4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/12/2011   
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EMPLOYMENT

Census of Population and Housing

In 2006, the Census of Population and Housing recorded 7,007 people whose main job was in the libraries and archives industry. The ABS definition of this industry includes people working for archives organisations but excludes people working for libraries located in educational institutions (e.g. school libraries) and specialist libraries (e.g. those located in government departments and within business organisations). The most common occupations within the industry were librarians (2,007 people), library assistants (1,431 people) and library technicians (1,378 people).

10.10 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES INDUSTRY(a)(b), By occupation - 2006

Cultural occupations
Number
%

Librarian
2 007
28.6
Library assistant
1 431
20.4
Library technician
1 378
19.7
Archivist
183
2.6
Other cultural occupations
246
3.5
Total cultural occupations
5 245
74.9
Other occupations(c)
1 762
25.1
Total occupations
7 007
100.0

(a) Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.
(b) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
(c) Includes not stated and inadequately described.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2006.


Many people working in library-related occupations are not working in the libraries and archives industry. The local government administration industry employed 1,937 librarians, higher education employed 1,885 librarians, and school education (primary and secondary) employed 406 librarians.

The 2006 Census of Population and Housing also counted 898 people whose main job in the week before the Census was as an archivist. This included not only those employed in the national and state archives, but also those working for government organisations, educational institutions, commercial organisations, etc.

10.11 PERSONS WITH LIBRARY-RELATED OCCUPATIONS(a)(b), By industry - 2006

Industry
Librarians
Library technicians
Library assistants
Archivists
Total

Local government administration
1 937
1 229
1 954
50
5 170
Libraries and archives
2 008
1 378
1 430
182
4 998
Higher education
1 885
967
1 458
67
4 377
Secondary education
209
702
1 000
51
1 962
Primary education
197
716
711
5
1 629
Technical and vocational education and training
671
333
219
7
1 230
Combined primary and secondary education
190
321
485
61
1 057
State government administration
310
174
93
88
665
Legal services
270
48
46
12
376
Hospitals
226
70
27
10
333
Central government administration
221
53
20
34
328
Scientific research services
128
40
13
6
187
Other industries
1 825
477
800
325
3 427
Total all industries
10 077
6 508
8 256
898
25 739

(a) Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.
(b) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2006.



Work Survey

The ABS (2007b) publication Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities (cat. no. 6281.0) provides another perspective on employment in libraries and archives. This survey provides information on the number of paid and unpaid workers in library or archive organisations. It also provides the number of people working in these organisations as part of a second job. However, it does not contain information on type of occupation.

The survey found that there were 108,500 people aged 15 years and over who had some work involvement in a library or archive in the 12 months to April 2007, of whom 35,900 (33%) received some payment.


Public Libraries Survey

The 2003-04 survey of Public Libraries (ABS 2005c) found that at the end of June 2004, there were 10,606 staff employed in local government libraries and 1,865 employed in national and state libraries.

Some 42% of those employed in local government libraries were permanent full-time workers while 76% of those employed in national and state libraries were permanent full-time workers.

10.12 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES - June 2004

Males
Females
Persons

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LIBRARIES

Permanent full-time
793
3 678
4 472
Permanent part-time
300
3 144
3 444
Casuals
360
2 330
2 691
Total employees
1 454
9 152
10 606

NATIONAL AND STATE LIBRARIES

Permanent full-time
480
937
1 417
Permanent part-time
53
242
295
Casuals
60
93
153
Total employees
593
1 272
1 865

Source: Public Libraries, Australia, 2003-04 (cat. no. 8561.0).


The same survey found that at the end of June 2004, there were 811 persons employed by the eight national and state archives in Australia, of which 471 (or 58%) were female.

The number of volunteers working for local government libraries in June 2004 totalled 6,315 people. The number of volunteers working in national and state libraries was 416 and there were 122 volunteers working in national and state archives.




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