How To Become A Circulation Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a circulation clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a circulation clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $11.69 an hour? That's $24,325 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCirculation ClerkUS Average

Salary

1.9

Avg. Salary $24,325

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.86%

Asian 5.22%

Black or African American 10.15%

Hispanic or Latino 15.01%

Unknown 4.90%

White 63.86%

Gender

female 76.97%

male 23.03%

Age - 49

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 - 49

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

3.7

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a circulation clerk

Explore circulation clerk education requirements

Most common circulation clerk degrees

Bachelor's

54.4 %

Associate

19.7 %

High School Diploma

14.2 %

Start to develop specific circulation clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	18.50%
Patron Accounts	17.61%
Library Materials	14.67%
Circulation Desk	6.12%
Library Patrons	3.65%

Complete relevant circulation clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New circulation clerks 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 a circulation clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real circulation clerk resumes.

Research circulation clerk duties and responsibilities

Create displays for checkout material (fiction, DVDs, children's section, etc . )
Process internal and external inter-library loan requests for fiction and non-fiction titles and digital media.
Issue library cards to customers and collect fines for books, CDs, and videos.
Catalogue and stack books, movies, CDs, records and periodicals.

Prepare your circulation clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your circulation clerk 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 a circulation clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable circulation clerk resume templates

Build a professional circulation clerk 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 circulation clerk resume.

Apply for circulation clerk jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a circulation clerk 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 circulation clerks rate their job?

-/5

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Circulation clerk reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2019

Pros

pay Invoice on spreadsheet , sort open shipment from Baker Taylor warehouse , process books and DVD , put new barcode and labels on all books and av material