Career outlook
The Future's So Bright ...
Census data and surveys project a large percentage of librarians will retire in the next 10 years, creating a critical demand for new professionals. A 2000 survey showed only 21 percent of library school graduates—approximately 800 from accredited programs in the United States and Canada—went on to school librarianship or school media careers each year. Yet data from the same time frame showed more than 66,000 state-certified library media specialists in public and private schools throughout the U.S.
Do the math. If, say, 30 percent—a conservative estimate—of those current professionals retire in the next 10 years, that’s a total of 19,800 job openings. At the current rate, library programs would be able to turn out only about 8,000 graduates to fill those positions.
Starting salaries for school librarians are comparable to starting salaries for teachers who have also earned a master's degree. Salaries typically increase with experience and education. In the National Education Association’s Estimates of School Statistics 2005, the average classroom teacher salary was estimated at $47,750 for the 2004-2005 year.
The American Association of School Librarians provides a collection of online resources to search for job postings around the country.
