4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/06/2007  Reissue
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EMPLOYMENT

Census of Population and Housing

In 2001, the Census of Population and Housing recorded 11,461 people whose main job was working in the libraries 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 were Library assistants (3,093 people), Librarians (2,974 people) and Library technicians (2,592 people).

10.9 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE LIBRARIES INDUSTRY(a), By occupation - August 2001

Number
%

Cultural occupations
Library assistants
3 093
27.0
Librarians
2 974
26.0
Library technicians
2 592
22.6
Archivists
207
1.8
Other cultural occupations
215
1.9
Total cultural occupations
9 081
79.3
Other occupations
2 367
20.7
Total all occupations
11 448
100.0

(a) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
ABS, Employment in Culture, Australia, 2001 (cat. no. 6273.0).


The extent to which library activity is carried out in other industries can be gauged from Table 10.10. While the libraries industry employed 2,974 librarians, post-school education (university and technical education) employed 2,499 librarians, school education employed 627 librarians and government administration employed 1,467 librarians.

10.10 PERSONS WITH LIBRARY-RELATED OCCUPATIONS(a), By industry - August 2001

Industry
Librarians
Library
technicians
Library
assistants
Archivists
Total

Libraries
2 974
2 592
3 093
207
8 866
Post-school education
2 499
1 219
1 664
49
5 431
School education
627
1 454
2 242
75
4 398
Government administration
1 467
334
532
131
2 464
Health and community services
404
117
96
21
638
Legal and accounting services
352
73
82
22
529
Motion picture, radio and television services
123
19
48
29
219
Scientific research
160
29
20
7
216
Other industries
1 708
311
632
259
2 910
Total all industries
10 314
6 148
8 409
800
25 671

(a) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
ABS, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, data available on request.


The 2001 Census of Population and Housing also counted 800 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.


Work Survey

The ABS 2004 Survey of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities provides another perspective on employment in libraries and archives.


While not being able to provide information on the occupation of people working in a library or archive, or the industries in which librarians or archivists might work, it does give a better indication of the total number of people working in library or archive organisations by providing information on those working in both a paid and unpaid capacity and those who are involved as part of a second job.


The survey found that there were 87,800 people aged 15 years and over who had some work involvement in a library or archive in the 12 months to April 2004, of whom 33,700 (38%) received some payment.


Public Libraries Survey

The 2003-04 ABS Public Libraries Survey 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.


This survey also found that at the end of June 2004, there were 811 persons employed by the eight national and state archives in Australia.

10.11 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

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


The 2003-04 ABS Public Libraries Survey showed that 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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