How To Become A Government Documents Librarian: What It Is and Career Path

What is a government documents 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 a government documents librarian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.45 an hour? That's $52,928 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 8,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreGovernment Documents LibrarianUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,928

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.33%

Asian 4.99%

Black or African American 6.60%

Hispanic or Latino 7.95%

Unknown 3.60%

White 76.52%

Gender

female 55.93%

male 44.07%

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 a government documents librarian

Explore government documents librarian education requirements

Most common government documents librarian degrees

Bachelor's

61.2 %

Master's

26.5 %

High School Diploma

6.1 %

Start to develop specific government documents librarian skills

Skills	Percentages
Collection Development	26.45%
Depository	19.84%
Federal Government	16.46%
Library Resources	7.51%
Cataloging	7.48%

Complete relevant government documents librarian training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New government documents 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 a government documents librarian based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real government documents librarian resumes.

Research government documents librarian duties and responsibilities

Recruit, train, and manage volunteers, teen ambassadors, book buddies, elderly volunteers, and teen tech assistants.
Provide opportunities for students to use the library for class-relate research, individual investigation, independent reading, and personal inquiry.
Open new patron accounts, provide customer support regarding account status and work with Polaris systems.

Prepare your government documents librarian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your government documents 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 a government documents 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 government documents librarian resume templates

Build a professional government documents 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 government documents librarian resume.