Best Librarian programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Administer and maintain libraries or collections of information, for public or private access through reference or borrowing.
11 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 312 people a year. The job pays a median of $62,700 in Illinois across about 5,390 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in Illinois that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Illinois page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 13.0501In Illinois → | 157 | 50.3% | 8 | $40,786 | $33,629 |
| 2 | Library and Information Sciencemain feeder CIP 25.0101In Illinois → | 155 | 49.7% | 3 | $29,163 | $30,154 |
Top 11 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 11 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominican University River Forest, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 113 | Library and Information Science | — | 55% | $16,176 | 90% |
| 2 | Southern Illinois University - Carbondale Carbondale, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 52 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 62% | — | 87% |
| 3 | Chicago State University Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Library and Information Science | — | 15% | — | 43% |
| 4 | Concordia University - Chicago River Forest, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 36% | $17,620 | 93% |
| 5 | Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 49% | — | 70% |
| 6 | Western Illinois University Macomb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 20 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 45% | — | 71% |
| 7 | Aurora University Aurora, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 60% | $18,431 | 81% |
| 8 | Illinois State University Normal, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Library and Information Science | — | 65% | — | 88% |
| 9 | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 57% | — | 97% |
| 10 | Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 73% | $33,454 | 82% |
| 11 | Governors State University University Park, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 22% | — | 48% |
All 11 schools in Illinois
Every school in Illinois with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominican University | River Forest | Private not-for-profit | 113 | 1 |
| Southern Illinois University - Carbondale | Carbondale | Public | 52 | 1 |
| Chicago State University | Chicago | Public | 29 | 1 |
| Concordia University - Chicago | River Forest | Private not-for-profit | 27 | 1 |
| Northern Illinois University | Dekalb | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Western Illinois University | Macomb | Public | 20 | 1 |
| Aurora University | Aurora | Private not-for-profit | 17 | 1 |
| Illinois State University | Normal | Public | 13 | 1 |
| Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | Edwardsville | Public | 10 | 1 |
| Loyola University Chicago | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 6 | 1 |
| Governors State University | University Park | Public | 4 | 1 |
What librarians and media collections specialists earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $68,270. Illinois pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Illinois
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Librarians and Media Collections Specialists page.
How to become a Librarian
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
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).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Illinois
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 5 majors mapped to Librarians and Media Collections Specialists5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.0501Educational/Instructional Technology
- 13.1334School Librarian/School Library Media Specialist
- 25.0101Library and Information Science
- 25.0102Children and Youth Library Services
- 25.0199Library Science and Administration, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing librarians and media collections specialists programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become a Librarian?+
Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Educational/Instructional Technology, which awarded 157 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 50.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Librarian?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Educational/Instructional Media Design, Library Science and Administration. Together they graduate about 312 people a year in Illinois.
How much do librarians and media collections specialists earn in Illinois?+
The median is $62,700 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 8.2% below the U.S. median of $68,270. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for librarians and media collections specialists growing?+
BLS projects a +1.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 13,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
11 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do librarians and media collections specialists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Librarian, Media Specialist, Reference Librarian, Library Media Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-4022.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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