Officials and board members from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System are asking the Metro Council tonight to approve a higher pay scale for the next library director, a move the library system says will make the position more attractive to qualified candidates.
The library system has been without a director since David Farrar, who was slated to make $89,000 this year, resigned last December after information became public about a 15-year-old criminal case in Alabama in which he allegedly committed sexual abuse while impersonating a police officer. He was only convicted on the impersonation charge.
The current pay range in East Baton Rouge Parish for library director is $72,388 to $100,202. The library board wants the incoming director’s pay to range between $115,588 and $160,000, with $133,998 being the midpoint.
Acting library system Co-director Mary Stein says increasing the pay range quickly is imperative to finding qualified candidates, since several library systems—large and small—are advertising for similar positions.
“There’s actually a bunch of deputy library director positions that I’ve seen that are hiring, too,” Stein says.
Stein notes that some of the bigger markets where she’s seen hiring include Dallas, Atlanta and San Diego.
The pay range proposal went through the Metro Council’s Finance and Executive Committee without a recommendation. Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis, a member of that committee, says it’s not unusual for such items to go before the Metro Council without a recommendation when members feel they should be discussed by the council as a whole.
Collins-Lewis says she’ll consider lowering the pay range proposal, and is particularly concerned about the minimum increase from $72,388 to $115,588.
“That’s another layperson’s salary,” she says of the difference. “It’s a little bit overwhelming.”
Stein says the Metro Council will have three options tonight: pass the proposal, vote it down or amend the salary.
However, in a letter sent to council members earlier this month, the library system noted that its current pay grade lags behind systems in other states with fewer staff, smaller branch sizes, and less value in real estate and inventory. Stein says that can make a difference in attracting a qualified candidate from out of state: “It’s hard to take a pay cut for a place you don’t know.”
In fact, a review of a 2010 statistical report in Louisiana shows that library directors in neighboring parishes were making more than the director in East Baton Rouge Parish: Acadia Parish, $111,786; Ascension Parish, $90,510; Shreve Memorial Library, $110,698; New Orleans Public Library, $105,000; and Jefferson Parish Library, $101,675.
The Metro Council meets at 4 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. Check out the full meeting agenda here.
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication.
