How to Become a Librarian: Steps, Degree and Salary

By the Public-Libraries.com Editorial Team · Updated October 4, 2026

Becoming a librarian is more involved than most people expect. It is a graduate-level profession: the standard credential is a master's degree in library and information science, and a few specialties add their own licenses on top. But there are also real paraprofessional routes into library work that don't require that degree. This guide walks through every step — the education, the timeline, the cost, the salary, and the honest trade-offs — using the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the American Library Association (ALA).

Step-by-step: how to become a librarian

Here is the path most professional librarians in the United States actually follow:

1. 1Earn a bachelor's degree. Any major is fine — librarianship draws on every subject. If you already know you want to work in a law, medical or music library, a related undergraduate field helps but is not required.
2. 2Get library experience early. Volunteer, take a student job, or work as a library page or assistant. Admissions committees and future employers both value hands-on time in a library, and it helps you confirm the career fits.
3. 3Complete an ALA-accredited master's (MLIS/MLS). This is the pivotal step. Most programs run 1.5–2 years full-time (2–3 part-time) and include a practicum. Fully online options are now common.
4. 4Specialize. Use electives and your practicum to concentrate — public services, academic, youth services, archives, cataloging, health sciences, law, or digital/data librarianship.
5. 5Get certified or licensed if your role requires it. School librarians need a state credential (see below); some states certify public librarians. Academic and special roles usually don't.
6. 6Apply for professional roles. Common entry points are reference librarian, cataloger, children's or teen librarian, and branch librarian.

How many years does it take?

For most people, becoming a professional librarian takes about six to seven years: four years for a bachelor's degree plus roughly one and a half to two years for the master's. Studying the master's part-time — which many people do while working in a library — stretches it to two or three years, but lets you earn and gain experience along the way. There is no faster shortcut to the professional title, because the master's is the credential employers screen for.

The degree: MLIS / MLS and ALA accreditation

The graduate degree goes by a few names — Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), Master of Library Science (MLS), or MSLIS. Employers treat them as equivalent. What matters far more than the exact title is that the program is accredited by the American Library Association.

The ALA accredits the programs, not individual librarians — there is no personal "ALA license." As of 2026 the association lists roughly 70 accredited master's programs at about 64 institutions across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, and the list changes as programs are added or reviewed. ALA notes that an accredited degree "provides flexibility in the types of libraries and jobs you can apply for," and many employers — and several state certifications — require it for professional positions. Before you enroll anywhere, confirm the program's current status in the official ALA-accredited programs directory.

How much does the master's cost?

Tuition varies widely by school and residency. The figures below are approximate totals for the full degree (most programs are 36–42 credits), based on 2025–26 program data — treat them as ballpark, not quotes:

Two things soften the sticker price: graduate assistantships and employer tuition benefits often bring the net cost 20–40% below the advertised rate, and many library workers have their employer help pay. Typical federal loan debt for MLIS graduates lands around $27,000.

Librarian salary: what can you earn?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, librarians and library-media specialists earned a median of $68,270 a year as of May 2025. Pay spans a wide band by setting, region and experience:

So it is a solid middle-class profession rather than a high-paying one — the top of the field clears six figures, but the entry rungs are modest. The occupation held about 142,100 jobs in 2024, and BLS projects employment to grow about 2% over the 2024–2034 decade (slower than the all-occupations average), with around 13,500 openings a year, most of them from retirements and people leaving the field rather than brand-new positions. In other words: steady, competitive, and worth targeting the growing specialties (data, digital services, health-sciences). For a fuller breakdown by setting and state, see our librarian salary guide.

Types of librarians (and how their paths differ)

"Librarian" covers several quite different careers. All generally need the ALA-accredited master's; the extras vary:

How to become a school librarian

School librarianship is the one path with a big added requirement. In nearly every state, a K–12 school librarian (often titled "school library media specialist") must hold a state-issued school-library credential — separate from, and in addition to, the master's degree. It is an educator license, usually administered by the same state agency that licenses classroom teachers.

Requirements differ sharply by state. Roughly half of states require a full teaching license as a prerequisite; others let you earn a provisional library credential while you complete it. States such as Alabama, California, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado require both an ALA-accredited master's and a current teaching license, and some (like Arizona) add teaching experience and an exam. Because of this, many school librarians come from a classroom-teaching background. Always check your own state's department-of-education rules before choosing a program.

Can you become a librarian without a master's degree?

Partly — and it's worth being clear about the distinction. Library work has two tiers. Professional librarians hold the ALA-accredited master's and the title, the responsibilities and the salary that come with it. Paraprofessionals keep libraries running without it:

• Library technicians — typically a postsecondary certificate (some hold an associate degree); they order materials, manage circulation systems and help patrons. BLS puts median pay at about $21.43/hour as of May 2025.
• Library assistants / aides — usually a high-school diploma plus on-the-job training; they handle checkouts, shelving and front-desk help, at about $17.74/hour.

These are real, accessible careers — but note that BLS projects library-technician and -assistant employment to decline about 6% over the 2025–2035 decade as routine tasks are automated. And there's a genuine exception at the margins: some small and rural public libraries hire directors or sole librarians without a full MLIS because they struggle to recruit, and a few states (for example, Montana and Louisiana) have formal waivers or provisional certifications for that situation. Outside those cases, in the U.S. the title "librarian" and the professional salary are gated behind the master's degree.

Is it hard to become a librarian — and is it worth it?

The degree itself is not unusually difficult, but the field is competitive: modest openings, many qualified graduates, and a lot of hiring driven by retirements rather than growth. The people who land jobs fastest tend to (1) build library experience before and during the master's, (2) be willing to relocate, and (3) develop an in-demand specialty such as data, digital collections, cataloging/metadata, or health-sciences librarianship. If your goal is a high salary, this isn't the fastest route; if you want stable, meaningful public-service work built around information and community, it remains a genuinely rewarding one.

Skills that make a strong librarian

Beyond the degree, hiring managers look for a recognizable mix of skills:

• Research and reference — answering complex questions across print and digital sources, and using tools like interlibrary loan and citation databases.
• Technology and digital literacy — comfort with integrated library systems, e-resource management and emerging tools, including AI-assisted search.
• Cataloging and metadata — classification schemes such as the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress systems, and standards like MARC and RDA.
• Information-literacy instruction — teaching patrons and students to find and evaluate information.
• Customer service and community engagement — working with children, seniors, students and people of every background, plus a growing emphasis on patron privacy and digital equity.

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