Salaries for Law Librarians in Private Law Firms

[Anonymous]

You did not spell LexisNexis correctly either. It isn't spelled "Lexus". That's a car, I think!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an MLS and my sense is that law librarian salaries are in the $60-80k range. This chart at Above the Law seems to corroborate that:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/06/career-alternatives-for-attorneys-law-librarian/

Most of the law librarians I know of have both a JD and an MLS.

Why would you spend all that time and money getting both those graduate degrees, only to make less than a lawyer or paralegal? Doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Answering the question re becoming a librarian - for me personally it was because I liked the work - i.e. doing research, working with people, teaching, organizing information. I did consider being a lawyer, but most of the lawyers that I knew at that time didn't seem terribly happy with their work. I was able to do my MLS in 2 years and by working during that time graduated with zero debt making it much more palatable financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Answering the question re becoming a librarian - for me personally it was because I liked the work - i.e. doing research, working with people, teaching, organizing information. I did consider being a lawyer, but most of the lawyers that I knew at that time didn't seem terribly happy with their work. I was able to do my MLS in 2 years and by working during that time graduated with zero debt making it much more palatable financially.

Why don't you aim at becoming a Professor?

[Anonymous]

And they are no fun in bed.....

[Anonymous]

This is what my sister does. She started at 68k in 08 (was very disappointed at the starting salary) and is now at 82k (happier). I think ppl who work outside the field hear the word "librarian" and think they are like travel agents or mail carriers and will be totally eliminated in 10 years but ppl inside the field understand how valuable they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Answering the question re becoming a librarian - for me personally it was because I liked the work - i.e. doing research, working with people, teaching, organizing information. I did consider being a lawyer, but most of the lawyers that I knew at that time didn't seem terribly happy with their work. I was able to do my MLS in 2 years and by working during that time graduated with zero debt making it much more palatable financially.

Why don't you aim at becoming a Professor?

If you are at all aware of the job market for Professors in some subject areas, as well as the tenure requirements, you would understand why some people decide on librarianship instead. Articles have been written about in Chronicle of Higher Education, and other academic type press. I have known several ppl. who opted out of the Ph.D. track to become librarians. This was a few years back when I came out of school. You could get a better paying job easier, without the headache of having to publish for tenure purposes.

I am a librarian. Those of us in the field realize its importance and how we help others and how the profession has evolved. Considering the education required, and the work involved, (managing, budgeting, purchasing, negotiating, teaching) we often don't make what we should unfortunately. Intelligent people usually understand what we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an MLS and my sense is that law librarian salaries are in the $60-80k range. This chart at Above the Law seems to corroborate that:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/06/career-alternatives-for-attorneys-law-librarian/

Most of the law librarians I know of have both a JD and an MLS.

Why would you spend all that time and money getting both those graduate degrees, only to make less than a lawyer or paralegal? Doesn't make any sense.

1. Librarians don't make less than paralegals in many places. I know I don't in my government agency.

2. Not all people with law degrees make loads of money..it depends on where you work. If you work for a big law firm, maybe.

3. I worked in law firms and saw miserable attorneys daily..who needs that no matter how much you make?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Answering the question re becoming a librarian - for me personally it was because I liked the work - i.e. doing research, working with people, teaching, organizing information. I did consider being a lawyer, but most of the lawyers that I knew at that time didn't seem terribly happy with their work. I was able to do my MLS in 2 years and by working during that time graduated with zero debt making it much more palatable financially.

Why don't you aim at becoming a Professor?

Although some people who set out to be Professors change tracks to become librarians, the work style/day-to-day stuff is actually pretty different (in my experience, working in academia alongside both). There are two very different personality types: professorial research being self-directed and super-focused in one area, working on one project for years at a time, whereas librarians work on lots of different projects, usually on questions developed by other people, and seem to always be racing a deadline. Professors are more likely to be regarded as experts and have the advantage of greater control over their own research time, but librarians usually know more about a greater number of topics (and not exactly at a shallow level), and I would see fewer librarians who were bored out of their minds with their work.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Answering the question re becoming a librarian - for me personally it was because I liked the work - i.e. doing research, working with people, teaching, organizing information. I did consider being a lawyer, but most of the lawyers that I knew at that time didn't seem terribly happy with their work. I was able to do my MLS in 2 years and by working during that time graduated with zero debt making it much more palatable financially.

Why don't you aim at becoming a Professor?

If you are at all aware of the job market for Professors in some subject areas, as well as the tenure requirements, you would understand why some people decide on librarianship instead. Articles have been written about in Chronicle of Higher Education, and other academic type press. I have known several ppl. who opted out of the Ph.D. track to become librarians. This was a few years back when I came out of school. You could get a better paying job easier, without the headache of having to publish for tenure purposes.

I am a librarian. Those of us in the field realize its importance and how we help others and how the profession has evolved. Considering the education required, and the work involved, (managing, budgeting, purchasing, negotiating, teaching) we often don't make what we should unfortunately. Intelligent people usually understand what we do.

NP here.

It has little to do with intelligence and more to do with experience. If your life hasn't given you the experience of being around librarians outside of school or the public library, then why would you understand? How about some of you get off of your high horse and explain. Since you are so highly educated, explaining what you do to those who are not familiar should come easy.