Reference assistant vs shelver

The differences between reference assistants and shelvers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a reference assistant has an average salary of $27,874, which is higher than the $24,091 average annual salary of a shelver.

The top three skills for a reference assistant include library materials, library patrons and interlibrary loan. The most important skills for a shelver are library materials, dewey decimal system, and dvds.

Reference assistant vs shelver overview

	Reference Assistant	Shelver
Yearly salary	$27,874	$24,091
Hourly rate	$13.40	$11.58
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	658	409
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	-	-

Reference assistant vs shelver salary

Reference assistants and shelvers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Reference Assistant	Shelver
Average salary	$27,874	$24,091
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $36,000	Between $18,000 And $30,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between reference assistant and shelver education

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

	Reference Assistant	Shelver
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	English	English
Most common college	New York University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Reference assistant vs shelver demographics

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

	Reference Assistant	Shelver
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 32.3% Female, 67.7%	Male, 38.1% Female, 61.9%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 5.0% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between reference assistant and shelver duties and responsibilities

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.

Shelver example responsibilities.

Assist patrons in their searches and shelve books, DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks.
Shelve all library material (books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, audio-books, etc . )
Shelve fiction, large print and new books.
Improve the layout plan of the adult fiction section.
Process internal and external inter-library loan requests for fiction and non-fiction titles and digital media.
Process internal and external inter-library loan requests for fiction and non-fiction titles and digital media.

Reference assistant vs shelver skills

Common reference assistant skills

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

Common shelver skills

Library Materials, 29%
Dewey Decimal System, 8%
DVDs, 7%
Book Displays, 5%
Customer Service, 5%
Shelve Books, 5%