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Re: Being poor



Well, at the risk of substantial amounts of berating by my fellow lowly
paid archivists, here goes...

The comment that archivists "should be rewarded" for having earned Master's
degrees is specious to begin with. People's pay is generally not
commensurate with a moral value placed upon it. It has mostly to do with
revenue generation. In short, the more wealth one creates, the more wealth
one generally creates for oneself. From a purely moral or ethical
standpoint, archivists busy preserving the written record of human history
are far more worthy of high financial reward than someone who "earns" a
living by hitting a little white ball with a stick or putting a big orange
ball in a basket. This could be extended to people who "earn" a luxurious
living by playing make believe before an audience, or people who scream
unintelligibly at the top of their lungs in a recording studio and call it
"music". In terms of an abstract notion of value, these people should be
just getting by while archivists are living a bit higher on the hog. The
reality is, however, that people (and their duly elected representatives)
are willing to pay more for some things and less for others. Unfortunately,
archival support generally falls into the "less" category.

Secondly, I chose this profession because I wanted to be an archivist. I
didn't just wind up one by the machinations of others, or by chance. Before
choosing to do this, I looked at different aspects of the field, pay being
among them. I knew going in that financial compensation, for the most part,
was going to be adequate at best. But I chose it anyway. Why? Because I am
compensated in other ways, ways that are of value to me in a non-monetary
fashion. This career suits my interests. It suits my personality. These
things are as important to me as monetary compensation. Becoming an
archivist was a value-based judgement I made going into the profession, and
one I stand by today.

Personally, I agree that, given the culturally valuable job we all do, we
should be financially compensated better, or receive better benefits.
Perhaps, in time, those paying the bills will come to agree. The reality,
however, is that as long as pay is generally commensurate with wealth
production, our field is going to continue to generate relatively low
wages. I'm not suggesting that we should all run out and get other
professions. Rather, from time to time perhaps we all need to re-evaluate
which of our personal values need the greatest tending to, and fashion our
careers accordingly.

Joe Gillette
Archivist (and still happy with it...)
Orange County Regional History Center
Orlando, FL

> I cannot stand it when someone tells me to pick
> another profession because the pay is low. Why should
> I be penalized because I wanted to be an archivist?
> Many archivists have Masters degrees, and they should
> be rewarded for taking out the time to be educated
> about the archives profession. This goes the same for
> librarians. I am a librarian, but I volunteer for an
> archives. I thought the pay was low for librarians,
> but I think it can be lower for archivists! This is
> ridiculous!
>
> Debra Cernieux
> Reference Librarian
> East Hampton, NY

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