Peter,

I will try and get information salary information for you from the director of the University Art Museum, University of Southwestern Louisiana.  Do you have a copy of the SEAC 1992 salary survey?  Once inflation is factored in, it is still useful.  I am not finding a lot of difference between salaries in Oklahoma and Louisiana, at least with government funded institutions.  I helped with a salary survey at the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton before coming here in 1996.

The staff here in Lafayette now gathering information on salaries in preparation for a study (governments are famous for salary studies)
so we can talk apples to apples with the consultants.  Last year, just before I moved from Oklahoma to Louisiana, the City and Parish governments consolidated in Lafayette.  A former city museum is now the equivalent of a city and county museum.  One position (curator of education)was parish funded for years, the rest were city funded.  Parish salaries have always been way under City levels here, as my associates in Texas would generally agree.  Hence, the new government here is faced with the need for a salary parity study.  So, I have an educator with 17 years service making two cents an hour less than the exhibits curator with 8 years service.  This would be a big problem for the government to breech if the oil and gas economy weren't knocking the top out of the sales tax income and real estate revenues. I'll send you a copy of the MGP survey, but study the institutions in the sample.

Now, we are seeking information on salaries for larger instituions.  LNHM is growing from a staff of 8 full time, 8 part time with a budget of about $550,000 in a 13,000 square foot facility into a renovated facility of 72,000 square feet.  Six times the growth, six times the responsibility, six times the money, right?  Just kidding.  Does President Boren plan on raising the salaries of the OMNH staff when the Sam Noble Behemoth Museum of Natural History opens?

Just as an aside, we have the only planetarium in south Louisiana west of the Mississippi.  I am finding that the salaries of planetaria staff considerably higher than comparable museum salaries (contact me for specifics).  Trouble is, not all planetaria are associated with museums.

Following up on Burcaw's book that recommends comparing salaries with libraries, school systems, and jr. college faculty bears some weight.  Louisiana is the only state without a jr. college system (a definite lack of data there), but LA also has a public library system better funded and networked than many states.  Hope this helps.

Joe S. Hays
Museum Director
Lafayette Natural History Museum & Planetarium
637 Girard Park Drive
Lafayette, Louisiana 70503
(318) 291-5544
email: [log in to unmask]
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