COOKED
The screen half of this job — copy cataloging, MARC record cleanup, database searching, interlibrary loan paperwork, overdue notices, basic reference lookups — is exactly what language models and integrated library systems already do at usable quality. What holds is the physical and in-person half: shelving and shelf-reading, processing and repairing materials, running the circulation desk, staffing children's story time, and helping the patron who can't use the self-checkout or the public PC. There is no license, no sign-off, and budget pressure on public and school libraries compounds the automation exposure.
Core tasks are already automatable. Copy cataloging from OCLC, MARC field correction, ILL request routing through OCLC WorldShare, generating overdue and hold notices, and answering "where's the book on X" are the bulk of billable hours and all of them are now either vendor-automated or one prompt away — the 6 rather than 2 reflects that book repair, shelf-reading a Dewey run, and physically processing new arrivals still have to be done by hands.
Some physical or field component. An 11 covers real daily physical work — pushing loaded carts, shelving at floor and top-shelf height, mending spines and applying mylar, clearing jams in the copier and self-check, moving furniture for story time — but it stays under 13 because the building is climate-controlled, predictable, and you're not working in traffic, weather, or a patient's home.
No licence, no signature requirement. The MLS-holding librarian signs off on cataloging standards and collection decisions; a library technician needs no state license, no certification exam, and nothing you enter into the ILS creates personal legal exposure — hence the 1 rather than 0 only because ALA-APA support-staff certification exists and almost nobody requires it.
Some relationship component. An 8 recognizes that the regulars at the circulation desk know your name, the kids come for your story time specifically, and the older patron who needs help with the tax form asks for you — but patrons come for the collection and the free computers, and the branch keeps functioning when a different tech is on desk.
Executes defined procedures on defined inputs. Fine waivers, hold priorities, and whether a torn paperback gets mended or withdrawn all run against written circulation and collection-maintenance policy, with anything genuinely contested — a challenged book, a patron conduct ban, a purchase decision — escalated to the librarian or branch manager, which puts real but narrow discretion at 4.
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term EXPOSED
Self-Enrichment Teachers EXPOSED
Has AI actually changed your work?