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

What is a circulation technician 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 technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $11.97 an hour? That's $24,904 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCirculation TechnicianUS Average

Salary

1.9

Avg. Salary $24,904

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.87%

Asian 4.83%

Black or African American 9.60%

Hispanic or Latino 14.84%

Unknown 5.50%

White 64.35%

Gender

female 53.85%

male 46.15%

Age - 54

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 - 54

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.5

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a circulation technician

Explore circulation technician education requirements

Most common circulation technician degrees

Bachelor's

54.9 %

High School Diploma

19.6 %

Associate

15.7 %

Start to develop specific circulation technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	57.65%
Student Assistants	16.90%
Front Desk	13.80%
Library Cards	11.65%

Complete relevant circulation technician training and internships

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

Research circulation technician duties and responsibilities

Provide cataloging services, including indexing, assigning metadata, classification and subject heading application using the standard thesaurus of terms.
Develop library collection materials for young adults including award-winning non-fiction and fiction titles.

Prepare your circulation technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your circulation technician 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 technician 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 technician resume templates

Build a professional circulation technician 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 technician resume.