UK AI Exposure · Administrative and secretarial occupations
Library clerks and assistants
Library clerks and assistants classify, sort and file publications, documents, audio-visual and computerised material in libraries and offices.
- Employees (UK)
- 18k
- Median annual pay
- £18,659
- Exposure score ?
- 3.6/10 Low 7.5/10 High strict reading · with tools is 7.5/10 with-tools reading · strict is 3.6/10
- Wage exposure
- £121m £252m
Higher exposure than 92% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
A handful of tasks in this role are touchable by AI, mostly around paperwork, scheduling and basic writing. The shape of the role stays the same - some parts just get faster.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try an LLM on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT can already do for admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the dividend.
Most of the routine task inventory in this role can already be done by a capable LLM. That doesn't mean the role disappears - it means the shape changes, and one person can credibly do the work of several.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Stop doing anything an LLM can do. Your edge is judgment, relationships, taste, and the parts of the work that require you to be in the room. The operators who notice this first and redesign their workflow around it will be paid for those things; the ones who cling to the old task list will compete against AI at AI's prices.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
These are the highest-importance tasks a language model can already handle directly today. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your team's time.
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Classify and catalog items according to content and purpose.
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Enter and update patrons' records on computers.
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Maintain records of items received, stored, issued, and returned and file catalog cards according to system used.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Classify and catalog items according to content and purpose.
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Locate library materials for patrons, including books, periodicals, tape cassettes, Braille volumes, and pictures.
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Enter and update patrons' records on computers.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Library Assistants, Clerical" (43-4121.00).
What AI can already do
11 of 32 tasks · unaided
Classify and catalog items according to content and purpose.
Enter and update patrons' records on computers.
Maintain records of items received, stored, issued, and returned and file catalog cards according to system used.
Perform clerical activities, such as answering phones, sorting mail, filing, typing, word processing, and photocopying and mailing out material.
Review records, such as microfilm and issue cards, to identify titles of overdue materials and delinquent borrowers.
Send out notices and accept fine payments for lost or overdue books.
Perform accounting and bookkeeping activities, such as invoicing, maintaining financial records, budgeting, and handling cash.
Design or maintain library web site and online catalogues.
Prepare, store, and retrieve classification and catalog information, lecture notes, or other information related to stored documents, using computers.
Select substitute titles when requested materials are unavailable, following criteria such as age, education, and interests.
Prepare library statistics reports.
Where humans still hold the line
21 of 32 tasks
Sort books, publications, and other items according to established procedure and return them to shelves, files, or other designated storage areas.
Open and close library during specified hours and secure library equipment, such as computers and audio-visual equipment.
Locate library materials for patrons, including books, periodicals, tape cassettes, Braille volumes, and pictures.
Answer routine inquiries and refer patrons in need of professional assistance to librarians.
Manage reserve materials by placing items on reserve for library patrons, checking items in and out of library, and removing out-of-date items.
Lend, reserve, and collect books, periodicals, videotapes, and other materials at circulation desks and process materials for inter-library loans.
Instruct patrons on how to use reference sources, card catalogs, and automated information systems.
Inspect returned books for condition and due-date status and compute any applicable fines.
Register new patrons and issue borrower identification cards that permit patrons to borrow books and other materials.
Operate small branch libraries, under the direction of off-site librarian supervisors.
Process new materials including books, audio-visual materials, and computer software.
Provide assistance to librarians in the maintenance of collections of books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, and audio-visual and other materials.
Plan or participate in library events and programs, such as story time with children.
Maintain library equipment, such as photocopiers, scanners, and computers, and instruct patrons in proper use of such equipment.
Schedule, supervise, and train clerical workers, volunteers, student assistants, and other library employees.
Repair books using mending tape, paste, and brushes or prepare books to be sent to a bindery for repair.
Operate and maintain audio-visual equipment.
Take action to deal with disruptive or problem patrons.
Acquire books, pamphlets, periodicals, audio-visual materials, and other library supplies by checking prices, figuring costs, and preparing appropriate order forms and facilitating the ordering process by providing such information to others.
Deliver and retrieve items to and from departments by hand or using push carts.
Assist in the preparation of book displays.
Tasks via O*NET "Library Assistants, Clerical" (43-4121.00).
What AI can already do
24 of 32 tasks · with tools
Classify and catalog items according to content and purpose.
Locate library materials for patrons, including books, periodicals, tape cassettes, Braille volumes, and pictures.
Enter and update patrons' records on computers.
Answer routine inquiries and refer patrons in need of professional assistance to librarians.
Manage reserve materials by placing items on reserve for library patrons, checking items in and out of library, and removing out-of-date items.
Lend, reserve, and collect books, periodicals, videotapes, and other materials at circulation desks and process materials for inter-library loans.
Instruct patrons on how to use reference sources, card catalogs, and automated information systems.
Inspect returned books for condition and due-date status and compute any applicable fines.
Maintain records of items received, stored, issued, and returned and file catalog cards according to system used.
Perform clerical activities, such as answering phones, sorting mail, filing, typing, word processing, and photocopying and mailing out material.
Register new patrons and issue borrower identification cards that permit patrons to borrow books and other materials.
Operate small branch libraries, under the direction of off-site librarian supervisors.
Process new materials including books, audio-visual materials, and computer software.
Provide assistance to librarians in the maintenance of collections of books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, and audio-visual and other materials.
Review records, such as microfilm and issue cards, to identify titles of overdue materials and delinquent borrowers.
Send out notices and accept fine payments for lost or overdue books.
Schedule, supervise, and train clerical workers, volunteers, student assistants, and other library employees.
Perform accounting and bookkeeping activities, such as invoicing, maintaining financial records, budgeting, and handling cash.
Design or maintain library web site and online catalogues.
Prepare, store, and retrieve classification and catalog information, lecture notes, or other information related to stored documents, using computers.
Acquire books, pamphlets, periodicals, audio-visual materials, and other library supplies by checking prices, figuring costs, and preparing appropriate order forms and facilitating the ordering process by providing such information to others.
Select substitute titles when requested materials are unavailable, following criteria such as age, education, and interests.
Prepare library statistics reports.
Assist in the preparation of book displays.
Where humans still hold the line
8 of 32 tasks
Sort books, publications, and other items according to established procedure and return them to shelves, files, or other designated storage areas.
Open and close library during specified hours and secure library equipment, such as computers and audio-visual equipment.
Plan or participate in library events and programs, such as story time with children.
Maintain library equipment, such as photocopiers, scanners, and computers, and instruct patrons in proper use of such equipment.
Repair books using mending tape, paste, and brushes or prepare books to be sent to a bindery for repair.
Operate and maintain audio-visual equipment.
Take action to deal with disruptive or problem patrons.
Deliver and retrieve items to and from departments by hand or using push carts.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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