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[richard_papen]

Good morning,

This may seem like a simple question, but I am trying to figure out how (and if!) I should ask for a raise at my current job.

Quick background:
I only graduated in 2007, also started this job in 2007.
Due to financial pressures I accepted my current job at a low salary - I needed a job at graduation.
After looking at salary surveys and messages boards I realize I accepted far too low of a salary.
I like my current job and don't want to change schools.

Is it appropriate to ask for a raise? My yearly evaluation isn't until the summer. . .

Has anyone here been in this position before? Will I just look greedy and ungrateful?

Thanks in advance for any helpful thoughts on this topic. In the future I'll hopefully be a more savvy negotiator.

[hrvatski18]

Is your annual salary increase tied to your performance or do you simply receive a cost of living increase each year (as is the practice at my institution?)

If your salary increase is tied to your performance, I recommend that you wait until your annual performance review.  If it is a good review, diplomatically point out to your boss that you don't feel that your salary is commensurate with your skills and abilities and is below the standard for entry level academic librarians in your region and institution type.   (Are you at a public university?  If so, your salary might be public record, and you could benchmark your salary against colleagues with a similar educational and professional background.)

If there are no merit raises, then you might be stuck.  Academic librarians experience notoriously stagnant salaries, and I've often been told that the best way to increase your salary is to change jobs every few years.   So, if a raise doesn't appear to be likely, sometimes you have to either accept what you're given or decide that it's time to move on.   

I have to confess that my salary is fairly modest for what they hired me to do, and I was unhappy when I learned that I was the second lowest paid librarian on staff and the fresh-out-library-school newbies were earning more than me.   Later I learned that I was earning so little because my boss, who didn't have an MLS, was earning way, way below what he should have been paid, and they couldn't pay me more than my boss was earning.

But I thought of everything else that I like:  almost six weeks of holidays, vacation and sick leave, free tuition for earning my subject master's, a flexible schedule, a very short commute, colleagues and a boss whom I like, I can wear jeans to work on most days, I have my own office, and I'm just three hours away from my family.

I know I won't stay in this job forever, but the quality of the workplace can sometimes soften the blow of an embarrassing salary.

[madhatter]

Can I get eggs with this spam?

[andrewz]

Better is to find another job.