Top 12 Assistant Librarian Skills to Put on Your Resume

Landing a role as an assistant librarian requires showcasing a unique set of skills that demonstrate your ability to support library operations, assist patrons, and manage resources efficiently. Highlighting these top skills on your resume can set you apart in the competitive library job market, proving your qualifications and readiness to contribute to a library's success.

Assistant Librarian Skills

1. Cataloging (MARC21)
2. Circulation (SirsiDynix)
3. Reference (LibAnswers)
4. Digital Archiving (DigiTool)
5. Collection Development (WorldCat)
6. Research (ProQuest)
7. Database Management (SQL)
8. Customer Service
9. Information Literacy
10. Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad)
11. Digital Preservation (Archivematica)
12. Metadata Standards (Dublin Core)

1. Cataloging (MARC21)

Cataloging in the context of MARC21 (Machine-Readable Cataloging) is the process of creating detailed records for library materials in a standardized digital format. These records include essential information such as titles, authors, publication details, and subject classifications, enabling efficient organization, discovery, and access to library collections. For an Assistant Librarian, this involves using MARC21 standards to accurately input and maintain bibliographic data in the library's database, ensuring users can find and utilize resources effectively.

Why It's Important

Cataloging using MARC21 is crucial for an Assistant Librarian because it ensures standardized, accurate, and accessible descriptions of library resources, facilitating efficient information retrieval and resource management.

How to Improve Cataloging (MARC21) Skills

Improving cataloging in MARC21 involves understanding the standards, practicing consistently, and staying current with evolving guidance. Try these steps:

1. Grasp the MARC21 structure: Learn common fields, indicators, and subfields, and how they map to discovery layers.

2. Use cataloging tools: Work with utilities like MarcEdit to batch-edit, validate, and transform records efficiently.

3. Follow community best practices: Align with guidance from national libraries and cooperative programs (e.g., PCC) to ensure consistency.

4. Keep learning: Attend webinars, workshops, and vendor trainings; practice with varied formats (print, AV, e-resources).

5. Join professional networks: Participate in ALA’s Core (which combines the former ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA) and similar groups for peer support.

6. Practice deliberately: Catalog a range of materials, review records against exemplars, and seek peer review.

7. Track updates: Monitor changes to MARC, RDA, and subject vocabularies that affect record creation.

With steady practice and community engagement, your MARC21 work becomes sharper, faster, and more reliable.

How to Display Cataloging (MARC21) Skills on Your Resume

2. Circulation (SirsiDynix)

Circulation in the context of SirsiDynix refers to the library software module used by assistant librarians and staff to manage the borrowing and returning of library materials, track item availability, and maintain patron accounts.

Why It's Important

Circulation (SirsiDynix) is crucial for an Assistant Librarian as it streamlines the management of library materials’ lending process, tracking item availability, and patron interactions, enhancing service efficiency and user satisfaction.

How to Improve Circulation (SirsiDynix) Skills

Boost outcomes by leaning on workflows, data quality, and outreach:

1. Streamline checkout: Configure WorkFlows to simplify common tasks, reduce clicks, and automate notices and fines where appropriate.

2. Tune the catalog: Keep item statuses, locations, and holds parameters accurate so discoverability and request routing stay smooth.

3. Promote the collection: Use the BLUEcloud suite or your preferred tools to highlight new titles, lists, and events that invite borrowing.

4. Train steadily: Schedule short refreshers on new features and circulation policies; document local procedures for staff confidence.

5. Collect feedback: Capture patron and staff suggestions, then iterate on desk scripts, queues, and self-service options.

6. Engage the community: Pair circulation drives with programs, partnerships, and targeted communications.

Fine-tuned settings plus human-friendly service create faster lines and happier patrons.

How to Display Circulation (SirsiDynix) Skills on Your Resume

3. Reference (LibAnswers)

Reference (LibAnswers) is a digital platform used by libraries to manage and respond to patron inquiries, providing a centralized system for reference services including FAQs, chat, SMS, and email support.

Why It's Important

Reference (LibAnswers) is crucial for an Assistant Librarian as it provides a centralized platform for efficiently managing and responding to patron inquiries, ensuring accurate information delivery and enhancing user satisfaction with library services.

How to Improve Reference (LibAnswers) Skills

Get nimble with the tool and your approach:

1. Explore deeply: Click through queues, FAQs, chat transcripts, and stats until the layout feels second nature.
2. Attend trainings: Vendor sessions and local refreshers reveal shortcuts and newly released features.
3. Watch release notes: New widgets, dashboards, and integrations can trim response time.
4. Practice scenarios: Run mock chats and complex referrals; refine triage and escalation paths.
5. Build a strong knowledge base: Tight, reusable answers speed responses and keep tone consistent.
6. Network with peers: Swap macros, tags, and queue setups with other libraries to steal good ideas.
7. Ask for feedback: Short follow-ups after tickets close surface gaps you can fix quickly.

Fast, friendly, accurate—repeat until it’s muscle memory.

How to Display Reference (LibAnswers) Skills on Your Resume

4. Digital Archiving (DigiTool)

Digital Archiving, specifically using DigiTool, involves the process of storing, preserving, and managing digital resources and collections. For an Assistant Librarian, it means using the DigiTool platform to catalog, archive, and provide access to digital materials such as documents, images, and multimedia, ensuring their long-term preservation and accessibility to users. Note: DigiTool is legacy software at many institutions; the core practices below apply equally to platforms like Rosetta, Alma Digital, DSpace, or Islandora.

Why It's Important

Digital Archiving is important because it ensures the long-term preservation of digital materials, making them accessible and searchable for future generations. It helps safeguard valuable information from digital decay, enables efficient retrieval, and supports research, learning, and knowledge dissemination.

How to Improve Digital Archiving (DigiTool) Skills

Tighten preservation and access by focusing on standards, process, and resilience:

1. Standardize metadata: Apply Dublin Core or another well-documented schema consistently for clean discovery and interoperability.

2. Invest in training: Keep up with digital curation, fixity checks, rights metadata, and file format normalization.

3. Improve usability: Test interfaces with real users; streamline item pages, thumbnails, and search facets.

4. Plan for the long haul: Use preservation-friendly formats, schedule fixity audits, and maintain multiple, verified backups.

5. Collaborate: Join digital preservation communities to compare workflows, policy language, and toolchains.

Good metadata, repeatable workflows, and rigorous storage habits keep collections safe and findable.

How to Display Digital Archiving (DigiTool) Skills on Your Resume

5. Collection Development (WorldCat)

Collection Development in the context of WorldCat refers to the strategic process of selecting, acquiring, evaluating, and managing a library's resources to meet the informational, educational, and recreational needs of its users. For an Assistant Librarian, this involves using WorldCat to identify, assess, and access materials from libraries worldwide to complement and enhance the library's collection, ensuring it remains current, relevant, and diverse.

Why It's Important

Collection Development, aided by tools connected to WorldCat, helps ensure resources are current, relevant, and diverse. It supports the community’s needs, drives satisfaction, and keeps the library’s offerings lively and useful.

How to Improve Collection Development (WorldCat) Skills

Blend data, demand, and discovery:

1. Study your community: Analyze demographics, circulation patterns, holds queues, and program attendance to spot gaps.

2. Use analysis tools: Compare your holdings with peer libraries via OCLC collection analysis features to identify overlaps and unique opportunities.

3. Leverage interlibrary loan: Track frequent ILL requests and convert high-demand items into purchases when sensible.

4. Adopt modern selection workflows: Use OCLC WorldShare Collection Manager (in place of retired tools like WorldCat Selection) to manage demand-driven lists and vendor records.

5. Engage the community: Maintain relationships through the OCLC community, sharing insights and learning from others’ profiles and practices.

6. Keep learning: Follow webinars and trainings on collection development strategy, budgeting, and assessment.

The result: a collection that breathes with your patrons’ interests, not against them.

How to Display Collection Development (WorldCat) Skills on Your Resume

6. Research (ProQuest)

Research (ProQuest) is a comprehensive digital platform providing access to a wide range of academic journals, newspapers, dissertations, and other scholarly resources, supporting diverse research needs across many disciplines.

Why It's Important

ProQuest empowers an Assistant Librarian to support complex research, inform collection choices, and guide users to credible, peer-reviewed content quickly.

How to Improve Research (ProQuest) Skills

Search smarter, guide better:

1. Map the content: Know which databases cover which subjects, formats, and date ranges to route users precisely.

2. Master advanced search: Boolean logic, proximity operators, field limits, and filters can slice noise to the bone.

3. Use subject terms: Controlled vocabularies and thesauri sharpen recall and precision.

4. Train regularly: Attend vendor webinars; keep notes on new features, interface tweaks, and export options.

5. Set alerts: Create saved searches and alerts so researchers stay current without manual checking.

6. Embed access: Add links, permalinks, and search widgets into guides and learning systems for fewer clicks.

7. Offer consultations: Tailored sessions surface better keywords, sources, and citation workflows.

Precision searching turns labyrinths into straight hallways.

How to Display Research (ProQuest) Skills on Your Resume

7. Database Management (SQL)

Database Management in SQL is the process of using the SQL language to store, manipulate, and retrieve information in a structured database, enabling an Assistant Librarian to efficiently organize, search, and manage library data such as books, member information, and transactions.

Why It's Important

Database Management using SQL enables efficient organization, retrieval, and management of large volumes of library data—boosting operations and sharpening the user experience.

How to Improve Database Management (SQL) Skills

Build strong habits and safe systems:

1. Understand your schema: Diagram tables, keys, and relationships; know which views and indexes power reports and searches.

2. Keep skills fresh: Take short courses or tutorials on SQL fundamentals, query tuning, and data modeling.

3. Backups and recovery: Establish backup schedules, test restores, and document runbooks to avoid panic on bad days.

4. Write clean SQL: Use clear aliases, consistent casing, parameterized queries, and sensible indexing to improve performance.

5. Protect data: Apply least-privilege access, encrypt sensitive fields at rest and in transit, and review audit logs.

6. Maintain routinely: Update statistics, rebuild indexes, and check integrity to keep latency low.

7. Use the right tools: Lean on SSMS, psql, phpMyAdmin, or similar clients to monitor, profile, and manage databases.

Good SQL is part craft, part caution—both matter.

How to Display Database Management (SQL) Skills on Your Resume

8. Customer Service

Customer service, in the context of an Assistant Librarian, involves assisting patrons by answering questions, locating resources, and providing guidance on library services and policies to ensure a positive and productive library experience.

Why It's Important

Customer service makes patrons feel welcomed, heard, and helped—turning single visits into lasting relationships with the library.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

Small changes, big lift:

1. Communicate clearly: Practice active listening, reflect back needs, and offer step-by-step guidance without jargon.

2. Know your resources: Stay current on collections, databases, e-lending platforms, and assistive technologies.

3. Use tech well: Configure your ILS/Discovery, self-check, and booking tools to be intuitive and forgiving.

4. Gather feedback: Quick surveys and desk-side conversations reveal friction points you can fix.

5. Personalize help: Offer tailored suggestions, follow-ups, and alternatives—meet users where they are.

Grace under pressure, plus good tools, equals delighted patrons.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

9. Information Literacy

Information literacy is the ability to identify, find, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically, crucial for decision-making, problem-solving, and continuous learning.

Why It's Important

For an Assistant Librarian, strong information literacy underpins every interaction—helping patrons judge sources, avoid misinformation, and discover what truly answers their questions.

How to Improve Information Literacy Skills

Sharpen both method and mindset:

1. Track trends: Follow professional associations and journals to stay current on pedagogy and assessment.

2. Take short courses: Deepen skills in search strategy, data literacy, and digital citizenship.

3. Evaluate with rigor: Build checklists and heuristics for authority, bias, evidence, and currency.

4. Use digital tools: Get fluent with discovery layers, subject databases, citation managers, and accessibility features.

5. Join communities: Participate in forums and networks to swap lesson plans, rubrics, and activities.

6. Teach iteratively: Pilot mini-lessons, collect quick assessments, and revise fast.

Curiosity plus a skeptical eye—teach both, model both.

How to Display Information Literacy Skills on Your Resume

10. Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad)

Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) is a system libraries use to request and lend books and other materials among institutions, allowing patrons to access resources not available in their home library's collection.

Why It's Important

ILLiad broadens access beyond local holdings, speeding research and satisfying niche requests without bloating the budget.

How to Improve Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) Skills

Make sharing seamless:

1. Automate where sensible: Use routing rules, default suppliers, and smart templates to cut manual steps.

2. Clarify policies: Keep loan periods, renewals, fees, and formats easy to find and simple to understand.

3. Train continually: Refresh staff on request workflows, copyright considerations, and troubleshooting.

4. Simplify the interface: Customize request forms and status messages to reduce confusion and emails.

5. Integrate systems: Connect with discovery, authentication, and WorldShare ILL to reduce duplicate data entry.

6. Use reports: Analyze turnaround times, fill rates, and top-requested titles to spot bottlenecks.

7. Grow your network: Participate in regional and national resource-sharing groups to expand lending options.

Less friction in the pipeline means faster items in patrons’ hands.

How to Display Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) Skills on Your Resume

11. Digital Preservation (Archivematica)

Digital Preservation, as implemented by Archivematica, is the process of maintaining, managing, and ensuring the accessibility of digital objects (such as documents, datasets, multimedia files) over the long term. It involves a series of managed activities necessary to keep digital material readable and usable as technologies evolve. Archivematica is open-source software that automates many of these steps, helping digital materials remain intact and accessible over time.

Why It's Important

Digital Preservation safeguards the library's digital collections against obsolescence and data loss, ensuring future researchers, students, and the public can still use what you steward today.

How to Improve Digital Preservation (Archivematica) Skills

Strengthen the chain from ingest to access:

1. Master the workflow: Learn transfer, ingest, and storage steps, plus where to customize microservices.

2. Enrich metadata: Apply consistent descriptive, technical, and rights metadata (Dublin Core and PREMIS are common).

3. Automate wisely: Use automation tools for repeatable ingest, normalization, and QA to reduce errors.

4. Train and test: Run tabletop exercises for restoration and storage failure scenarios; document lessons learned.

5. Join the community: Share questions and solutions with practitioners; follow shared roadmaps and release notes.

6. Audit regularly: Schedule fixity checks, storage audits, and periodic policy reviews; track results.

Preservation isn’t a project; it’s a program—keep iterating.

How to Display Digital Preservation (Archivematica) Skills on Your Resume

12. Metadata Standards (Dublin Core)

Metadata Standards, such as the Dublin Core, provide a structured and standardized way to describe and catalog information resources. For an Assistant Librarian, this means using a set of core elements (e.g., Title, Creator, Subject, Description) to effectively organize, manage, and retrieve various types of materials in a library's collection, enhancing searchability and accessibility for users.

Why It's Important

Standards like Dublin Core ensure consistent, understandable descriptions that travel well across systems, enabling reliable discovery and sharing.

How to Improve Metadata Standards (Dublin Core) Skills

Make records coherent and interoperable:

1. Stay current: Review updates to Dublin Core terms and application profiles.

2. Train: Attend workshops or webinars focused on practical metadata design and crosswalking.

3. Use supportive tools: Employ editors and validators that enforce field usage and encoding rules.

4. Quality control: Create a checklist for element usage, controlled vocabularies, and punctuation conventions.

5. Engage the community: Discuss edge cases and evolving practices with peers to align approaches.

Consistent fields, disciplined vocabularies, better search—everyone wins.

How to Display Metadata Standards (Dublin Core) Skills on Your Resume