# Librarians and Media Collections Specialists

US SOC code 25-4022. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-4022

Also called: Librarian, Reference librarian, Public librarian, Academic librarian, School librarian.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **133,790** US librarians and media collections specialists, with median pay of **$68,270** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library) of **5,000** from 1900, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for librarians and media collections specialists: Discovery layers, 2009 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 2.6% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-4022&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **50%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Librarians and Media Collections Specialists employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1876
- Latest US employment: 133,790 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $68,270 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [12]
- Outlook: +2.6% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [33]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **Canada** (NOC 51100)
  - Employment, 2020: 8,945. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [8]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 51100 Librarians, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  - Median pay, 2020: C$80,000. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [15]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 51100 Librarians, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.

### All 13 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1900 | 5,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1930 | 29,000 | n/a | Decennial Census 1930 [2] |
| 1970 | 99,000 | $9,100 (estimate) | Census (IPUMS) 1970 (employment) [2]; Est., BLS Handbook of Labor Statistics 1972 (pay) [9] |
| 1990 | 149,000 | $28,100 | BLS CPS 1992 (employment) [3]; BLS CPS 1990 (pay) [10] |
| 2000 | 139,460 | $41,700 | BLS OEWS 2000 [4] |
| 2010 | n/a | $54,500 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [12] |
| 2019 | 135,690 | $59,500 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 135,070 | $60,820 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 127,790 | $61,190 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 131,680 | $61,660 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 133,760 | $64,370 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 131,830 | $64,320 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 133,790 | $68,270 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (69)

### Employment series

1. [Wikipedia — Carnegie library (1,689 libraries funded 1883–1929)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library), Wikipedia
2. [IPUMS USA — 1930 Census 1% sample, occupation "Librarian"](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/), IPUMS USA / University of Minnesota
3. [BLS — Occupational Projections and Training Data, 1992–93 edition (Table 1 employment series)](https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1991/09/art3full.pdf), Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
6. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
7. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
8. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Wage series

9. [BLS Handbook of Labor Statistics 1972 — average annual earnings, librarians](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/handbook-labor-statistics-852), Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRASER
10. [BLS Occupational Compensation Surveys 1990 — Professional Library Occupations](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/occupational-compensation-survey-621), Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRASER
11. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
12. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
13. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
14. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
15. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Tool eras

16. [Wikipedia — Dewey Decimal Classification (history and 1876 origin)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification), Wikipedia
17. [ALA — History of the American Library Association (founded 1876, Philadelphia)](https://www.ala.org/aboutala/history), American Library Association
18. [Wikipedia — Library of Congress Classification (origin 1897)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Classification), Wikipedia
19. [Wikipedia — MARC standards (Henriette Avram, LOC, 1968)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARC_standards), Wikipedia
20. [LOC — Henriette Avram, "Mother of MARC," completed the MARC Pilot Project in 1968 (Library of Congress Information Bulletin, May 2006)](https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0605/avram.html), Library of Congress
21. [OCLC — About OCLC (founded 1967 as a nonprofit, member-driven library community by Frederick Kilgour)](https://www.oclc.org/en/about.html), OCLC
22. [Wikipedia — OCLC (founding and WorldCat development)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCLC), Wikipedia
23. [Wikipedia — Online public access catalog (history and 1980s rollout)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_public_access_catalog), Wikipedia
24. [Wikipedia — CD-ROM (library reference use in the 1980s and 1990s)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM), Wikipedia
25. [ARL Statistics — Reference transactions at ARL member libraries (longitudinal dataset, annual)](https://www.arlstatistics.org/), Association of Research Libraries
26. [Wikipedia — Google (founded 1998, public launch and impact on information access)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google), Wikipedia
27. [Wikipedia — OverDrive (company history, library e-lending)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OverDrive,_Inc.), Wikipedia
28. [IMLS — Public Libraries Survey (PLS): annual data on library visits, circulation, electronic resources, and staffing across ~9,000 US public libraries](https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/surveys/public-libraries-survey-pls), Institute of Museum and Library Services
29. [Wikipedia — Discovery system (bibliographic search): web-scale discovery layers including Summon 2009, EBSCO Discovery, Ex Libris Primo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_system_%28bibliographic_search%29), Wikipedia
30. [Ex Libris Primo — Library Discovery Platform (Ex Libris, a Clarivate company)](https://exlibrisgroup.com/primo/), Ex Libris (Clarivate)
31. [ALA — Center for the Future of Libraries: Artificial Intelligence (trends and resources)](https://www.ala.org/future/trends/artificialintelligence), American Library Association
32. [Wikipedia — ChatGPT (November 30, 2022 public launch)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT), Wikipedia

### Forecasts and exposure studies

33. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-4022 Librarians and media collections specialists (2025: 142.3 thousand; 2035: 145.9 thousand; +2.6%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-4022&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
34. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-4022.00, human-rated β 0.5)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

35. [ALA — History of the American Library Association (founded 1876, Philadelphia)](https://www.ala.org/aboutala/history), American Library Association
36. [Wikipedia — School of Library Economy, Columbia (1887, Dewey, first library school)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_School_of_Library_Service), Wikipedia
37. [Wikipedia — Carnegie library (1,689 US libraries funded by 1929)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library), Wikipedia
38. [LOC — Henriette Avram, "Mother of MARC," completed the MARC Pilot Project in 1968 (Library of Congress Information Bulletin, May 2006)](https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0605/avram.html), Library of Congress
39. [ALA — USA PATRIOT Act and Libraries (Section 215 opposition and Connecticut Four case)](https://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/theusapatriotact), American Library Association
40. [DPLA — About the Digital Public Library of America (founded 2013)](https://dp.la/about), Digital Public Library of America
41. [IMLS — Public Libraries Survey (PLS): annual data on library visits, circulation, electronic resources, and staffing across ~9,000 US public libraries](https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/surveys/public-libraries-survey-pls), Institute of Museum and Library Services
42. [ALA — Banned Books Week and Office for Intellectual Freedom (2022 challenge data)](https://www.ala.org/bbooks), American Library Association

### Predecessors & successors

43. [BLS OOH — Librarians: How to Become One (MLS + subject background common)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/librarians.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
44. [ALA — Directory of ALA-Accredited Programs in Library and Information Studies](https://www.ala.org/educationcareers/accreditedprograms/directory), American Library Association
45. [BLS OOH — Library Technicians and Assistants (often transition to librarian roles after MLS)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/library-technicians-and-assistants.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
46. [O\*NET — Archivists (25-4011.00): related occupations to Librarians](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-4011.00), O\*NET / BLS

### Present-day analysis

- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Librarians and Media Collections Specialists, 2024-25](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/librarians.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Librarians and Media Collections Specialists (25-4022.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-4022.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ALA Center for the Future of Libraries — Artificial Intelligence](https://www.ala.org/future/trends/artificialintelligence), accessed 2026-06-21
- [OCLC — Leading the Way on AI for Libraries](https://www.oclc.org/en/artificial-intelligence.html), accessed 2026-06-21
- [ACRL — AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers](https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ai), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Springshare — LibAnswers AI-Assisted Reference Platform (LibChat)](https://www.springshare.com/libanswers), accessed 2026-06-21
- [OCLC — Cataloging and Metadata Subscription Services](https://www.oclc.org/en/cataloging-subscription.html), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Ex Libris Primo — Library Discovery Service](https://exlibrisgroup.com/products/primo-discovery-service/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Springshare — LibGuides Research Guide Platform](https://www.springshare.com/libguides), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.