How To Become A Reference Archivist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a reference archivist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a reference archivist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.65 an hour? That's $34,626 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 4,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreReference ArchivistUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,626

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.2

Growth Rate 12%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.24%

Asian 3.52%

Black or African American 4.19%

Hispanic or Latino 5.23%

Unknown 4.28%

White 81.54%

Gender

female 50.00%

male 50.00%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.2

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

10.0

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a reference archivist

Explore reference archivist education requirements

Most common reference archivist degrees

Master's

52.2 %

Bachelor's

43.5 %

High School Diploma

4.3 %

Start to develop specific reference archivist skills

Skills	Percentages
Reference Services	100.00%

Complete relevant reference archivist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New reference archivists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a reference archivist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real reference archivist resumes.

Research reference archivist duties and responsibilities

Create correspondences/completed FDA forms/maintain submission calendars/review submission documents.
Maintain assign fiction and nonfiction collections.

Prepare your reference archivist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your reference archivist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a reference archivist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Reference Archivist Resume templates

Build a professional Reference Archivist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Reference Archivist resume.

Apply for reference archivist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a reference archivist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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