The librarian assistant is one of the most popular career opportunities for those who wish to get adequate educational benefits and want to develop their professional skills while they earn. People who are looking for a career as a librarian assistant in the US must be familiar with the requirements for this job. Let us know “How To Become A Librarian Assistant?”
How To Become A Librarian Assistant?
Library assistants do not require college, but they should have post-secondary diplomas and short-term on-the-job intense training before becoming library assistants. It is a good idea to get a secretarial or administrative assistant certificate. The key to getting onto that first step of the ladder is to prepare yourself well before jumping into the final workforce.
Steps To Become A Library Assistant In The US
Becoming a library assistant generally requires no specific education. Information literacy classes and a degree in Library Science are two ways to become a librarian assistant in the US.
Some community colleges offer Associate’s degrees to prepare people as library technical assistants. Some four-year colleges also offer undergraduate minors in Library Science. They are primarily intended for teaching education candidates who also expect to work in school libraries.
Specific training can compensate for a lack of knowledge when applying for library assistant positions.
Education
To become a library assistant in the USA, a candidate needs to get a high school diploma first. Then, they explore post-secondary certificate programs in library science offered by state-authorized public schools and private institutions, like The American Library Association’s Test Center. Pursuing post-secondary certificate programs helps future librarians develop the skills they need to work at libraries.
Where To Get Training?
There are many sources to get on-job-training in libraries from some weeks to months. Read below to know more about them:
• Volunteering at public, high school libraries on vacations.
• Join high school library clubs for helping librarians with their daily work.
• Trying to get a work-study job at college libraries would be helpful as well.
• Part-time job in town libraries and bookstores is also a good option because they need more people to help them with summer reading programs.
Advancement
Working as a library technician in the USA or any other country is not much different, with one exception. Library assistants do not need to obtain a master’s degree to advance to become librarian assistants.
On the contrary, technicians, and assistants who show much potential at their work are promoted to become supervisors and oversee the daily procedures of libraries.
But to become a librarian, one needs to earn a master’s degree in library science. To do so, they will first need to attain valid experience and build up their education and knowledge by holding different library positions such as technical assistant, library assistant, cataloger, materials coordinator, and reference librarian.
Advancement can come from managing a set of collections of books at different libraries, teaching others about library operations, and processes, and reaching leadership positions within the job.
Library Assistant Primary Requirements:
• High school diploma.
• Some on-job-training experience in a patron assistance role.
• Basic Computer Knowledge.
• Outstanding administrative skills.
• Attention to detail and promising trouble-solving ability.
• Extraordinary interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Booking organizing skills.
• Good Grasping ability.
Desire Needs to Serve The Library User Community
• Generate new and old systems, procedures, and operations.
• Know how to handle various commercial library software.
• Expertise in at least one foreign language.
• Easily interpret policies of a particular library, and supervise staff single-handedly.
• Positive and helping attitude towards all library users and especially those with special needs.
What Does a Library Assistant Do?
A library assistant performs an enormous range of duties in a job at a school or public library. Even librarians can’t do all their work alone without library assistants.
Here is a brief about the duties and daily tasks of a library assistant:
•Networking with other librarians, patrons, and overall staff.
•Maintaining control of library rules, for example, collecting fines from late persons, renewing books on time, and filling up daily data on computers.
•Carrying out research-based tasks such as checking the availability of historical copies or paperwork like cataloging which are tedious while keeping up with the current or interminable workload.
• Provide access to information for library patrons, faculty members, staff, and students.
• Circulation functions and Inventory management.
• Management of multimedia collections in the library.
• Scheduling tasks for other members and self.
• Making presentations and accurate reports whenever needed.
• Helping students and staff find books.
• Collect returned materials by patrons.
• Sort and arrange the returned books, periodicals, and other material as it is in their place.
• Maintain inter-library loan data and stuff.
• Register new members and issue them library cards and maintain them manually.
• Give valid information to the members.
• Teach patrons how to use library resources without disturbing anything.
• Maintain databases used to track down library materials on the computer.
• Participate in various library events such as used-books sales, outreach programs, summer reading programs, etc.
• Order a variety of books for particular subjects and topics.
• Notify members about delaying book return dates.
• Arrange a substitute of books if needed.
How Much Money Does A Library Assistant Make?
Library assistants do both part-time and full-time jobs. In public libraries, they work on weekends, evenings, and even holidays.
However, the wages are different as per the organization in which they are working. If they work in elementary or secondary schools they earn a minimum of $18 per hour. In college universities and professional schools, they earn $19 per hour whereas in local government hospitals they get typically $18, and at other information services they earn up to $15 per hour.
Conclusion
Being a librarian assistant in the United States is a demanding and rewarding job for those interested in working closely with information and growing as an individual. People receive extensive training, which includes both written and practical applications. Overall it is a great opportunity to broaden one’s education and experience. The work is also flexible, so one can not be tied to any set schedules or hours and can also request leave as needed.
FAQs
Q1. What is the difference between a librarian and a librarian assistant in the US?
Librarian is responsible for all aspects of library work, such as lending and selecting materials and tracking users’ requests. Librarian assistant in the US has various tasks like filing, cataloging, photocopying, typing, greeting users, and assisting librarians.
Q2. How much a librarian assistant earns in a year?
A librarian assistant can expect an average salary of $33,840 per year. Those in the top 10% of their field will earn over $49,850 yearly. Librarian assistants working with government agencies make the highest salaries.
Q3. How to get a job as a library assistant in the US?
A person needs a post-secondary diploma and on-the-job intense training to finally get a position as a library assistant in any organization in a country like the USA.
