LIBRARIAN
Workstation: Lectern|15 trades across 5 levelsBiome-specific
The most important villager for enchantments. Sells enchanted books from the full enchantment pool, plus bookshelves, lanterns, name tags, and clocks. Buys paper and books.
- Last checked
- 11 August 2026
- Java Edition
- 26.2, 15 of 15 rows found
- Bedrock Edition
- 1.26.30.5, 10 of 15 matching
- Edition differences
- 1 row differs, 4 rolled, not comparable
What is the Librarian?
The Librarian is one of Minecraft's 13 working villager professions, and an unemployed adult villager takes the job the moment it claims a Lectern, the block that doubles as its job-site marker. Place that lectern within range of a jobless villager and it will path to the block, change into librarian clothing, and open its Novice-tier offers. Remove the lectern before any deal is struck and the villager drops the profession again.
Across its 5 career tiers this villager exposes 15 distinct trades in total, and it is primarily a supplier that sells finished goods for emeralds. It will take paper, book, ink sac, and book and quill off your hands for emeralds, and in return it sells bookshelf, enchanted book, lantern, and glass, and more. Because the Librarian is biome-specific, the exact goods it offers (and their tints, patterns, or stock) shift with the biome its village sits in, so a desert Librarian will not always match a plains one.
For players farming currency, the Librarian's quickest route to an emerald is handing over 2 book and quills at the Expert tier, which is worth keeping in mind when you decide whether to build a trading hall around this profession.
| Input | Output | Emeralds | Uses | Villager XP |  Java 26.2 |  Bedrock 1.26.30.5 | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | | 16 | 2same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 1same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 1same in Bedrock | verified, rolled price | price computed in game | Random enchantment from full pool |
The game draws 2 of the 3 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 67% of novice librarians, and a specific one takes about 1.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 2, so there the same offer is on 100% or 50% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.
Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 4 on the enchanted book (5 to 1) up to 6 on the bookshelf (9 to 3). No cost ever drops below one.
The paper offer pays the villager 2 XP a use and the enchanted book offer pays 1, so the 10 XP from Novice to Apprentice is 5 trades one way and 10 the other. That fits inside the 16 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.
All 3 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.2 ships in its own data, checked on against the item, both amounts and the use limit. 1 of them has a price the game rolls per villager, so the range is what it can roll rather than a fixed number. Bedrock 1.26.30.5 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.
| Input | Output | Emeralds | Uses | Villager XP | Java 26.2 | Bedrock 1.26.30.5 | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 12 | 10same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 5same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 5same in Bedrock | verified, rolled price | price computed in game | Random enchantment from full pool |
The game draws 2 of the 3 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 67% of apprentice librarians, and a specific one takes about 1.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 2, so there the same offer is on 100% or 50% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.
Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 3 on the book (4 to 1) up to 4 on the enchanted book (5 to 1). No cost ever drops below one.
The book offer pays the villager 10 XP a use and the enchanted book offer pays 5, so the 60 XP from Apprentice to Journeyman is 6 trades one way and 12 the other. That fits inside the 12 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.
All 3 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.2 ships in its own data, checked on against the item, both amounts and the use limit. 1 of them has a price the game rolls per villager, so the range is what it can roll rather than a fixed number. Bedrock 1.26.30.5 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.
| Input | Output | Emeralds | Uses | Villager XP | Java 26.2 | Bedrock 1.26.30.5 | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 12 | 20same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 10same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 10same in Bedrock | verified, rolled price | price computed in game | Random enchantment from full pool |
The game draws 2 of the 3 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 67% of journeyman librarians, and a specific one takes about 1.5 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 2, so there the same offer is on 100% or 50% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.
Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. On this tier that is 4 off every trade, so the ink sac goes from 5 to 1. No cost ever drops below one.
The ink sac offer pays the villager 20 XP a use and the enchanted book offer pays 10, so the 80 XP from Journeyman to Expert is 4 trades one way and 8 the other. That fits inside the 12 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.
All 3 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.2 ships in its own data, checked on against the item, both amounts and the use limit. 1 of them has a price the game rolls per villager, so the range is what it can roll rather than a fixed number. Bedrock 1.26.30.5 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.
| Input | Output | Emeralds | Uses | Villager XP | Java 26.2 | Bedrock 1.26.30.5 | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 12 | 30same in Bedrock | verified | Bedrock asks 1 book and quill rather than 2. | |||
| | 12 | 15same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 15same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 15same in Bedrock | verified, rolled price | price computed in game | Random enchantment from full pool |
The game draws 2 of the 4 offers this tier can hold, so any one of them is on 50% of expert librarians, and a specific one takes about 2 rolls to turn up. Bedrock builds this tier out of 2 groups and draws 1 of 1 and 1 of 3, so there the same offer is on 100% or 33% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.
Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. The discount is capped by the price, so here it runs from 1 on the book and quill (2 to 1) up to 4 on the enchanted book (5 to 1). No cost ever drops below one.
The book and quill offer pays the villager 30 XP a use and the enchanted book offer pays 15, so the 100 XP from Expert to Master is 4 trades one way and 7 the other. That fits inside the 12 uses the offer holds, so one stock run covers it. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.
All 4 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.2 ships in its own data, checked on against the item, both amounts and the use limit. 1 of them has a price the game rolls per villager, so the range is what it can roll rather than a fixed number. Bedrock 1.26.30.5 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.
| Input | Output | Emeralds | Uses | Villager XP | Java 26.2 | Bedrock 1.26.30.5 | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 12 | 30same in Bedrock | verified | verified | |||
| | 12 | 30same in Bedrock | verified | verified |
The game draws 3 of the 2 offers this tier holds, which is all of them, so every master librarian shows this whole table. Nothing to roll for at this tier. Bedrock builds this tier out of 1 group and draws 1 of 4, so there the same offer is on 25% of them. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.
Curing a zombie villager is worth 125 reputation, taken off the first thing you hand over. On this tier that is 2 off every trade, so the yellow candle goes from 3 to 1. No cost ever drops below one.
Master is the top tier. Its offers still pay 30 XP a use, but there is no tier above for that XP to open. Read out of each trade's own file. How that check works.
All 2 trades on this page were read out of the trade files Minecraft Java 26.2 ships in its own data, checked on against the item, both amounts and the use limit. Bedrock 1.26.30.5 is read as well, and where it disagrees the row says how. Which files, and what is not checked.
Novice to Master: what the climb costs
A Librarian does not level up on time served, it levels up on trading XP, and each of its offers pays a fixed amount of it. That makes the climb a countable thing rather than a chore: 19 trades take one from Novice to Master if you use the offer that pays most at every tier, and the tiers below say which offer that is.
| Climb | XP | Offer that pays most | Trades | You hand over | You get back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novice to Apprentice | 10 | The paper offer, 2 XP a useon 67% of librarians at this tier | 5 | 120 paper | 5 emeralds |
| Apprentice to Journeyman | 60 | The book offer, 10 XP a useon 67% of librarians at this tier | 6 | 24 books | 6 emeralds |
| Journeyman to Expert | 80 | The ink sac offer, 20 XP a useon 67% of librarians at this tier | 4 | 20 ink sacs | 4 emeralds |
| Expert to Master | 100 | The book and quill offer, 30 XP a useon 50% of librarians at this tier | 4 | 8 book and quills | 4 emeralds |
| Novice to Master | 250 | no restock needed | 19 | 120 paper, 24 books, 20 ink sacs and 8 book and quills | 19 emeralds |
The bill for the whole climb is 120 paper, 24 books, 20 ink sacs and 8 book and quills. It pays for itself: 19 emeralds more than you started with by the time it is Master. No offer in the route runs past what its slot holds, so a Librarian with full stock can be walked all the way up in one sitting.
Counted, not timed. The XP each offer pays is the xp field of its own trade file, the 10, 60, 80, 100 XP between the tiers is VillagerData.NEXT_LEVEL_XP_THRESHOLDS, and the prices and use counts are the table above. Where a tier has more than one offer paying the top rate, the route takes the one any villager can hold, then the one that pays rather than costs, then the cheapest. XP over the line is not lost, it counts toward the next tier, so no trade in the route is wasted. How that check works.
Enchanted Book Price Formula
The Librarian's enchanted book trade is randomly selected from the full enchantment pool, including treasure enchantments like Mending, Frost Walker, Soul Speed, and Swift Sneak.
base_price = 2 * enchant_level + floor(random * 5 * enchant_level + random * 5)
Treasure enchantments: price is doubled
To get a specific enchantment, place a lectern, check the trade, then break and re-place the lectern to re-roll. See our Villager Rolling Guide for details. Check all available enchantments at enchantments.astroworldmc.com.
Librarian trades by tier (Novice to Master)
A Librarian climbs five career ranks, and each rank it reaches adds a fresh batch of offers on top of the ones below it. The experience gates are fixed: the Novice tier opens immediately with 3 offers, 10 more trade-XP points unlock Apprentice (3 offers), 60 more trade-XP points unlock Journeyman (3 offers), 80 more trade-XP points unlock Expert (4 offers), and 100 more trade-XP points unlock Master (2 offers). The full price list for every rank is laid out below; emerald costs marked as a range roll randomly within that band each time the trade is generated or restocked.
Tier 1 · Novice
3 trades · available from the startSell to villager: 24 papers for 1 emerald.
Buy from villager: bookshelf for 9 emeralds and enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds plus 1 book.
Tier 2 · Apprentice
3 trades · 10 cumulative XPSell to villager: 4 books for 1 emerald.
Buy from villager: lantern for 1 emerald and enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds plus 1 book.
Tier 3 · Journeyman
3 trades · 70 cumulative XPSell to villager: 5 ink sacs for 1 emerald.
Buy from villager: 4 glass for 1 emerald and enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds plus 1 book.
Tier 4 · Expert
4 trades · 150 cumulative XPSell to villager: 2 book and quills for 1 emerald.
Buy from villager: clock for 5 emeralds, compass for 4 emeralds, and enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds plus 1 book.
Tier 5 · Master
2 trades · 250 cumulative XPBuy from villager: yellow candle for 3 emeralds and red candle for 3 emeralds.
Librarian trading tips
- Fastest emerald income: stockpile book and quill and sell it in stacks of 2. This Librarian buy slot can be used 12 times before it locks, so a single villager returns up to 12 emeralds per cycle before you must wait for it to work its lectern and restock (which it does up to 2 times a day).
- Best-value purchase: the cheapest thing this villager sells is lantern for 1 emerald at the Apprentice tier, a reliable sink for spare emeralds.
- The big one comes early: the priciest thing this villager sells is enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds, at Novice, so you can spend on it long before Master; the tiers above it buy variety, not a better version of that trade.
- Re-roll the enchantment: the enchanted gear this villager offers is rolled randomly. Until you complete a single trade with it the offers stay unlocked, so you can break and replace the lectern on an unemployed, never-traded villager to reshuffle what it sells. Browse every possible enchantment at enchantments.astroworldmc.com.
- Cure for permanent discounts: let a zombie infect this Librarian on Hard difficulty (guaranteed), trap it safely, hit it with a Splash Potion of Weakness, then feed it a Golden Apple. After the 3-5 minute cure every price drops sharply, often to a single emerald even for its priciest goods. See the full method in our zombie-villager discount guide.
- Leveling up: trading is the only way a Librarian earns career XP. It needs 10 XP to leave Novice, 70 to reach Journeyman, 150 for Expert, and 250 for Master; a green badge becomes a gold one as it ranks up. The villager must be able to reach its lectern to restock and gain XP. Bedrock asks for the same four numbers: they are written into its own trade table, tier by tier.
- Locking and resetting: the very first completed trade locks this villager's offers for good. If you want to reset them, do it while it is still Novice and untraded, remove the lectern so it forgets the job, then give it back to generate a new Novice list. Our villager rolling guide walks through it.