Special report: salary survey - Salaries perk up and promotion pays off. The 2005 IWR salary survey shows that salaries for information professionals have improved - although not by much. The figures confirm the gender gap and a huge differential between librarians and the rest, as Bobby Pickering reports.

On the whole, not a lot has changed in 12 months in terms of our readers' remuneration, with a sizeable proportion remaining on a very low wage. In last year's survey, 27.4% of readers who indicated their salary levels said they earned a basic gross of up to [pounds sterling]25,000; this year the figure earning up to that level has fallen slightly to 24.4%.

There has been more movement at the top end of the scale, with nearly 30% of respondents saying they were earning [pounds sterling]40,000 and above this year, compared with just 20% a year ago. The survey detected little change in the intermediate rungs on the salary ladder.

Once again, the survey revealed a huge differential in pay between those who defined themselves as librarians and those who classed themselves under other information professional titles.

A staggering 69% of librarians said they earned under [pounds sterling]30,000 gross, while just over 40% of other information professionals received salaries below this ceiling. At the top end, a mere 5.1% of librarians said they earned [pounds sterling]40,000 or more, against 28.4% of other information professionals.

The gender gap also remained a potent force, with women earning well below their male colleagues. At the bottom end, 32.8% of female respondents said they were earning up to ...