Are rural library directors severely underpaid?

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

It was with more than a little regret that I learned about the resignation of Dorr Township Library Director Jeffery Babbitt.

Though I’ve never seen him interact with the staff at the library desk, I have watched him demonstrate professionalism at Dorr Township Board meetings when he gave the departmental report monthly over four years.

I certainly am not privy to the poor relationships he and library employees that are alleged in his resignation letter. All I have to go on is his behavior at Township Board meetings and his devotion to job through compiling press releases about library activities.

I must say he was one of the best I’ve dealt with.

But what I found really depressing was evidence of him not being able to make financial ends meet for his family. He had to drive every work day from Kalamazoo to Dorr and it seems his salary wasn’t commensurate with his education and qualifications.

I have learned since his resignation that he had been spending a great deal of time trying to find creative ways to make a little more money to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.

OK, so librarians these days aren’t paid particularly well, given the fact many own master’s degrees in their field. And this has a negative effect on such professional people taking these jobs, particularly in rural areas.

I’m not entirely certain about the pay for library directors in days gone by, but I remember well that Henika District Library had only four directors in 98 years. But now the norm is hiring an outside person with the proper qualifications, but not necessarily the loyalty to stick around for very long.

Perhaps I best remember the story of Natalie Bazan Sarasota, who took on the job at both the Hopkins and Dorr libraries in order to keep her head above water financially.

I suppose library directors in days gone by primarily were women whose husbands made enough money for them to serve without worrying about going broke. Like so many other things, those days are gone.

I’ve heard many people bemoan the fact that library directors these days come in with great credentials, but don’t hang around for very long because a bigger and financially better one is not far away. That might cause local libraries to consider making the position a little more attractive.

But we’re living in an era in which we value library personnel a lot less than athletes and business tycoons.

So we get what we pay for, and sometimes that isn’t a whole lot.

I wish Mr. Babbitt well in the future.