# 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.

- **SOC code:** 25-4022.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-25-4022-00
- **Also known as:** Librarian, Library Media Specialist, Media Specialist, Reference Librarian, Catalog Librarian, Instructional Technology Specialist, Media Technician, Multimedia Services Coordinator
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Check books in and out of the library.
- Teach library patrons basic computer skills, such as searching computerized databases.
- Review and evaluate materials, using book reviews, catalogs, faculty recommendations, and current holdings to select and order print, audio-visual, and electronic resources.
- Keep up-to-date records of circulation and materials, maintain inventory, and correct cataloging errors.
- 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.
- Confer with colleagues, faculty, and community members and organizations to conduct informational programs, make collection decisions, and determine library services to offer.
- Code, classify, and catalog books, publications, films, audio-visual aids, and other library materials, based on subject matter or standard library classification systems.
- Respond to customer complaints, taking action as necessary.
- Explain use of library facilities, resources, equipment, and services, and provide information about library policies.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Computers and Electronics _(knowledge)_
- Education and Training _(knowledge)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Administrative _(knowledge)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology)_
- Adobe After Effects _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Creative Cloud software _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Illustrator _(hot technology)_
- Adobe InDesign _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Photoshop _(hot technology)_
- Autodesk AutoCAD _(hot technology)_
- Cascading style sheets CSS _(hot technology)_
- Extensible markup language XML _(hot technology)_
- Facebook _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 83rd percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 80th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 81st percentile (High) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 1.7% growth (About average); 13.5k annual openings; 142.1k → 144.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $64,320; 131,830 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-25-4022-00_