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Permalink Reply by Chhaya Singh on November 20, 2014 at 20:01

Thanks for escalating hope!

But, if we go through their pages, we many see the details of the library professionals from India and their own views with salary structure and getting’s. This is not the matter of you and me, can we ever tried to do the research at this point, if yes! you may share the outcomes.

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Permalink Reply by Chhaya Singh on November 20, 2014 at 20:03

Thanks for escalating hope!

But, if we go through their pages, we may see the details of the library professionals from India and their own views with salary structure and getting’s. This is not the matter of you and me, can we ever tried to do the research at this point, if yes! you may share the outcomes.

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on November 20, 2014 at 21:47

Dear Ms. Chhaya Singh,

Thank you very much for your post and  it certainly throws a note of caution to LIS professionals. I have gone through the article of Ms. Jacquelyn Smith of Forbes.

On the basis of her article, which presumably is based mostly upon U.S Case studies may differ to some extent in different countries. Speaking about U.S. and Indian salary system, and taking the currency as "BUCKS" an annual mid-career salary of 110, 00/-bucks is not a big deal for Indian LIS professionals. And more important an annual salary range of 58 Thousand is unimaginable in Indian while coulur job market where Library jobs belong!

Ms. Smith also mentioned about gloomy picture in job market for subjects like Biology, Chemistry & History in a same bracket while in India, the science subjects are extremely different from those like education, History, Music, Education and even English. Speaking of English specifically you may notice that I have put English at the end of the list only to emphasize its spatial difference in public consensus in U.S and India. Certainly English has a better approach than History or music or education and the last one, in our country is still not an independent subject from school level; its utility is only seen entwined with other basic subjects be it Chemistry or History of Biology or English. Music, in our country, has not yet established as an independent subject from elementary school. However, they have some similarity with LIS. both education and LIS are professional subjects. people do degrees in Education (like B.Ed. of M.Ed.) to get higher salary primarily as teachers. Besides, as I know, B.Ed. is an essential professional degree to get requisite Pay scales in schools just like a B.L.I.Sc. Degree. while, the situations in US &( western) academia are different all through!!  

There is no denying however, that jobs in Libraries are not very lucrative and cherished in our countries as well; and I am sure that virtually none of us came to this profession  out of love for the profession.LIS is a professional course (like Education leading to B.Ed. or M.Ed. degrees) and people pursue professional courses to get a job comparatively easily and as mandatory requirement . (Like, say, if one wants to be employed in school as a teacher, s/he needs a B.Ed Degree with mainstream subjects ranging from Mathematics to History. Similarly, for one who seeks a lob of a Librarian in a  school Library, the Degree of B.Lib. Sc. is  mandatory; never-the-less, before the distance learning methods, the total number of honours graduates passing out of colleges in every States/UTs. were much much higher than the corresponding numbers of pass outs with B.Lib. Sc. degrees from universities of those States/UTs resulting comparatively larger demands of LIS graduates in job market!)

Ms. Smith also opined that passion for studying subjects are irrespective of employability. During her analysis about job markets of Chemistry, Biology & History. In this perspective, she has put forward Three extremely questions and all of them are quite relevant in choosing a carrer and the most important (& relevant) is the third one: Will the Cost of the Education outweigh the potential income?? In Indian perspective the answer is no for any subject. In my estimation, the cost I had to bear for studying B & M LIS together was less than a month's salary I got on starting as a Librarian in an ICMR institute. I must admit that in those days, fees in the Universities were meager but so also were the pay scales & take home salaries while the pictures in the US and Western countries were/are different altogether. Ms. Smith also expressed that Master's degree-holders don't necessarily earn more than other people in similar jobs- so don't base your decision to pursue one on the idea that you'll bring in bigger paychecks. This is, no doubt a note of caution as well as a matter of self gratification. She further went on to say Two absolute benefits of graduate education are increased knowledge in a field and the ability to set oneself apart from those with only a bachelor's degree. In the concluding part of her article she has also mentioned ".. but it is also important think about your work-life balance and employee satisfaction for the common jobs associated with these degrees...." 

In the .penultimate sentence she potentially embraced rather philosophical thoughts  "Evaluating the benefits of a master's degree is not just about the potential for higher pay, but also about the opportunities it will bring, the skills and knowledge it can provide and overall satisfaction"  

It is worth mentioning in this respect, that those of us who entered the profession  much before the introduction of mere degree oriented pay scales advocated by several agencies in later days where knowledge and performance ability went in the back seat, the higher degrees like Masters or Doctoral were because of personal fondness towards the subject and the profession and zeal to perform better in profession. .This particular attribute had a distinct advantage, one could very clearly distinguish between a capable Librarian from an incapable.However, in the present days, when the academic flavour in the profession is.fast vanishing with innumerable number of M.Libs/M.Phils/Ph.Ds with pathetically low levels of subject knowledge, expertise and performing abilities, the distinction has become extremely difficult.Even in the interview boards, such high profile candidates often gets away  with jobs while their otherwise able counterparts are often languished. Employers some times get elated as they could recruit such highly qualified individuals  in much lower salaries making the profession further low paying & unattractive for competent individuals..

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Permalink Reply by Ramkisan More on November 20, 2014 at 22:25

I am not agree with the research conducted by forbes.

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Permalink Reply by Abilash Achuthan on November 21, 2014 at 17:15

The Top 10 Reasons to Be a Librarian

http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/careers/paths/top10reasons

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