Planning Wages  by David L. Polodna 

In late November 2009, I distributed via the Internet to each WRLS library director a copy of Salary Schedule and Step Plan for Public Libraries.   This document was developed to provide some guidance in determining reasonable wages for support staff in public libraries.  As noted in the document, repeated requests from directors for recommendations for support staff wages are what finally pushed me to prepare something that might provide assistance.  

Our directors are used to getting the WRLS board’s annual recommendations for minimum wages for library directors and felt a similar proclamation for support staff could be useful.  The challenge to providing specific recommendations for support staff that are meaningful for each library involves addressing all the variation that naturally exists in the descriptions and expectations for assistant, clerk, and aide positions from library to library.  The Salary Schedule and Step Plan for Public Libraries does provide  specific recommendations, but more importantly it provides rationale and formulas for devising a salary schedule and a step plan that can work and be revised and kept up to date over the long term, regardless the size of the library or the number of support positions.  That document is now posted on the WRLS web page in a PDF format  so any library wishing to get a copy of it can easily locate it, read it, and/or copy it for sharing with trustees.

The salary schedule guide is designed to be used in libraries in communities up to 15,000 people.  The concepts presented in the guide are valid for any size library, but larger libraries tend to have multiple levels of supervisory and assistant positions.  Trying to prepare classifications for all these levels became prohibitive.  Furthermore, most libraries with larger numbers of staff have addressed these issues through other means, often hiring consultants to perform comprehensive pay equity studies.  That kind of assistance is not likely to be available to the village or small city library.  It is my hope that this document will be helpful to the Wisconsin library community.  I would be happy to entertain any questions that might arise in regard to the document, and to hear of how it has or has not worked for your institution.