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

What is a serials librarian 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 serials librarian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.77 an hour? That's $51,525 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 8,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSerials LibrarianUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $51,525

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 3.85%

Black or African American 4.53%

Hispanic or Latino 6.09%

Unknown 3.44%

White 81.78%

Gender

female 77.55%

male 22.45%

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 serials librarian

Explore serials librarian education requirements

Most common serials librarian degrees

Bachelor's

51.1 %

Master's

42.2 %

High School Diploma

2.2 %

Start to develop specific serials librarian skills

Skills	Percentages
Library Materials	16.49%
Library Services	16.02%
Interlibrary Loan	15.97%
OCLC	15.09%
Statistical Reports	14.55%

Complete relevant serials librarian training and internships

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

Research serials librarian duties and responsibilities

Recruit, train, and manage volunteers, teen ambassadors, book buddies, elderly volunteers, and teen tech assistants.
Update OCLC MARC serial records via SIRSI/Dynix cataloging module.
Resolve discrepancies between physical holdings and MARC holding records.
Coordinate and execute acquisition, cataloging and processing of new collections.

Prepare your serials librarian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your serials 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 serials 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 serials librarian resume templates

Build a professional serials 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 serials librarian resume.