Two Decades of Futility: The Decline of Medical/Health Science Librarian Salaries

While medical and health science librarians' median salaries have increased over the last forty years; however, inflation-adjusted salaries are lower than in 2008. Utilizing data from the Medical Library Association's salary surveys from 1983 to 2023, this column explores median salary changes over time by discussing the median salary's performance against inflation and how the 2008 recession and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic impacted salaries. From 2017 to 2023, the median salary increased by 18%, but after adjusting for inflation, the median salary decreased by almost 6%. The findings have serious implications for recruitment and retention in medical and health sciences librarianship.