Library assistant vs circulation clerk

The differences between library assistants and circulation clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a library assistant has an average salary of $30,146, which is higher than the $24,325 average annual salary of a circulation clerk.

The top three skills for a library assistant include customer service, library materials and circulation desk. The most important skills for a circulation clerk are customer service, patron accounts, and library materials.

Library assistant vs circulation clerk overview

	Library Assistant	Circulation Clerk
Yearly salary	$30,146	$24,325
Hourly rate	$14.49	$11.69
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	1,122	66,736
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	-	-

Library assistant vs circulation clerk salary

Library assistants and circulation clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Library Assistant	Circulation Clerk
Average salary	$30,146	$24,325
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $39,000	Between $19,000 And $30,000
Highest paying City	Brookline, MA	-
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	-
Best paying company	Columbia University in the City of New York	-
Best paying industry	Professional	-

Differences between library assistant and circulation clerk education

There are a few differences between a library assistant and a circulation clerk in terms of educational background:

	Library Assistant	Circulation Clerk
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Stanford University

Library assistant vs circulation clerk demographics

Here are the differences between library assistants' and circulation clerks' demographics:

	Library Assistant	Circulation Clerk
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 29.0% Female, 71.0%	Male, 23.0% Female, 77.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 5.2% White, 63.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between library assistant and circulation clerk duties and responsibilities

Library assistant example responsibilities.

Organize and check in newly arrive reference materials, magazines, newspapers, and journals.
Assist with processing acquisitions, collection maintenance and development, retro- cataloging, copy cataloging.
Process and track inter-library loans and donations.
Set up user accounts and user rights in windows.
Process magazines and annual reports for the circulation department.
Re-Serve, circulate, check-in / check-out and renew books.

Circulation clerk example 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.
Help troubleshoot technology relate issues.

Library assistant vs circulation clerk skills

Common library assistant skills

Customer Service, 16%
Library Materials, 15%
Circulation Desk, 7%
Library Patrons, 4%
Library Services, 4%
Library Resources, 3%

Common circulation clerk skills

Customer Service, 18%
Patron Accounts, 18%
Library Materials, 15%
Circulation Desk, 6%
Library Patrons, 4%
Issue Library Cards, 3%