FoundificMY
SGMY

Librarian salary in Malaysia

Gaji PustakawanGaji Penolong Pustakawan

What federal agencies pay new librarians at each entry level under the 2026 public-service pay scale, with the allowances set by the JPA circular.

MalaysiaSSPA pay scale · Budget 2026DOSM Salaries & WagesRM per monthUpdated 28 Oct 2026
Government pay scaleBasic pay range / month
Entry, STPM or diplomaAssistant librarian, S5RM1,650–6,620Entry, degreeLibrarian, S9RM2,250–11,110PromotionGrade 10RM3,840–12,150PromotionGrade 12RM5,530–13,540PromotionGrade 14RM6,560–15,360
Minimum to maximum basicScale RM0 to RM16kSSPA pay scale, Budget 2026
Starting basicRM2,470RM29,640 a yearS9, honours degree in library or information studiesSee the pay breakdown →With allowancesRM3,370RM40,440 a yearBasic plus RM900 fixed allowances, Kuala LumpurSee the pay breakdown →With a diplomaRM1,893RM22,716 a yearS5, RM2,703 with allowancesSee every entry level →Top of grade 9RM11,110RM133,320 a yearMaximum basic at S9See the pay scale →
At a glance

Librarian salary in Malaysia

What the job is: Librarians and related information professionals collect, select, develop, organize and maintain library collections and other information repositories, organize and control other library services and provide information for users. ILO ISCO-08, 2622 Librarians and Related Information Professionals

  • Librarian (Pustakawan, S9): RM2,470 basic a month (honours degree in library or information studies), up to RM3,020 with higher qualifications.
  • With fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM3,370 a month at S9.
  • Assistant librarian (S5): RM1,650 basic, RM2,460 with allowances.
  • Pay scale: grade 9 runs from RM2,250 to RM11,110, rising RM225 a year.

What a new librarian earns

A librarian at S9 starts on RM2,470 basic, plus RM900 in fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM3,370 a month. Higher qualifications start higher.

Grade S9, from the SPA service scheme and the JPA allowance circular. The starting point depends on the qualification.

Qualification or pay itemGrade S9RM a month
Honours degree in information studies (library and information management or information resource centre management)Starting basic2,470
Honours degree in library studiesStarting basic2,470
Master's degree in library and information scienceStarting basic3,020
Fixed allowances, Kawasan AHousing (ITP) RM300, public service (ITKA) RM300, cost of living (BISH) RM300900
Total fixed pay at the start, honours degree in library or information studiesBasic plus fixed allowances, Kawasan A3,370

Sources: SPA scheme page for grade S9; JPA Pekeliling Perkhidmatan 1/2024, Lampiran E. BISH is lower outside Kawasan A. Totals computed by Foundific.

What it means
  • A year at the start: RM3,370 × 12 = RM40,440.
  • Allowances counted here are the fixed ones in the JPA circular. Any allowance tied to a particular post is not included.
  • Route to librarian (S9): serving assistant librarians may be considered for appointment as a librarian when a post is vacant and they meet the scheme conditions.

How to become a librarian

Librarians enter at S5 and S9, depending on the qualification.

Entry levelQualificationStarting basic, RMWith allowances, RM
Assistant librarian (Penolong Pustakawan, S5)STPM, STAM or matriculation1,6502,460
Assistant librarian (Penolong Pustakawan, S5)Diploma in information management1,8932,703
Librarian (Pustakawan, S9)Honours degree in information studies (library and information management or information resource centre management)2,4703,370
Librarian (Pustakawan, S9)Honours degree in library studies2,4703,370
Librarian (Pustakawan, S9)Master's degree in library and information science3,0203,920

Source: SPA scheme pages. Allowances from the JPA circular, Kawasan A: S5 RM810, S9 RM900. Totals computed by Foundific.

What it means
  • Bahasa Melayu: every route needs a credit in Bahasa Melayu at SPM or SVM.

How pay grows on the government scale

Grade 9 pay rises RM225 a year, from RM2,250 up to RM11,110. Promotion to a higher grade moves an officer onto a higher range.

Minimum and maximum monthly basic salary for each SSPA grade, 2026.

GradeWhoMinimumMaximumYearly increment
5Assistant librarian, entry with STPM or a diploma1,6506,620145
9Librarian, entry with a degree2,25011,110225
10Promotion grade3,84012,150250
12Promotion grade5,53013,540270
14Promotion grade6,56015,360320

Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A: SSPA salary codes and minimum-maximum salaries (page A-1). Basic salary only.

What it means
  • The grade 9 scale allows yearly increments of RM225.

Pay after 5, 10 and 20 years

Starting at RM2,470 at grade 9, with the RM225 yearly increment and no promotion. The grade maximum, RM11,110, is reached after about 38 years.

Years in gradeBasic, RM a monthWith fixed allowances, RM a monthFixed pay, RM a year
At the start2,4703,37040,440
After 5 years3,5954,49553,940
After 10 years4,7205,62067,440
After 20 years6,9707,87094,440

Foundific calculation from the Budget 2026 SSPA scale, with fixed allowances at the Kawasan A rate, which do not rise with increments. Promotion, special payments and allowance changes are not included.

Compared with Malaysian pay overall

A new librarian's fixed pay, RM3,370, is above the RM2,940 median for Malaysian citizens. The public administration and defence median, RM4,483, covers workers of all grades and years.

FigureSourceRM a month
New librarian, S9, basic plus fixed allowances, Kuala LumpurSPA and JPA, 20263,370
Median salary, public administration and defenceDOSM, 20244,483
Median salary, all Malaysian citizensDOSM, 20252,940
Median salary, employed degree holders of all agesDOSM, 20245,724
  • Industry median covers all citizen employees in the industry.
  • DOSM figures cover all paid employees and all ages. The government figure is one fixed pay point. Use them to show scale only.
  • Compare your own pay with this scale, the DOSM figures and court awards in the Malaysia salary comparison.

Librarians outside government

The data used here does not cover librarian pay outside government.

  • DOSM publishes salaries by state, industry, occupation group and skill level, but not by job title.
  • Private surveys and job ads use different measures and samples, so their figures are not mixed into the tables here.

Data sources and coverage

Government pay for librarians is exact. The official data used here does not cover private-sector pay for the job.

SourceWhat it givesStrength
SPA service schemes S5, S9Starting basic pay by qualificationStrong: official and current
Budget 2026, SSPA pay scaleMinimum, maximum and yearly increment for every gradeStrong: official and current
JPA SSPA circular, Lampiran EFixed allowances by grade and areaStrong: official
DOSM Salaries & Wages Survey 2024 and 2025Industry and national mediansWeak for one job title
  • A payslip shows basic plus allowances plus any shift, on-call or overtime pay, so it can be higher than the fixed figures here.

Is librarian work affected by AI?

The International Labour Organization puts librarians and related information professionals in its “High” group for exposure to generative AI. Its scores cover the job worldwide, so they apply in Malaysia too.

Based on the International Labour Organization's 2025 index, which scores every core task of a job from 0 (AI cannot help) to 1 (AI could do nearly all of it).

Librarian
HighAI exposure
Not exposedVery high

AI can do a large part of many tasks, so the job is likely to change noticeably.

  • Most exposed taskDevising and implementing schemes and conceptual models
  • Least exposed taskManaging library borrowing and interlibrary loan facilities…
  • In numbersAI could do a large part of 9 of its 9 main tasks.
LibrarianISCO 2622
Highexposure to generative AI
  1. Not exposed
  2. Minimal
  3. Some
  4. Moderate
  5. High
  6. Very high

Scored as ILO group 2622 Librarians and related information professionals. Average task score 0.55, higher than 93% of the 427 jobs the ILO scored.

Seven factors
FactorLibrarian
1Exposure levelHigh
2Average task score0.55 higher than 93% of jobs
3Tasks AI could do much of9 of 9
4Hands-on or people tasks0 of 9
5How even the exposure isEven (0.04)
6Most exposed taskDevising and implementing schemes and conceptual models for… 0.61
7Least exposed taskManaging library borrowing and interlibrary loan facilities… 0.50
Most and least exposed tasks
Librarian
Most exposed tasks
  • 0.61Devising and implementing schemes and conceptual models for the storage…
  • 0.61Performing manual, on-line and interactive media reference searches, making…
  • 0.56Retrieving material and providing information to business and other users…
Least exposed tasks
  • 0.50Managing library borrowing and interlibrary loan facilities and information…
  • 0.51Selecting and recommending acquisitions of books and other printed or…
  • 0.54Organizing, developing and maintaining a systematic collection of books…

What each factor means · How this job compares with the other salary guides

Source: ILO Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (Gmyrek et al., 2025), CC BY 4.0. Malaysian jobs are matched to ILO groups by their ISCO-08 code; MASCO follows ISCO-08 at four digits. The ILO scores international job groups, not Malaysian titles. How we read the AI scores.
What it means
  • Exposure measures how much of the work AI could do or speed up. It does not measure job cuts.

What the pay figures include

Every figure is monthly basic pay or fixed allowances, before deductions.

MeasureIncludesExcludes
Basic salaryGaji pokok on the SSPA scaleAllowances, shift, on-call and overtime pay, special payments
Fixed allowancesITP, BISH, ITKA or ITK, and BIPK as advertised for the postShift, on-call and overtime pay
DOSM salaryMonthly salaries and wages of paid employeesSelf-employed and unpaid family workers

Questions

What is the librarian salary in Malaysia?

A new government librarian starts on RM2,470 basic a month (S9, honours degree in library or information studies). With fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur the total is RM3,370 a month, in 2026.

What is the librarian salary per year in Malaysia?

RM3,370 a month is RM40,440 a year in fixed pay, before any shift, on-call or overtime pay and before the special payments the government announces each year.

How does a government librarian's pay grow with years in service?

On the yearly increment alone, basic pay at grade 9 rises RM225 a year: from RM2,470 to about RM3,595 after 5 years and RM4,720 after 10, before any promotion. Foundific calculation from the Budget 2026 scale.

What is the highest librarian salary in government?

Grade 9 runs from RM2,250 to RM11,110 in basic pay. Promotion can lead to grade 14, with a maximum basic of RM15,360 a month (Budget 2026).

How much does a librarian earn in a private company?

The data used here does not cover librarian pay outside government.

What is the difference between S5 and S9 for librarians?

S5 (assistant librarian) is the entry below degree level. It starts at RM1,650 basic with STPM, STAM or matriculation and RM1,893 with a diploma in information management. S9 (librarian) is the degree entry and starts at RM2,470, or RM3,020 with a master's degree. The S9 scale runs to RM11,110, against RM6,620 at S5.

Where do these figures come from?

Starting pay is from the SPA service scheme pages, the pay scale from the Budget 2026 establishment list, and allowances from the JPA SSPA circular. Private-sector context is from DOSM and Industrial Court awards.

MalaysiaMalaysia salary overviewPay by state, sector and skill MalaysiaInformation officer salary in MalaysiaGovernment grades, starting pay and allowancesRM2,250 starting basic MalaysiaPTD officer salary in MalaysiaGovernment grades, starting pay and allowancesRM2,580 starting basic MalaysiaAdministrative assistant salary in MalaysiaGovernment grades, starting pay and allowancesRM1,500 starting basic

Sources

SPA service schemes, Ministry of Finance Budget 2026, JPA SSPA circular, DOSM
  1. Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, Syarat Permohonan: Penolong Pustakawan Gred S5.
  2. Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, Syarat Permohonan: Pustakawan Gred S9.
  3. Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A. SSPA minimum-maximum salaries, page A-1.
  4. JPA, Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Bil. 1/2024 (SSPA), Lampiran E: ITP, ITKA and BISH by grade and area.
  5. DOSM, Salaries & Wages Survey Report 2025 and the 2024 report.