52100 Library and public archive technicians

What this occupation covers

Library and public archive technicians assist users in accessing library or archive resources, assist in describing new acquisitions, participate in archive processing and storage, and conduct reference searches. They are employed by libraries and public archives.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 14 main duties for this code.

• Assist library users in accessing books, films, photographs, maps, documents, electronic materials and other library materials
• Catalogue new library acquisitions under the direction of a librarian
• Perform manual and on-line reference searches and make interlibrary loans for users
• Assist librarians in giving tours and providing children's and other specialized library programs.
• Assist in developing inventories, forms and finding aids
• Implement and update classification plans and records scheduling and disposal plans
• Apply standards and policies for storage of records and archival materials
• Codify and classify archival materials
• Put archival materials on microfilm or in databases
• Transfer materials from current to semi-current status or put into permanent storage
• Purge, sort, reduce and sample archives
• Research and retrieve archival materials
• Participate in instructing and assisting users
• Ensure that proper procedures are followed in the use of computerized document management systems.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 3 of its 14 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 51102 Archivists
• 51100 Librarians
• 14300 Library assistants and clerks
• 12112 Records management technicians

Excluded from this code

• Archivists (See 51102 Archivists)
• Librarians (See 51100 Librarians)
• Library assistants and clerks (See 14300 Library assistants and clerks)
• Records management technicians (See 12112 Records management technicians)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

archival assistant · archival management technician · archive assistant · archive attendant · archive technician · assistant music librarian · cataloguing technician · elementary school librarian · high school librarian · library technician · secondary school librarian · technical indexer - library

Employment requirements

• Library technicians usually require completion of a two- to three-year college program in library and information technology.
• Public archive technicians require completion of a college diploma or certificate program in archive and document management technology.