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Education · Helping & Teaching

Librarian: what the job actually is

Helping people find, judge and use information, and running the collections, programmes and spaces that make that possible.

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Librarian: quick facts

Librarian salary in Ontario: the median pay is $44.24 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$44.24 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$27.00 to $68.21 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
5,150
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 51100. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • A librarian holds a master's degree in library and information studies, and manages collections, services and programmes. A lot of the job is helping people search, evaluate and use information.
  • Where you work shapes the work: public libraries run programmes and serve everyone who walks in; academic libraries support research; special libraries serve a company, hospital or government body.
  • Much of the day is people and problems. Someone needs a form, a database, help with a job application, or a quiet room, and you work out what they actually need.
  • The job is not the same as library technician or assistant roles. Job Bank's requirements page for this group asks for a master's degree, and the degrees come from programmes the American Library Association accredits.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:45 — Open the building: check email, check that the systems work, check which programmes are on today.
  2. 9:30 — Reference desk. A student wants three sources on a topic they have not defined. You ask four questions before you start searching.
  3. 10:45 — Someone brings in a form they do not understand. Help them through it without taking over.
  4. 12:00 — Lunch, or a planning meeting for a programme, whichever comes first.
  5. 13:00 — Collection work: decide what to buy, what to withdraw and what to move, using circulation figures and requests.
  6. 14:30 — Run or prepare a session: a workshop, a story time, a database tutorial, a class on spotting unreliable sources.
  7. 16:00 — Handle a complaint about a book, a policy or the noise. Be consistent, and be kind.
  8. 17:00 — Write up statistics, because funding depends on them, and close up.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like finding out what people actually need, which is often not what they first ask for.
  • You are curious about how information is organised, and you enjoy sorting and labelling things well.
  • You want to work for the public good in a place where everyone is welcome.
  • You are patient and comfortable explaining the same thing many times without sounding bored.
  • You are willing to do a master's degree, and you like reading, researching and teaching in roughly equal parts.
You may hate this if
  • You imagine a quiet job with books. Public libraries are busy, noisy and full of people with real problems, some of them in crisis.
  • You do not want a master's degree. The requirement is a graduate degree, so the route is at least two degrees long.
  • You dislike funding fights. Libraries justify their budgets constantly and cuts are a recurring worry.
  • You want a lot of openings. Job Bank's outlook in Ontario for this group is moderate, so jobs exist but are not plentiful, and you may have to move for one.
  • You hate technology or constant change. Databases, digital collections and search tools keep changing.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school and complete a bachelor's degree

    Library schools admit people from many undergraduate fields. Western's MLIS page did not state admission requirements and sent applicants to its graduate services office, so check each programme's admission page before you plan.

  2. Complete a master's programme accredited by the American Library Association

    Job Bank's requirements page for this group asks for a master's degree in library science, in library and information studies, or from a programme accredited by the American Library Association. Western University's Master of Library & Information Science describes itself as ALA accredited, with hybrid or online delivery, three intakes a year and an optional paid co-op, and flexible lengths starting at 12 months. Other Ontario universities offer programmes too; check their pages.

  3. Know it is not a regulated profession

    Job Bank says this occupation is not regulated, so there is no licence to apply for. The master's degree is what employers look for, and the Ontario Library Association is a place to find networks and job postings.

  4. Gain library experience early

    Library assistants and pages, volunteers and co-op placements are the usual first steps and look good on a graduate application.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Librarians requirements in Ontario · Western University — Master of Library & Information Science

The money

Librarian salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$27.00
Low (hourly)
$44.24
Median (hourly)
$68.21
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 51100. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Librarian wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Level of usage of public libraries
  • Public sector investments in library services
  • Job prospects in colleges and universities are expected to be impacted by the significant decline in international student enrolment.

Who hires for it

  • The majority are employed in libraries
5,150
people work in this job in Ontario
80%
are women (48% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Librarians job prospects in Ontario (NOC 51100). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Volunteer at your public library or your school's library, if it has a programme for students.
  • Take English, social science and any information technology courses, and learn to evaluate sources properly.
  • Ask a librarian at your school or public library how they got the job. Most are happy to tell you.
  • Try a research project where you have to find and cite good sources, and notice whether you enjoy the hunt.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Spend an hour answering real questions with real sources

About 60 minutes
  1. Ask five friends or family members each for one thing they have always wondered about. Pick the three most answerable.
  2. Find each answer using at least two reliable sources, write down where you looked, and note which source you trusted most and why.
  3. Visit your public library's website and find one programme or database you did not know about. Write down who it is for.
  4. Ask at the desk, politely, how the library decides which programmes to run. Notice how they explain it.

What it tells you. If you liked the hunt and the explaining, and were curious how the library works behind the scenes, this job suits you and the master's degree is worth exploring. If the searching felt like homework and the idea of two more years of study sounds like a hurdle, consider library assistant work, or a different route to a job around information.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What does your week look like, and how much of it is helping people one-on-one?”
  2. “What did your master's degree prepare you for, and what did it not?”
  3. “How did you find your first professional job?”
  4. “What is the hardest part of working with the public here?”
  5. “How has the job changed in the last few years?”
  6. “What would you tell someone choosing between a library degree and something else?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not really in the usual sense. Some librarians become independent information consultants or researchers, but the main employers are public bodies, universities and organisations.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a librarian make in Ontario?

The median pay for a librarian in Ontario is $44.24 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $27.00 to $68.21 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a librarian in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a librarian in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school and complete a bachelor's degree; Complete a master's programme accredited by the American Library Association; Know it is not a regulated profession.

Where does a librarian work in Ontario?

The majority are employed in libraries. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a librarian in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 5,150 people working in this job in Ontario. 80% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.