Librarian

Librarian

Workstation	Lectern
Buys	Paper Book Ink Sac Book and Quill
Sells	Bookshelf Enchanted Book Lantern Glass Compass Clock Name Tag

{
    "title": "Librarian",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "<span class=\"nowrap\"><span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"\">(link to File:BlockSprite lectern.png article, displayed as 16x16px|link=Lectern|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>(link to Lectern article, displayed as <span class=\"sprite-text\">Lectern</span>)</span>",
            "label": "(link to Workstation article, displayed as Workstation)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "Buys"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "Sells"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "images": [
        "Plains Librarian.png",
        "Desert Librarian.png",
        "Savanna Librarian.png",
        "Taiga Librarian.png",
        "Snowy Librarian.png",
        "Jungle Librarian.png",
        "Swamp Librarian.png"
    ]
}

A librarian is a villager that trades enchanted books, glass, bookshelf and name tag. Librarians wear a red book as a hat, glasses, and a white robe.

Spawning

An unemployed villager turns into an librarian when an unclaimed lectern is nearby.

Natural generation

The workstation of librarians, or the lectern, generates in libraries in villages.

Drops

In Java Edition, a librarian can drop book by throwing it as a gift towards a nearby player with the Hero of the Village effect.

Trading

Librarian
Level	Java Edition	Bedrock Edition		Villager wants	Player receives	Trades in stock	Villager experience	Price multiplier
	Probability	Probability	Slot
Novice	67%	100%	1	24 × Paper	Emerald	16	2	0.05
	67%	50%	2	9 × Emerald	Bookshelf	12	1	0.05
	67%	50%		5–64 × Emerald + Book	Enchanted Book[t 1]	12	1	0.2
Apprentice	67%	100%	3	4 × Book	Emerald	12	10	0.05
	67%	50%	4	Emerald	Lantern	12	5	0.05
	67%	50%		5–64 × Emerald + Book	Enchanted Book[t 1]	12	5	0.2
Journeyman	67%	100%	5	5 × Ink Sac	Emerald	12	20	0.05
	67%	50%	6	Emerald	4 × Glass	12	10	0.05
	67%	50%		5–64 × Emerald + Book	Enchanted Book[t 1]	12	10	0.2
Expert	50%	100%	7	Book and Quill + Book and Quill[t 2]	Emerald	12	30	0.05
	50%	33%	8	4 × Emerald	Compass	12	15	0.05
	50%	33%		5 × Emerald	Clock	12	15	0.05
	50%	33%		5–64 × Emerald + Book	Enchanted Book[t 1]	12	15	0.2
Master	100%	100%	9	20 × Emerald	Name Tag	12	30	0.05

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} The enchantment is chosen randomly with equal chance of any enchantment type occurring (except for Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, and Wind Burst) and equal chance to get any level of the enchantment, meaning high-level enchantments are as likely as low-level enchantments. It is possible for a librarian to sell the same book more than once. The price in emeralds depends on the enchantment level and "treasure" status. The minimum price of a book is given by 2 + 3 * (enchantment level), while the maximum price is 6 + 13 * (enchantment level). The possible values are 5–19 emeralds for Lvl I, 8–32 for Lvl II, 11–45 for Lvl III, 14–58 for Lvl IV, and 17–71 for Lvl V. For treasure enchantments the price is doubled. The cost is capped at 64 emeralds. All values below this cap are equally probable.
2. ↑ In Java Edition only one is requested per trade because of MC-248042 — Librarian's book and quill trade is always discounted to 1 since books are unstackable. In Bedrock Edition, the second book is placed in another slot instead.

Villager Trade Rebalance

This section describes an experimental feature in Java Edition and Bedrock Edition.

 

This feature is not enabled in-game by default and requires enabling the "Villager Trade Rebalance" experimental data pack in Java Edition or the "Villager Trade Rebalancing" setting in the "Experiments" section in Bedrock Edition.

If the Villager Trade Rebalance experiment is turned on, librarians offer specific enchanted books depending on which biome they come from. Enchantments for the Novice, Apprentice, and Journeyman book trades are randomly selected from the "Common" pool, with a randomized level. At Master level, librarians are guaranteed to sell an enchanted book with a specific enchantment.

Biome	"Common" enchantments	Guaranteed book at Master
Desert	Fire Protection Thorns Infinity	Efficiency III
Plains	Punch Smite Bane of Arthropods	Protection III
Savanna	Knockback Curse of Binding Sweeping Edge	Sharpness III
Snowy	Aqua Affinity Looting Frost Walker	Silk Touch
Taiga	Blast Protection Fire Aspect Flame	Fortune II
Jungle	Feather Falling Projectile Protection Power	Unbreaking II
Swamp	Depth Strider Respiration Curse of Vanishing	Mending

Sounds

Java Edition

Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Librarian works	Friendly Mobs	Randomly while a librarian is working	entity.villager.work_librarian	subtitles.entity.villager.work_librarian​	2.0	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition

Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Randomly while a librarian is working	item.book.put	4.8	1.0

Data values

Librarians have the data value minecraft:librarian in Java Edition.

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease				Added villagers, including librarians.
1.3.1			12w21a				With the introduction of villager trading, librarians can now be traded with.
1.11			16w39a				Added the cartographer career for librarians.
1.14			18w50a				The textures of librarians have been updated, with new skins depending on the biome.
							Cartographers have been split from librarians and are now their own profession.
1.17			21w11a				Changed the librarian overlay texture.
1.20.2 Experiment Villager Trade Rebalance			23w31a				Librarians from different biomes now sell different enchanted books.
							Librarians now have a "special" enchanted book trade that is only available at the master level.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0			build 1				Added villagers, including librarians.
Pocket Edition
1.0.4			alpha 1.0.4.0				With the introduction of villager trading, librarians can now be traded with.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Added the cartographer career for librarians.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0 Experiment Experimental Gameplay			beta 1.10.0.3				The textures of librarians have been updated, with new skins depending on the biome.
							Cartographers have been split from librarians and are now their own profession.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU14	CU1	1.04	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added librarians, which can be traded with.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Added the cartographer career for librarians.
			1.91				The textures of librarians have been updated, with new skins depending on the biome.
							Cartographers have been split from librarians and are now their own profession.

Issues

Issues relating to "Librarian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Renders

This section would benefit from the addition of isometric renders.

 

Please remove this notice once you've added suitable isometric renders to the article.
The specific instructions are:

Lying renders for other biome outfits.

• 
  Jungle librarian

Screenshots

In other media

• 
  Savanna librarian
• 
  A snowy librarian watching Efe.
• 
  Ari trading with a librarian.
• 
  A librarian holding up a tablet.
• 
  A librarian watching Sunny carry a hallway pass.
• 
  The tiny librarian in the 2023 Mob Vote Event.
• 
  A librarian in VILLAGER (and Pillager?) NEWS.

Navigation

v t e Villagers
Villager professions	Armorer Butcher Cartographer Cleric Farmer Fisherman Fletcher Leatherworker Librarian Mason Shepherd Toolsmith Weaponsmith Nitwit
Workstations	Blast Furnace Smoker Cartography Table Brewing Stand Composter Barrel Fletching Table Cauldron Lectern Stonecutter Loom Smithing Table Grindstone
Mechanics	Raid Trading Zombie siege
Structures	Igloo Village
Related mobs	Illagers Evoker Illusioner Pillager Vindicator Wandering Trader Witch Zombie Villager Old Villager Old Zombie Villager Traitor

v t e Entities
Mobs Passive Allay Armadillo Axolotl Bat Camel Camel Husk​[upcoming] Cat Chicken Cod Copper Golem Cow Donkey Frog Glow Squid Happy Ghast Horse Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Parrot Pig Rabbit Salmon Sheep Skeleton Horse Sniffer Snow Golem Squid Strider Tadpole Tropical Fish Turtle Villager Wandering Trader Zombie Horse​[upcoming] BE & edu only Agent NPC Neutral Bee Cave Spider Dolphin Drowned Enderman Fox Goat Iron Golem Llama Nautilus​[upcoming] Panda Piglin Polar Bear Pufferfish Spider Trader Llama Wolf Zombie Nautilus​[upcoming] Zombified Piglin Hostile Blaze Bogged Breeze Creaking Creeper Elder Guardian Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched​[upcoming] Phantom Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Stray Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Bosses Ender Dragon Wither Mob types Animal Aquatic Arthropod Illager Monster Undead Other Jockey Camel Husk​[upcoming] Chicken Hoglin Ravager Skeleton Horseman Spider Strider Zombie Horseman​[upcoming] Zombie Nautilus​[upcoming] Mob variants
Other entities Player Alex Ari Efe Kai Makena Noor Steve Sunny Zuri Blocks Falling Blocks Anvil Concrete Powder Dragon Egg Gravel Pointed Dripstone Sand Red Sand Scaffolding Suspicious Gravel Suspicious Sand Primed TNT BE & edu only Falling Blocks Deprecated Anvil Snow Primed Underwater TNT Vehicles Bamboo Raft Boat with Chest Minecart with Chest with Command Block with Hopper with TNT Java Edition only Minecart with Furnace with Monster Spawner Projectiles Fireball Small Dragon Launched Firework Rocket Llama Spit Shot Arrow Tipped Shulker Bullet Thrown Bottle o' Enchanting Thrown Egg Thrown Ender Pearl Thrown Eye of Ender Thrown Snowball Thrown Splash Potion Lingering Potion Thrown Trident Wind Charge Wither Skull Java Edition only Shot Spectral Arrow BE & edu only Thrown Ice Bomb Stationary objects End Crystal Leash Knot Painting Java Edition only Item Frame Glow Miscellaneous Area Effect Cloud Armor Stand Evoker Fangs Experience Orb Fishing Bobber Items Lightning Bolt Ominous Item Spawner JE only Mannequin BE & edu only Balloon Camera Technical objects JE only Display Block Item Text Interaction Marker Editor only Location Pointer Idle Location Pointer Selected Map Marker Ruler Idle
Unimplemented Unused Zombie Horse‌[until Mounts of Mayhem] JE only Giant Illusioner Killer Bunny BE & edu only Elder Guardian Ghost Old Villager Old Zombie Villager Mentioned Alpaca Barnacle Crab Firefly Glare Great Hunger Iceologer Meerkat Minecart with Dispenser Moobloom Ostrich Penguin Pigman Rascal Red Dragon Shade Shark Termite Tuff Golem Vulture Wildfire Removed Builder MD3 Test Mob Mob Monster Shot Purple Arrow Sign Entity
Joke Mobs April Fools 2013 Diamond Chicken Horse Pony Pink Wither Redstone Bug April Fools 2015 Love Golem Pink Wither Smiling Creeper April Fools 2019 Nerd Creeper April Fools 2023 Moon Cow Ray Tracing April Fools 2024 Batato Mega Spud Plaguewhale Slab Poisonous Potato Zombie Potato mob category Toxifin Slab April Fools 2025 Angry Ghast Spectator Villager Spectator Witch Traitor Warden (boss) Pet variants Pet Armadillo Pet Axolotl Pet Bee Pet Cat Pet Chicken Pet Cow Pet Creeper Pet Fox Pet Frog Pet Mooshroom Pet Polar Bear Pet Slime Pet Turtle Pet Wolf Other entities April Fools 2013 Pink Wither Skull April Fools 2015 Obsidian Boat Pink Wither Skull April Fools 2024 Falling Block Gravtater Potato Eye