Jobs / Education and social services / 25-4022.00
Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
Administer and maintain libraries or collections of information, for public or private access through reference or borrowing. Work in a variety of settings, such as educational institutions, museums, and corporations, and with various types of informational materials, such as books, periodicals, recordings, films, and databases. Tasks may include acquiring, cataloging, and circulating library materials, and user services such as locating and organizing information, providing instruction on how to access information, and setting up and operating a library's media equipment.
- US jobs
- 133,790
- Median wage
- $68,270 a year
- Job family
- Education and social services
Can agents do the work of librarians and media collections specialists?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Education and social services:
- Task levelUnexploredNo task-level benchmark in our collection tests teaching, counseling, or casework.
- Project levelPartialThin, adjacent evidence only. GDPval, which spans 44 occupations, is the one benchmark in our collection mapped here. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all GDPval occupations. No benchmark tests work with students or clients.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in education and social services, not always this occupation's tasks.
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Search standard reference materials, including online sources and the Internet, to answer patrons' reference questions.
- Analyze patrons' requests to determine needed information and assist in furnishing or locating that information.
- Supervise daily library operations, budgeting, planning, and personnel activities, such as hiring, training, scheduling, and performance evaluations.
- Plan and teach classes on topics such as information literacy, library instruction, and technology use.
- Code, classify, and catalog books, publications, films, audio-visual aids, and other library materials, based on subject matter or standard library classification systems.
- Confer with colleagues, faculty, and community members and organizations to conduct informational programs, make collection decisions, and determine library services to offer.
- Review and evaluate materials, using book reviews, catalogs, faculty recommendations, and current holdings to select and order print, audio-visual, and electronic resources.
- Evaluate vendor products and performance, negotiate contracts, and place orders.
- Direct and train library staff in duties, such as receiving, shelving, researching, cataloging, and equipment use.
- Arrange for interlibrary loans of materials not available in a particular library.
- Teach library patrons basic computer skills, such as searching computerized databases.
- Check books in and out of the library.
Other job titles for this occupation (53)
Catalog Librarian · Cataloger · Librarian · Library Media Specialist · Reference and Instruction Librarian · Reference Librarian · Research Librarian · School Librarian · Technical Services Librarian · University Librarian · Access Services Librarian · Acquisitions Librarian · AV Collections Coordinator (Audio Visual Collections Coordinator) · Bookmobile Librarian · Catalogue Librarian · Cataloguer · Chemical Librarian · Children's Librarian · Classifier · Collection Development Librarian · Digital Librarian · Electronic Resources Librarian · Elementary Librarian · Elementary School Librarian · Film Librarian · Government Documents Librarian · Hospital Librarian · Institution Librarian · Instruction Librarian · Interlibrary Loan Services Librarian · International Broadcast Music Librarian · Law Librarian · Library Services Specialist · Library Specialist · Media Center Specialist · Media Librarian · Medical Librarian · Medical Record Librarian · Metadata Librarian · Multimedia Specialist · Music Librarian · News Librarian · Outreach Librarian · Periodicals Librarian · Prison Librarian · Public Services Librarian · Record Librarian · School Library Media Specialist · Serials Librarian · Special Collections Librarian · Special Library Librarian · Systems Librarian · Youth Services Librarian