So how important ARE things like principles, exactly?

One of the debates going on in the NextGen librarian world concerns the starting salaries of entry-level librarians. Lots of them are very low compared to other jobs that require graduate degrees. So here's the argument.

Side A says that new librarians need to stop accepting jobs that pay less than $40,000 a year, and then the Powers That Be will have to start raising salaries if they want to hire anyone.

Side B says that's all very noble and good, but new librarians have student loans to pay and families to feed, so they don't have the luxury of holding out for more. They're having to compete hard for the crappy jobs as it is.

Then we have me. I've been looking (albeit halfheartedly) for library jobs for the past couple of months. Most of what I'm seeing is in the 30K range--and some of these do require previous experience. Yesterday, though, I saw a position for an Assistant Library Director in L***n, UT. It's at a small public library but looks like a great job description. Lots of experience, lots of responsibility, and you get to put the word of "Director" on your resume, even if there's an "Assistant" in front of it. At the end of the description I see the salary range: $23,000 - $27,000 per year.

Now---

See---

Uh, yeah. Is it possible that what they're actually looking for is an Assistant to the Library Director? Because that's about what a secretary would make. I was sure this had to be a typo. They meant to write $33K - $37K. They had to have meant that. That's still low, but it's not insane. There is just no way.

I called my L***n-dwelling sister and told her about the job and the salary and how that can't even be right.

Sister: "Is it a City job?" (She works for the city.)

Me: "Yes"

Sister: "Then it's right."

She says that L***n has possibly the lowest cost-of-living in the state, and that's why the jobs pay less.

But still.

So I called the library director to confirm the salary, and she was very nice. She said that actually is correct, and she realizes it's very low. And she's sorry. But that L***n is a beautiful place and it does have a very low cost of living and it's a nice library and she's a really nice boss. The poor lady must have people calling her up multiple times a day to ask if this is a joke.

I told her I would still be interesting in applying for the position and she seemed surprised. "Really? Oh! Okay, great!"

If I even get an interview from this, which, let's face it, doesn't always happen, the question of whether a criminally-underpaid job is better than no job will become slightly more important to me. Or if a criminally-underpaid job that gives me much-needed library experience (and includes beautiful scenery, good coworkers, low cost of living, and close proximity to family & friends) is better than a well-paid job at Borders Bookstore or in something else completely outside my field.

Important questions, friends.

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