Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary
US occupation · SOC 25-1082
Job titles people report: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Classification Instructor, Information Science Professor, Instructor, Lecturer, Library Instructor, Library Science Professor, Library Technology Instructor, Professor
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $80,340
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $64,080 – $100,910
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 3,630
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +2.7%
- Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 300
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Doctoral or professional degree
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Teach courses in library science. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Main tasks
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and present findings in professional journals, books, electronic media, or at professional conferences.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, giving presentations at conferences, and serving on committees in professional associations.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as collection development, archival methods, and indexing and abstracting.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Doctoral or professional degree
- O*NET Job Zone 5
- Extensive preparation
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
- Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 2 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Library Science
- Library and Information Science
- Children and Youth Library Services
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Education Teachers, Postsecondary
$75,350 median · +2.5% projected
- Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
$42,910 median · +2.7% projected
- Instructional Coordinators
$77,440 median · +1.6% projected
- Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
$84,290 median · +2.2% projected
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
$68,270 median · +2.6% projected
- Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$72,040 median · -0.2% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk