This year's committee members are William Walters, Yumin Jiang, Sara Filiz
Miller and Patrizia Sione.
Because many librarians are unwilling to serve,
the nominally five-member Committee has had only four members in each of the
past two years. In addition, this year's Committee includes no senior
librarians. We request that the Steering Committee make a concerted recruitment
effort, stressing the immense financial, behavioral, and health-related benefits
of serving on the Economic Status Committee. At least two positions will need to
be filled for the 1999-2000 academic year.
Three reports were produced this year. The first, distributed in April, was an evaluation of librarians' salaries within Cornell. The second, to be distributed in June, compares Cornell librarians' salaries to those of professionals in other ARL libraries. The third report, also scheduled for distribution in June, summarizes the benefits currently available to Cornell librarians and compares them to the benefits available in 1991-92.
We have made attempts to shorten the text of the first and second reports, and to present the underlying data as simply as possible. Future Committee members may be able to reduce their workload by using these reports as a model. This year's reports are also the first to be formatted and prepared for publication by the Committee rather than the CUL administrative staff.
We are grateful for the continuing assistance of Susan Markowitz and Deborah Shigley.
HIGHLIGHTS, PART 1 - INTERNAL SALARY DATA
Librarians in both statutory and endowed units received average salary increases that exceeded the inflation rate. The gap between statutory and endowed salaries continues to grow, however. From 1987 to 1998, consumer prices rose 45% while statutory salaries increased only 33%.
Salary differentials between librarians with and without significant administrative responsibility (SAR) are greatest in the statutory units. We would welcome attempts to understand this phenomenon as well as attempts to rationalize the compensation process.
HIGHLIGHTS, PART 2 - SALARY COMPARISONS WITH OTHER ARL LIBRARIES
Over the past year, Cornell's average, median, and beginning salaries all declined relative to those reported by other ARL university libraries. Among the 110 libraries, Cornell was ranked 36th for average salary in 1997/98 but fell to 48th in 1998/99.
Cornell's median and beginning salaries continue to rank well below the norm for ARL librarians. Because the cost of living in Ithaca is higher than the average for all ARL institutions, the purchasing power of Cornell librarians is also far below the average. Our purchasing power compares favorably to that of librarians at some other Ivy League institutions, however, due to the extremely high costs of living in New York City and certain other large urban areas.
HIGHLIGHTS, PART 3 - BENEFITS SUMMARY
Cornell currently offers a wider selection of health benefits than it did in 1991-92. Specifically, managed care plans are now available to employees in both statutory and endowed units. Another significant changes occurred with the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, which allows employees to take unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks to care for seriously ill family members and newborn or newly adopted children. More generally, health and related benefits are now available to the same-sex partners of employees.
Most child care, dependent care, and wellness benefits have changed only modestly over the past decade. Two significant exceptions can be seen in the University's greater support for elder care and in its Flexibility in the Work place policy (Flex time and Flexplace). Moreover, the Employee Assistance Program now offers off-campus counseling as well as a 24-hour counseling hot line for teen and elder care issues.
Six professional development and tuition assistance programs are available to Cornell librarians: workshops and seminars, the Extramural Program, the Employee Degree Program, the Tuition Aid Program, Research/Professional Development Leaves, and the Cornell Children's Tuition Scholarship program (CCTS). While most of these program changed only slightly from 1991-92 to 1998-99, CCTS benefits eroded considerably during that time.
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