Library assistant vs reference assistant

The differences between library assistants and reference assistants 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 $27,874 average annual salary of a reference assistant.

The top three skills for a library assistant include customer service, library materials and circulation desk. The most important skills for a reference assistant are library materials, library patrons, and interlibrary loan.

Library assistant vs reference assistant overview

	Library Assistant	Reference Assistant
Yearly salary	$30,146	$27,874
Hourly rate	$14.49	$13.40
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	1,122	658
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	-	-

Library assistant vs reference assistant salary

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

	Library Assistant	Reference Assistant
Average salary	$30,146	$27,874
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $39,000	Between $21,000 And $36,000
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 reference assistant education

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

	Library Assistant	Reference Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Business	English
Most common college	Northwestern University	New York University

Library assistant vs reference assistant demographics

Here are the differences between library assistants' and reference assistants' demographics:

	Library Assistant	Reference Assistant
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 29.0% Female, 71.0%	Male, 32.3% Female, 67.7%
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, 10.4% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 6.4% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between library assistant and reference assistant 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.

Reference assistant example responsibilities.

Construct and manage subject LibGuides.
Manage yearly budget for DVDs.
Search for and retrieve cases from online databases such as Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis.
Prepare library libguides and bibliographies on various areas of law.
Train fellow staff members in inter-library loan procedures and online database, OCLC.
Process requests for journal articles and books from RapidILL, OCLC, and DOCLINE.

Library assistant vs reference assistant skills

Common library assistant skills

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

Common reference assistant skills

Library Materials, 8%
Library Patrons, 7%
Interlibrary Loan, 6%
Reference Desk, 6%
Reference Services, 6%
Library Resources, 5%

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Library Assistant
Library Assistant vs Reference Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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