{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/library-technicians/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Library Technicians", "soc_code": "25-4031", "category": "Education", "us_employment": 68690, "median_annual_wage": 44580 }, "verdict": "COOKED", "risk_resistance": 30, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 6, "embodiment": 11, "liability_shield": 1, "trust_premium": 8, "judgment_accountability": 4 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "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.", "embodiment": "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.", "liability_shield": "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.", "trust_premium": "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is on desk.", "judgment_accountability": "Fine waivers, hold priorities, and whether a torn paperback gets mended or withdrawn all run against written circulation and collection-maintenance policy, with anything genuinely contested — a challenged book, a patron conduct ban, a purchase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." }, "rationale": "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.", "outlook": "Cataloging and clerical positions keep shrinking through automation and budget cuts, while the surviving roles consolidate into public-facing programming and physical-collection work in fewer, busier branches.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "embodiment", "change": "Continued shift of the role toward physical/in-person duties that have no digital substitute: collection shifting and weeding projects, materials repair and processing, makerspace and equipment lending (3D printers, hotspots, tool libraries), and staffing programming rooms. Where a library converts vacated cataloging FTE into public-desk and programming hours — visible in job postings retitled 'Library Services Assistant' with makerspace/tech-lending duties — the day's work becomes majority-embodied.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 4 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "Task-mix shift: copy cataloging and ILL paperwork are the routine tier; the judgment tier is original cataloging of local/special collections, archival processing of donated materials with no existing record, and reader's advisory for reluctant readers. If consortial shared cataloging absorbs the copy work (OCLC/Ex Libris automation), what remains is the local-unique tier machines have no source record for.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Formal delegation of book-challenge and materials-reconsideration handling to circulation-desk staff under state library-materials laws (e.g., the wave of Texas, Florida, Iowa, Utah statutes requiring documented review and removal decisions). If technicians are named in district procedure as the first-line responder logging challenges and applying age-rating criteria, they own a consequential, contested call.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Mandated-reporter and minor-safety duties written into job descriptions as public libraries absorb more unaccompanied youth, overdose response, and patron behavior incidents — several urban systems (Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia) already train frontline staff in Narcan administration and social-service referral. If incident-report authority sits with the technician on duty, the role carries real consequence under ambiguity.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 2 }, { "dimension": "trust_premium", "change": "Narrow route only: school-library contexts where parents and districts specifically demand a human intermediary between children and both books and AI tools, and where state law bars automated selection of youth materials. This is a demand for human presence with minors, not for library skill per se, and it is small.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "There is no realistic liability_shield route — no state licenses library technicians and no bill anywhere proposes to. Trust premium is capped low: patrons pay through taxes, not by choosing a human, so budget cuts, not preference, decide headcount. Even with every lever, this stays a modestly-scored occupation whose main protection is that the remaining work is physical, low-paid, and in-person." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 90030, "wage": 33690 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 88690, "wage": 34040 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 88720, "wage": 34900 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 89070, "wage": 37010 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 73000, "wage": 36970 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 73330, "wage": 37600 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 76670, "wage": 39310 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 73770, "wage": 39970 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 68690, "wage": 44580 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": -23.7, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "substitute-teachers-short-term", "title": "Substitute Teachers, Short-Term", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 53, "median_wage": 41670, "overlap": 68, "skills_to_close": [ "Negotiation", "Instructing", "Persuasion", "Monitoring" ] }, { "slug": "self-enrichment-teachers", "title": "Self-Enrichment Teachers", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 50, "median_wage": 46800, "overlap": 67, "skills_to_close": [ "Instructing", "Persuasion", "Quality Control Analysis" ] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }