Run the desk, the catalog and the shelves. The job that keeps a library working, reachable with a two-year degree.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $44,580 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $29,300 at the lower end to about $63,080 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
From nothing up to about $8,000, depending on the route, for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$44,580
Bottom tenth
$29,300
Top tenth
$63,080
The 2025 national median is $44,580 a year, about $21.43 an hour. The bottom tenth earn $29,300 or less and the top tenth $63,080 or more. The yearly figures are the hourly rate for 40 hours a week over a full year, so a part-time post pays less than they show.
$14.09 to $17.18 an hour
The bottom tenth and bottom quarter of library technicians, 2025
A first job on a circulation desk usually pays in this part of the range. Pay is set by a town, county or school board budget, so two libraries an hour apart can pay differently.
$35,740 to $52,430
Half of all workers in the 2025 survey earn between these two figures
The way up without a master's degree is to own a technical function: the catalog, the interlibrary loan system, or the technology that patrons use. Those people are hard to replace.
Roughly, all in
Nothing to $8,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Plenty of people start as a shelver or a library aide straight out of high school and move up, which is why the low end is zero. The high end is a two year community college degree in library technology, or a one year certificate if you want something shorter. A Pell Grant, which is federal aid you never repay, often covers community college tuition outright, so even the high end can come down to almost nothing.
File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid before you enroll. Pell Grants often cover community college tuition outright, which can mean this qualification costs you nothing.
University and college libraries
Full-time posts, and tuition benefits that can pay for your own degree.
Large county library systems
Full-time hours, union contracts and a pension in many states.
School districts
The school calendar, with summers off or reduced hours.
Government and corporate collections
Law firms, museums, hospitals and federal agencies all keep collections and hire technicians to run them.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short, cheap and hands-on. Many people start working first and add the qualification afterwards.
High school
Grade 12
English and computer classes. Get a job shelving books as a page, a common first job in this field.
Certificate or associate degree
1 to 2 years
A one-year certificate or a two-year associate degree in library and information technology at a community college. Many run fully online.
First technician post
After the qualification
Circulation, interlibrary loan, processing or media support. You will learn one library's catalog system in depth.
Pick a technical area
2 to 4 years in
Cataloging and metadata, the library management system, or public technology help. This is what moves you off the front desk.
Decide about the master's
Optional, 2 years
If you want to be a librarian rather than a technician, you will need an accredited master's degree. Many people do it part time while working.
English
You help people find and understand written material all day.
Computer applications
The catalog, the membership database and the public computers are all your responsibility.
A second language
Public libraries serve whoever walks in, and bilingual staff are sought after.
Any business or office class
Records, ordering and scheduling are a real part of the work.
Nobody licenses library technicians in the United States, and the titles vary: library assistant, library associate, media assistant and library technician can all mean the same job. The American Library Association accredits master's degrees for librarians, not technician programs, so what employers look at is your community college qualification and your experience. The association's professional arm has also sunset its certification for public library administrators and no longer accepts applications, so check what national credential, if any, is still running before you plan around one.
Community colleges
Library and information technology certificates and associate degrees, often online and part time.
State library associations
Many states run their own short training and certificate programs for public library staff, sometimes at no cost.
On the job
Many people in this work learned by starting as a page or an aide and moving up as posts opened.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Cataloging and metadata
Knowing how records are actually built makes you the person the library cannot manage without.
Library management systems
Running and troubleshooting the software that holds the whole collection.
Public technology support
Printers, scanners, devices and online government forms. It is half the questions at a public desk.
Children's and teen programming
Running story time and after-school programs opens supervisor posts.
Archives handling
Local history rooms and special collections need careful people with specific training.
A page or shelving job as a teenager
A common starting point in the field.
Patience
You explain the same thing to a different person 20 times a day.
Attention to detail
A record filed wrong is a book nobody will find again.
Steadiness under pressure
Public libraries serve people in difficulty, and the desk is where that lands.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open the desk, clear the overnight returns and reshelve. Then checkouts, library card sign-ups, fines and holds, with a steady stream of questions: where is this section, how do I print, can you help me fill in this form. In between you process new material, mend damaged books and prepare a display or a program. Afternoons after school and early evenings are the busy stretch. You are on your feet a fair amount and you speak to dozens of people a day.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) counts about 72,800 library technicians in the United States in 2025 and projects a decline of 1 percent or more between 2025 and 2035. There are still about 10,800 job openings a year, almost all of them replacing people who leave.
When O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) asked technicians what their job required, 30 percent said a bachelor's degree, 28 percent said an associate degree and 17 percent said a certificate. In practice many libraries hire on experience and train the rest.
Most American libraries share catalog records through the same cooperative database rather than typing them from scratch. Learning how those records work is one of the most portable skills in the field.
It is one of the few places left you can enter, stay all day and use a computer without paying or buying anything. That is why the desk job includes helping with job applications, benefits forms and housing paperwork.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Guidance and libraries first, then the rest of the field. See every career in education.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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