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Dissertation Information for David Ung-Chon Kim

NAME:
- David Ung-Chon Kim

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (1980)

ADVISORS:
- David Kaser

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- George Whitbeck
- Philip Peak
- Allan Daniel Pratt

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: A STATISTICAL STUDY OF FACTORS AFFECTING SALARIES OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS AT MEDIUM-SIZED STATE-SUPPORTED UNIVERSITIES IN FIVE MIDWESTERN STATES

Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to identify the major variables that explain the salary variation of academic librarians working at medium-sized state-supported university libraries in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Nine specific areas examined in the investigation are: (1) educational preparation; (2) experience; (3) supervisory level; (4) faculty rank; (5) publication activities; (6) professional activities; (7) mobility; (8) sex; and (9) age. Data on these areas and the salaries of 380 librarians employed at twenty-two universities in the five selected states were collected by mail questionnaires.

A factor analysis of nearly thirty salary predictor variables indicates that the variations of many of these variables are identical with certain others, and that some variables can therefore represent others in statistical analyses without substantial loss in computational accuracies. Years of professional library experience can represent age and years since undergraduate, library, and subject degrees. The number of professional staff supervised may be used in place of the number of support staff supervised and level of supervisory position that the librarian holds. The level of highest graduate subject degree can represent the number of graduate subject degrees. The publication of comments, notes, and letters is more a professional activities variable than a publication variable. Attendance at conferences, seminars, or institutes, in general, is also more a professional activity than a part of continuing education.

Regression analyses of salary and twenty-one salary predictor variables show that the years of professional library experience, the number of professionals supervised, the number of assignments in professional organizations, and the faculty rank held by the librarians are important variables accounting for a large portion of their salary variance. Experience variables, professional activities variables, supervisory level, age, and faculty rank contribute significantly in explaining salary variance of the librarians. Education variables, mobility, and sex of the respondents also contribute significantly in accounting for the salary variation. Contribution of publication variables in explaining the variance of the academic librarians' salary is not strong and it is not statistically significant.

Among the education variables, the level of highest library degree is the strongest predictor of academic librarians' salaries. The predictive power of the highest subject degree is much smaller than that of highest library degree. Years of professional library experience is a far stronger predictor of the salary than non-library experience. The number of professionals supervised is a better measure for the supervisory level of librarians than are either the position level they hold or the number of support staff they supervise. The very holding of a faculty rank is itself a significant predictor of the academic librarians' salaries. Rank held is the single strongest predictor of the salary for academic librarians who hold faculty rank.

In comparison to the contribution of books and articles published in explaining salary variation, the publishing of book reviews is negligible. The three most important professional activities variables are assignments in professional organizations, assignments in university-wide organizations, and members in professional library organizations. The effect of mobility on salary is stronger among male librarians than among female librarians. After statistical control of all the variables considered in this study, there remains a difference between male and female librarians' salaries unfavorable to female librarians.

MPACT Scores for David Ung-Chon Kim

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:07:16

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