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.
133,790 people do this job in the US. $68,270 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 59%
- 30%
- 10%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 29%. Today's estimate: 35%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supervise daily library operations, budgeting, planning, and personnel activities, such as hiring, training, scheduling, and performance evaluations.Done daily by most who do it. | 15% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Keep up-to-date records of circulation and materials, maintain inventory, and correct cataloging errors.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot information access aids, such as databases, annotated bibliographies, Web pages, electronic pathfinders, software programs, and online tutorials.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | 21%Half by May 2027 | |
| Evaluate vendor products and performance, negotiate contracts, and place orders.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | 25%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Review and evaluate materials, using book reviews, catalogs, faculty recommendations, and current holdings to select and order print, audio-visual, and electronic resources.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | 51%Half by now | |
| Search standard reference materials, including online sources and the Internet, to answer patrons' reference questions.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Direct and train library staff in duties, such as receiving, shelving, researching, cataloging, and equipment use.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Plan and deliver client-centered programs and services, such as special services for corporate clients, storytelling for children, newsletters, or programs for special groups.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1 work day | 43%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Arrange for interlibrary loans of materials not available in a particular library.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Teach library patrons basic computer skills, such as searching computerized databases.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Code, classify, and catalog books, publications, films, audio-visual aids, and other library materials, based on subject matter or standard library classification systems.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | 97%Half by now | |
| Maintain hardware and software, including computers, media equipment, scanners, color copiers, and color laser printers.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).