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Special library librarian skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Stephen Ahearne-Kroll Ph.D.,

Kerol Harrod

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical special library librarian skills. We ranked the top skills for special library librarians based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.0% of special library librarian resumes contained library services as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a special library librarian needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 special library librarian skills for your resume and career

1. Library Services

Library Services are those resources, products, and events provided and held by a library or a similar entity to an individual. Users of the library may make use of these tools, which often differ from one institution to the next but amongst which may be things like online information and phone services, literary and other classes, book clubs, referencing services, and a number of other things.

Here's how special library librarians use library services:

Lead library on issues related to the technical side of digital library services.
Supported innovative vision of library services, provided high quality customer service and maintained motivated setting to meet and accomplish goals.

2. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how special library librarians use professional development:

Facilitate professional development workshops that assist educators in improving teaching strategies, academic growth, and engagement in the classroom.
Initiate and lead library projects, and participate in college-wide professional development opportunities, meetings and conferences.

3. Library Resources

Here's how special library librarians use library resources:

Performed collection development of all library resources with an annual print material budget of $100,000.
Developed and facilitated library skills and information science lessons to teachers and helped students understand how to effectively use library resources.

4. Collection Development

Collection development is the systematic and economical creation and evaluation of a library's inventory to meet the information needs of library users in a timely and cost-effective manner, using local information resources as well as resources from other organizations. Its purpose is to aid the mission of the library and involves both selecting and deselecting library resources. The library collection also includes general information resources to assist in a learning environment in subjects not covered in the classroom.

Here's how special library librarians use collection development:

Assisted the Director in annual strategic and budget planning and collection development.
Participated in assigned collection development responsibilities.

5. Library Science

Here's how special library librarians use library science:

Worked with Education, Library Science, Psychology, and Social Work professors to meet the needs of their students.

6. Reference Services

A reference service іѕ an іntеgrаl раrt of any lіbrаrу, the аіm of whісh іѕ tо educate users on hоw tо uѕе reference mаtеrіаlѕ to hеlр thеm gеt factual іnfоrmаtіоn іn the best роѕѕіblе way аnd аt the right tіmе. Thе rеfеrrаl ѕеrvісе hаndlеѕ rеԛuеѕtѕ аnd аѕѕіѕtѕ uѕеrѕ fіnd, ассеѕѕ, аnd uѕе thе rеԛuіrеd information to mееt thеіr nееdѕ.

Here's how special library librarians use reference services:

Provide reference services using years of experience, books, periodicals, online databases and referrals to subject experts.
Provided reference services at the reference desk on a rotating schedule and virtually through SpringShare products.

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7. Library Programs

Here's how special library librarians use library programs:

Assist with and promote library programing.
Prepared and presented library programs and supervised program presentation by subordinate staff.

8. University Libraries

Here's how special library librarians use university libraries:

Maintained the consortium services of academic libraries in Thailand and other provincial university libraries.
Assist students with academic research at the reference desk for the University Libraries at the Hayward campus.

9. Library System

Here's how special library librarians use library system:

Evaluated and procured integrated library system and databases.
Maintained the integrated library system (Voyager) for the library.

10. Library Materials

Here's how special library librarians use library materials:

Assisted librarians in stocking and organizing library materials.
Assist students in locating library materials.

11. Public Library

Here's how special library librarians use public library:

Provided on-call circulation and reference desk professional librarian service for busy, suburban public library.
Coordinated AUL Corporate Library program with Outreach Service representatives from Indianapolis Marion County Public Library.

12. Library Collection

Here's how special library librarians use library collection:

Analyzed library collection for new acquisitions and weeding purposes and used professional literature and librarian resource tools to determine collection needs.
Helped to integrate new material into existing collection, processed returned books and materials, and maintained organization of library collection.

13. Libguides

Here's how special library librarians use libguides:

Initiated purchase and implementation of LibGuides.
Developed and maintained more than 15 subject reference guides (LibGuides) Administrative Responsibilities:.

14. Circulation Desk

A circulation desk refers to a place in the library where one can check-in, borrow materials, pay fines, collect inquiries, and many more during library hours. It is usually located near the main entrance of each library.

Here's how special library librarians use circulation desk:

General management of circulation desk area, to include maintaining working computers.
Provided in-person and telephone reference and circulation desk service.

15. Reference Desk

Here's how special library librarians use reference desk:

Assist patrons at the reference desk in person and on phone Other duties as assigned
Created and presented children's programs, summer reading program implementation, circulation/reference desk duties, program materials preparation

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What skills help Special Library Librarians find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on special library librarian resumes?

Stephen Ahearne-Kroll Ph.D.

Chair, Associate Professor and Sundet Family Chair of New Testament and Christian Studies, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

The skills I think are most important (in no particular order) are (1) creative imagination; (2) good knowledge of the social and political history of the biblical works one is studying; (3) a strong sense of how theological perspectives can affect one's reading of the Bible; (4) a strong sense of how the field is being pushed towards a more inclusive demographic; (5) a deep understanding of how gender, race, social status, and ethnicity have to be included in any analysis of biblical texts; (6) a desire to break out of old patterns of scholarship and teaching that have certain scholars an unfair advantage over others; (7) an interesting research plan; (8) strong language skills; (9) good teaching ability/potential.

What special library librarian skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kerol Harrod

Lecturer, School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Woman's University

Knowing how to navigate AI and the types of issues that arise therefrom (copyright, plagiarism, AI hallucinations, etc.) will become more important as the technology progresses. Generally keeping abreast of new technologies and ways to access information is also key to providing good service to library patrons. Understanding the basics of community librarianship, evidence-based practice, marketing, and community outreach will be crucial to libraries and librarians looking to maintain relevance in an increasingly connected world.

What technical skills for a special library librarian stand out to employers?

Andrew Wertheimer Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Library & Information Science Program, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Libraries and archives look for a variety of skills. It would be hard to specify which ones since different workplaces need different skills. The reason they hire our graduates is that they have this wide range of skills as well as soft-skills to provide service to users and communities in an ethical and legal way. If I had to name a few areas though I would say health informatics, digital archives, digital libraries, online instruction, as well as data science. Again, different employers have different technical needs. Our employers keep telling us that they also need the strong foundations plus soft skills.

Do you want to know more?

List of special library librarian skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a special library librarian resume and required skills for a special library librarian to have include:

Library Services
Professional Development
Library Resources
Collection Development
Library Science
Reference Services
Library Programs
University Libraries
Library System
Library Materials

Public Library
Library Collection
Libguides
Circulation Desk
Reference Desk
Research Materials
Library Facilities
Research
OCLC
Cataloging

Electronic Resources
Reference Assistance
Fiction
Library Functions
Instructional Sessions
RDA
ILS
Outreach Program

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Special Library Librarian Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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