32 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 295 — 2018 Selected Demographic Trends in the ARL Professional Population Stanley Wilder, Dean of Libraries, Louisiana State University Previous analyses of the 2015 demographic data from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) have focused on population-wide issues such as retirements, hiring patterns, and the emerging youth movement. But the 10,000-plus population of professionals1 in this data also contains multitudes: identifiable groups of individuals, some of which have different, even surprising characteristics. Some of these characteristics may relate to practical managerial concerns, while others speak to our values as a profession, or our concern for basic fairness. The following analysis focuses on four such demographic groups: Canadians historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups The identification of these groups, and the differences noted among them, owe much to the nature of the data we happen to have available. The ARL demographic data series is among the strongest such professional data in existence, but it has all the limitations inherent in such long-standing, and strictly quantitative data. That said, there is beauty in ARL’s multitudes. Canadian Salary Advantage Advice to salary-conscious research library professionals with a tolerance for cold weather: move to Canada, early and often. When the ARL Salary Survey data combines US and Canadian libraries, salaries are expressed in terms of US dollars.2 In 2015, professional salaries among the 16 Canadian ARL libraries were significantly higher than Some of these characteristics may relate to practical managerial concerns, while others speak to our values as a profession, or our concern for basic fairness. women and millennials. professionals…contains multitudes…. ...the 10,000-plus population of [ARL]