How To Become An Archival Collections Librarian: What It Is and Career Path

What is an archival collections librarian and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an archival collections librarian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.2 an hour? That's $50,340 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 8,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreArchival Collections LibrarianUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $50,340

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 3.85%

Black or African American 4.53%

Hispanic or Latino 6.09%

Unknown 3.44%

White 81.78%

Gender

female 47.06%

male 52.94%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

5.6

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.5

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an archival collections librarian

Explore archival collections librarian education requirements

Most common archival collections librarian degrees

Bachelor's

47.4 %

Associate

15.8 %

Master's

10.5 %

Start to develop specific archival collections librarian skills

Skills	Percentages
Cataloging	100.00%

Complete relevant archival collections librarian training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New archival collections librarians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an archival collections librarian based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real archival collections librarian resumes.

Research archival collections librarian duties and responsibilities

Manage the acquisition, cataloging, and storage of rare books.
Achieve proficiency cataloging electronic materials (audio records, video recordings, and streaming video) and continuing resources/serials.
Assist producers and editors by providing video footage need for editing sessions.
Provide opportunities for students to use the library for class-relate research, individual investigation, independent reading, and personal inquiry.

Prepare your archival collections librarian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your archival collections librarian resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an archival collections librarian resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable archival collections librarian resume templates

Build a professional archival collections librarian resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your archival collections librarian resume.

Apply for archival collections librarian jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an archival collections librarian job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do archival collections librarians rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Archival collections librarian reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

I'm an academic librarian, so helping students learn about information and research, teaching classes about same, and the intellectual aspect of working with information access around colleagues who are smart and kind. I've also been a teacher and a sales and marketing executive, but librarianship is by far my most rewarding career.