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Librarian: Career Outlook for Librarians

Published Sep 03, 2009

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Becoming a Librarian is an excellent career choice for someone looking to work in the education industry without becoming a teacher. Librarians help others find scholarly and public information for personal and professional use.

Librarian Overview and Career Outlook

Librarians oversee library staff assistants, identify and follow literary trends, classify information such as periodicals and audiovisual materials and coordinate public library programs. Librarians in large libraries often specialize in areas such as special collections, acquisitions or references. While future Librarians can major in any field for their undergraduate degrees, a master's degree in library science is typically needed to become a Librarian. Prospective Librarians may also need to complete certification requirements that vary by state. Employment growth for Librarians is expected to be slow, as library budgets are cut and technology changes allow library users to research without help, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov. The average salary for Librarians is $54,700.

Library Technician Overview and Career Outlook

Library technicians assist Librarians with preparing and organizing materials for library users. They routinely catalogue and code library materials, retrieve information from computer databases, supervise support staff and market library services to the general public. Library technicians can also be called media aides or library technical assistants. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reduced library budgets improve library technicians' career outlook with local and state agencies because library technicians are paid less than librarians, with an annual average salary of $26,560.

Government Document Librarians Overview and Career Outlook

Government document Librarians directly add to the history of the United States. As the job title implies, government document Librarians work for government agencies and depository libraries across the country. These state and federal librarians preserve publications, government records and other historical documents that record government actions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that government document Librarians who work for the federal government earn the highest salary of all Librarians with an annual average salary of $80,873 in 2007.

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