Career Trends: Library Technicians and Assistants

Library technicians and assistants help librarians with all aspects of running a library. They assist patrons, organize library materials and information, and perform clerical and administrative tasks.

Library technicians and assistants work in public, school, company, and university libraries. Many work part time.

Most library technicians need a postsecondary certificate or an associate’s degree. Library assistants typically need a high school degree and usually learn through short-term on-the-job training.

Employment of library technicians and assistants is projected to grow 5 percent from 2014 to 2024 about as fast as the average for all occupations. Libraries will hire these workers to take over some of the duties of librarians, whose hourly wages are usually higher.

This occupation supported 216,600 jobs in 2012 and 210,600 jobs in 2014, reflecting a decline of 2.8%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 11.6% in 2022 to 241,800 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 221,600, compared with an observed value of 210,600, 5.0% lower than expected. This indicates current employment trends are worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 5.2% in 2024 to 221,800 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 246,800 jobs for 2024, 11.3% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are much worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation.