, Chevy Corvette)
1 (6%) may not make the money, but his/her significant other does (ex. BMW, Lexus, Benz).
1 (6%) likes to off-road it on his/her days off. (ex. Jeep, Chevy Bronco, Toyota RAV4)s
0 (0%) need to guzzle gas to chauffer their kids around (ex. Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator).
0 (0%) ask "What's gas conservation?" (ex. Hummer)
What does this mean?
This possibly means that as a group, librarians are either pretty financially
concious, or are too poor to afford the kind of car that they really want.
Except for maybe the two with the sports car and luxury car <G>.
Another meaning: Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas and the like are popular
cars.
Q. "What kind of library do you work in?"
A. There were 20 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
6 (30%) work in an academic library.
5 (25%) work in a public library.
6 (30%) work in a special library.
1 (5%) is still a student.
0 (0%) don't work in a library.
2 (10%) are currently staying home for whatever reason.
What does this mean?
If I were to extrapolate beyond these 20 respondents, I'd have to say
that the people who check out this website are about evenly spread out
between the three major types of libraries. Very cool. Students and stay-at-homes
are hopefully checking out the site to see what's current in the library
world. Either that, or they find my angst-filled posts funny <G>.
Q. "How important are professional development opportunities when choosing a job?"
A. There were 17 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
1 (6%) said, "Just give me the salary!"
1 (6%) thought they'd be a good thing.
10 (59%) would definitely prefer them.
5 (29%) wouldn't take the job without them.
What does this mean?
It seems that professional development opportunities are a very necessary
part of the benefits package offer to new employees. Some people can get
by with just a nice salary, and probably some health insurance thrown
in, but most people in the Gen X/Gen Y (depending on your definitions)
are looking for ways to increases their knowledge of their chosen profession.
They want to use that acquired knowledge to perform their jobs better.
If given the support of professional development, whether through fee
assistance or paid time off to attend opportunites or, even better, both,
then employers are more likely to see a higher rate of return from their
investment in the employee. Of course, most of this supposition could
be due to the New York Times article, by Julie Connelly, "Youthful
Attitudes, Sobering Reality" (10/28/2003), that I read today.
A. There were 15 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
10 (67%) do wear glasses.
5 (33%) do not wear glasses.
What does this mean?
This could mean a couple of things. One, because we grew up using computers,
our eyesight has deteriorated faster than previous generations. Two, wearing
the right pair of glasses can make you look very attractive. Or three,
10 respondents prefer to wear glasses and 5 respondents prefer to wear
other types of corrective lenses or don't need the corrective lenses in
the first place. <smile>
Q. "How many listservs do you belong to?"
A. There were 19 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
0 (0%) don't belong to any listservs.
3 (16%) belong to 1 to 2 listservs.
4 (21%) belong to 3 to 4 listservs.
8 (42%) belong to 5 to 10 listservs.
4 (16%) belong to so many that they risk the possibility of their mail system crashing. Otherwise known as belonging to more than 10 listservs.
What does this mean?
As a profession, we like to stay informed. For many of us, staying informed
means belonging to listservs. We may belong to ones that are specific
to our particular jobs, like Fiction_L
or AUTOCAT.
We may belong to special interest ones like NEXGENLIB-L
or PLGNET-L.
And then, there are all the association listservs that you can belong
to. What we have to watch out for is information overload. Find strategies
that help you from burning out on the amount of e-mail that's delivered
to your inbox every day. Being informed does not have to mean 75-100+
e-mails waiting for you every morning. Unless you're a glutton for punishment
<G>.
Q. "What is your favorite brand of shoes to wear when working?"
A. There were 12 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
5 (42%) liked Payless or other discount shoe chain brands.
0 (0%) liked SAS.
0 (0%) liked Munro.
1 (8%) liked Doc Martens.
1 (8%) liked Cole Haans.
0 (0%) liked Manolo Blahniks.
0 (0%) liked Timberlands.
1 (8%) liked Birkenstocks.
0 (0%) liked Naturalizers.
4 (33%) liked others not mentioned, with write-in votes for Fluevogs and Easy Spirits.
What does this mean?
Probably that comfort and style are equally important when choosing shoes
for the workplace. I'd bet though that comfort will always edge out style
if it comes down to it because many of us in the LIS field are on our
feet for a majority of the day.
Q. "If you have a full-time job in the LIS field, do you have another job/s to help pay the bills?"
A. There were 9 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
4 (44%) do have another job.
5 (56%) do not.
What does this mean?
Well, not much considering the very small sample size <G>. I think
it's a matter of personal perception as to whether or not you can comfortably
live on the income that you get from a full-time position. I personally
like to buy myself things, so I'd probably have a part-time position in
addition to the full-time one the first few years of working to make a
nice enough dent into my student loans, etc.
Q. "How long after graduating did it take for you to get your first professional position?"
A. There were 8 respondents to this question. Their answers were:
4 (50%) skipped the graduation ceremony to move to their new job.
3 (38%) got theirs within three months of graduation.
0 (0%) took 3-6 months.
0 (0%) took 6-9 months.
0 (0%) took 9-12 months.
0 (0%) took 12-18 months.
0 (0%) took 18-24 months.
1 (13%) is still looking.
What does this mean?
First, there's a drop in the number of people taking the poll. I'm not
sure if that's because I forgot to announce it on the weblog, or if people
are no longer interested. Second, it seems to me, from talking with my
friends, that you either get a job within the first three months after
graduation, if not before, or you're still waiting to hear back from places
9 months after graduating. Kind of an inverted bell curve here. But then,
I may not be talking to the right people.