How Much Do Librarian Make

How much do librarian make yearly? The average hourly wage for librarians in the United States is $29.42, and the average annual compensation for librarians is $61,190, according to Labor Statistics. The average pay for a librarian can range anywhere from $7.25 to $63.75 per hour, and that’s across the entire country. The income potential of librarians is affected by a variety of factors, including their education, location, level of experience, and area of concentration.

According to the statistics we gathered from the workforce, approximately forty percent of librarians in the United States are employed in primary or secondary schools. An annual salary of around $59,000 was provided to the librarians. It is important to keep in mind that university librarians typically receive a higher pay, which averages at about $65,000 per year. If you are able to secure a position as a librarian with the federal government, you have the potential to earn up to $80,000 year in salary.

Duties

Is it boring to be a librarian? Not if you like helping people! People seek the assistance of librarians and library media professionals to locate information and carry out research for both personal and professional purposes. Their responsibilities on the job could shift depending on where they are employed, such as in a public, school, or medical library, for instance. The following is a task list for librarians and library media specialists:

Make use of library materials databases and create your own.

Library materials should be organized so that they are easy to find. Library users should be assisted in conducting research in order to evaluate search results and reference materials.

Conduct research on recently published books and materials by reading book reviews, announcements made by publishers, and catalogs.

Keep the existing collections in good condition while also selecting new books, films, and other things to acquire.

Prepare events geared toward a variety of audiences, such as a reading session for kids.

Instruct students on various informational resources.

Conduct research on the computers and other pieces of equipment you might need to buy.

Volunteers, library assistants, other support personnel, and library technicians should all be trained and supervised.

Create budgets for the library.

These employees are frequently responsible for the majority of or even all parts of the library’s operations when working at smaller libraries. On big libraries, staff members typically specialize in a single aspect of the institution, such as the provision of user services, technological services, or administrative services.

Becoming a Librarian

Before entering the field, the majority of librarians receive an education of between five and six years at the post-secondary level. However, the prerequisites for the profession you choose to do could be very different from one another. Follow these six steps in order to land a position as a librarian:

1. Obtain a degree in the bachelor’s program.

Step one is to get a bachelor’s degree from a college or institution that is accredited. There is a diverse selection of fields of study available to those interested in becoming librarians, ranging from education and history to the natural sciences and engineering. Make it a priority to achieve and keep a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0, which is the minimal standard required by the majority of graduate institutions. The majority of programs leading to a bachelor’s degree can be finished in that amount of time.

2. Particular areas of expertise for research librarians

Next, educate yourself on the many types of librarian roles that are available to you. To gain knowledge about these roles, it is best to do informational interviews in addition to conducting online research and face-to-face networking. You could, for instance, work as a public librarian, a school librarian, an academic librarian, a digital librarian, a law librarian, or any one of a large number of different sorts of specialized librarians.

3. Submit applications to schools leading to a master’s degree

After settling on the specific kind of librarian work you want to do, you should start looking for an appropriate graduate program. A degree known as MLIS (Master of Library and Information Sciences) from an institution of higher education that has been granted accreditation is typically required for employment as a librarian. As you investigate different graduate schools, make sure to question the admissions personnel about the program’s focus and the kinds of jobs that graduates typically find.

After you have selected a master’s degree program, it is time to finish out the application process and send it in. The majority of programs call for the following components:

Official transcripts from your undergraduate institution Scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

References from previous employers, such as professors or other professionals

A purpose statement or an essay about yourself.

4. Get a master’s degree

Next, finish your program of study at the graduate level. Students enrolled in a typical Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program are required to finish coursework totaling 36 semester hours, which may include required courses in general library and information sciences as well as elective courses that place an emphasis on contemporary issues. In addition to classroom instruction, students in some MLIS degree programs are also required to complete internships or significant research projects. The majority of MLIS programs can be completed in one to two years.

5. Receive certification

Working as a librarian requires getting certified first, but that decision will depend on the position that you go for. For instance, in order to carry out their duties, public school librarians are required to hold a teaching certification, whilst some public librarians are required to hold state certification. Before reaching out for librarian jobs, you should make sure you meet the prerequisites by contacting the licensing board in your state.

6. Complete extra prerequisites

In addition to being state-certified, some librarian jobs demand extra qualifications. For instance, librarians in the disciplines of medicine and law typically require prior professional experience in their respective fields. Certain types of specialized librarians are required to hold advanced degrees in their respective professions, such as master’s degrees or doctorates.

Future Librarian Career Prospects

The Labor Statistics site projects that over the course of the next decade, the employment market for librarians will expand by a rate that is equal to the national average for all professions, which is 6%. This is a field that will continue to see a lot of demand as long as there are communities all throughout the country who depend more and more on these individuals for access to knowledge. Younger librarians are anticipated to have more opportunities to gain experience and hone their skills in libraries as a result of the continuing retirement of more senior librarians, which will create a need for replacements.