Librarian villagers are arguably the most powerful trading partners in Minecraft, offering a direct path to obtaining any max-level enchanted book available through trades. While the enchanting table provides a lottery of possibilities often requiring significant lapis lazuli and experience levels for uncertain outcomes – and combining lower-level books on an anvil rapidly increases XP costs – librarians offer predictable, renewable access to specific enchantments. Securing Mending, for example, becomes a matter of persistence rather than luck. With the right setup and a bit of patience, you can amass a collection of perfect enchantments for all your gear (like Protection IV on all armor pieces, Sharpness V on your sword, or Efficiency V on your tools), eliminating the randomness and high XP costs often associated with traditional enchanting or relying solely on rare dungeon loot. This guide will walk you through the process, from creating your first librarian to managing a large-scale trading operation efficiently.

Librarian Setup

Setting up your first librarian is a straightforward process, though achieving the perfect trade can require persistence. It's a cycle of placing a workstation, checking trades, and breaking the workstation if needed – but only before you trade with them.

• Acquire a Villager: First, you need a villager without a profession.
  • Naturally Spawned: You can find these in naturally generated villages (look for unemployed villagers, often in plain brown robes without emblems, or villagers whose claimed workstations you can identify and break – like a farmer's composter or a fisherman's barrel). Villages spawn in various biomes like Plains, Desert, Savanna, Taiga, Snowy Plains, and even Mangrove Swamps (though swamp villagers have unique appearances). Using cartographer villagers to trade for woodland explorer maps or ocean explorer maps won't help find standard villages, but exploring widely in the suitable biomes will eventually yield results. Be mindful of village dangers: naturally spawning zombies during sieges, Pillager patrols initiating raids if you have the Bad Omen effect, and accidental aggression towards Iron Golems if you misclick. Unemployed villagers have the simplest appearance, making them easy to spot amongst villagers with professions like clerics (purple robes) or farmers (straw hats).
  • Breeding: Alternatively, you can breed villagers. Ensure there are more valid beds than villagers in the vicinity, and provide them with sufficient food (3 bread per villager, or 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots). Villagers need to be "willing" to breed, which happens after acquiring enough food and having unclaimed beds nearby. Both parent villagers need to be willing. Ensure they have adequate headroom (at least 3 blocks) above the beds for baby villagers to jump, as they need to pathfind to the beds. Since Minecraft 1.14, doors are no longer required for breeding or village definition; beds and villager presence are key. While parent villagers don't strictly need workstations to breed, having professions can help them acquire food items themselves (like farmers harvesting crops). A simple breeder might involve two villagers in a contained area with several beds and a dispenser dropping food, or a dedicated farmer villager throwing excess crops to them. Be careful not to overcrowd the breeding area, as this can impact performance and villager pathfinding.
  • Curing Zombie Villagers: Perhaps the most reliable method for starting out, especially if you want initial discounts, is finding a zombie villager. These spawn naturally like other zombies (especially at night or in dark caves but are identifiable by their villager-like features and sounds) but are rarer (around 5% chance for a zombie to spawn as a zombie villager). They can also be found guaranteed in Igloo basements (break the carpet and find the hidden ladder). Curing requires trapping the zombie villager (a boat, minecart, or simple 2-block deep pit works well – ensure they are shaded from sunlight!), throwing a Splash Potion of Weakness at it (ensure no other mobs or players are hit!), and then right-clicking it with a Golden Apple (crafted with 8 gold ingots surrounding an apple). After a few minutes (typically 3-5 minutes) of shivering (keep it safe from other mobs and sunlight during this time!), it will transform into a regular villager. Cured villagers start with no profession and offer significant, permanent trade discounts on all their trades later on, making this an excellent starting point. These discounts stack with other effects like Hero of the Village. You'll need a brewing stand to make the Splash Potion of Weakness: brew Nether Wart into Water Bottles to make Awkward Potions, then add a Fermented Spider Eye (Spider Eye + Sugar + Brown Mushroom) to create a Potion of Weakness. Finally, add Gunpowder to make it a Splash Potion.
• Isolate Your Villager: To prevent the villager from accidentally choosing an unwanted profession (like linking to a nearby composter, blast furnace, or barrel) or linking to a workstation intended for another villager in a potential trading hall, it's crucial to isolate them before placing their desired workstation. Isolation also protects them from hostile mobs (especially zombies during sieges), prevents them from wandering off, and makes managing multiple villagers much easier. A simple 1x1 or 1x2 cell with walls at least two blocks high is sufficient. Ensure they have enough headroom (3 blocks is safe to avoid accidental suffocation damage in some edge cases) and are protected from hostile mobs – especially zombies (who can attack through corners sometimes) and lightning strikes (which turn villagers into witches). Use solid blocks for roofing. A glass block at eye level allows easy viewing of trades without letting the villager escape. Some players use trapdoors cleverly placed to contain villagers while allowing player access. Transporting villagers can be done using:
  • Boats: Surprisingly effective even on land. Place a boat near the villager; they will eventually pathfind into it. You can then enter the boat yourself and use standard movement controls ('rowing') to slide the boat across terrain, even uphill slowly. Leads can be attached to boats in Java Edition for easier pulling.
  • Minecarts: Requires rails but offers controlled movement, especially over longer, predefined paths. Push the villager into a minecart placed on a rail. Pistons can be useful for nudging villagers into carts. Powered rails are essential for automated transport systems.
  • Water Streams: More complex, involving channels of water with signs or fence gates to control flow direction. Primarily used for large automated breeder systems or moving villagers vertically with bubble columns (using soul sand or magma blocks).
  • Nether Portals: For very long distances, transporting a villager into the Nether, moving them 1/8th the distance, and then bringing them back through another portal is the fastest method, though it carries risks associated with the Nether environment. Remember to secure both portal locations.
• Place a Lectern: Once the villager is safely contained and is currently unemployed, place a lectern directly next to their enclosure, ensuring they can pathfind to it. It should ideally be within their 1x1 or 1x2 space or directly adjacent with no obstructions like carpets or pressure plates on the floor between them and the lectern. The villager must be able to physically reach the block's hitbox to claim the profession. This claiming process only happens during the villagers' designated "work hours" in the game (roughly 2000 to 9000 in-game time – basically, during the daytime after they wake up and before they gather at the village bell or return to their beds). You'll know they've claimed it when you see green particles appear around the villager and the lectern, and the villager changes its appearance to Librarian robes (typically white robes adorned with book-related patterns and sometimes glasses). If the villager doesn't claim the lectern, double-check: Is it work time? Can they pathfind directly to it? Have you already traded with this villager (even once)? Is there another unclaimed workstation closer to the villager? Ensure the villager is definitely unemployed (brown robes).

Checking and Re-rolling Trades

This is the core mechanic for getting the specific books you want.

• Check the Trades: Once the villager becomes a Librarian (puts on the robes), right-click them to open the trading interface.
• First Level Trades: A Novice Librarian will always offer a trade of Emeralds for Paper (usually 24 paper). Crucially, they will also offer one Enchanted Book trade for Emeralds and a Book. This first book trade is the only one you can influence through re-rolling.
• The Re-roll: Look at the enchanted book offered. Is it the one you want (e.g., Mending, Protection IV, Unbreaking III)? Is the price reasonable (prices vary, especially before curing)? If not, do not trade anything. Simply close the interface and break the lectern with an axe (or your hand).
• Wait and Replace: The villager will shortly lose their profession (usually within a few seconds to a minute) and revert to their unemployed brown robes. You might see grey anger particles momentarily. Once they are unemployed again, place the lectern back down in the same accessible spot.
• Repeat: During work hours, the villager will reclaim the lectern, become a Librarian again, and offer a completely new set of first-level trades, including a different enchanted book (or the same one at potentially a different price). Check the book trade again. Repeat this cycle of placing the lectern, checking the first book trade, and breaking the lectern until you see the exact enchantment you desire.
• Patience is Key: Getting a specific max-level enchantment like Mending or Protection IV can take significant time and many, many re-rolls. It's purely random which book appears each time. Some desirable enchantments you might look for include:
  • Tools/Weapons/Armor: Mending, Unbreaking III, Protection IV (and variants like Blast Protection, Fire Protection, Projectile Protection), Sharpness V (or Smite V / Bane of Arthropods V), Looting III, Fortune III, Silk Touch, Efficiency V.
  • Bows: Power V, Infinity, Flame, Punch II.
  • Crossbows: Quick Charge III, Multishot, Piercing IV.
  • Tridents: Impaling V, Loyalty III, Channeling, Riptide III.
  • Fishing Rods: Luck of the Sea III, Lure III.
  • Note that some enchantments like Soul Speed or Swift Sneak are treasure enchantments not available from Librarians.

Locking the Trade

• Found Your Book? Lock It In! Once the Librarian offers the exact enchanted book you want as their first-level trade (e.g., Mending for 10 Emeralds and a Book), you must trade with them at least once to lock their profession and trades permanently.
• Perform a Trade: The easiest way is often to just buy the book you wanted, provided you have the emeralds and a book. Alternatively, selling them paper for emeralds also works. Any single transaction will suffice. Once you trade, green particles will appear again, signifying the trade lock and granting you a small amount of XP.
• Permanence: After locking the trade, the villager is permanently a Librarian. You can break and replace their lectern, and they will reclaim it (needed for restocking), but their offered trades will never change. The book you locked in will always be available at that first level (unless prices change slightly due to player reputation or curing).

Leveling Up and Managing Librarians

• Villager Levels: Villagers gain experience and level up through trading. The levels are Novice (stone badge), Apprentice (iron badge), Journeyman (gold badge), Expert (emerald badge), and Master (diamond badge). Each level unlocks new trade offers.
• Unlocking Trades: To see higher-level trades, you need to trade with the librarian repeatedly. Trading the locked-in enchanted book or the paper trade are good ways to level them up. Each trade performed gives the villager hidden experience points. When they have enough XP, they level up the next time they work at their station.
• Higher-Level Librarian Trades: As librarians level up, they may offer trades for Bookshelves, Glass, Ink Sacs, Lanterns, Clocks, Compasses, and Name Tags. Importantly, they will also offer additional enchanted books at the Expert and Master levels. However, these higher-level book trades are determined when the level is unlocked and cannot be re-rolled. While potentially useful, they are not the primary target like the re-rollable first-level book.
• Restocking: Librarians (and other villagers) need to access their specific, linked workstation (the lectern) during their work hours (roughly 2000-9000 game time) to refresh their trades. Trades typically restock up to twice per Minecraft day. If a trade is greyed out with a red 'X', it means it's out of stock. Ensure the villager can pathfind to their lectern block. Breaking and replacing the lectern after trades are locked can sometimes help reset the link if restocking issues persist, but ensure only the correct villager re-links to it.
• Managing Multiple Librarians: For efficiency, create a trading hall. This could be a simple line of 1x1 cells, each holding a villager and their workstation. Use signs or item frames to label which librarian sells which book (e.g., place a sign saying "Mending" or an item frame with an enchanted book above the Mending librarian's cell). Name Tags (obtainable via fishing, loot chests, or trading with Master Librarians) are invaluable for permanently naming your villagers ("Mending Master," "Prot IV Guy") to prevent despawning if they were ever freed from their enclosure and to easily identify them. Ensure each villager has clear pathfinding only to their own workstation.
• Emerald Economy: You'll need a steady supply of emeralds. Curing zombie villagers significantly reduces costs. Winning a Raid grants the "Hero of the Village" effect, giving temporary discounts (these stack with curing discounts!). Establish reliable emerald income streams: large automatic sugar cane farms for paper (trade to librarians or cartographers), pumpkin/melon farms (trade to farmers), iron farms (trade ingots to toolsmiths, weaponsmiths, armorers), trading sticks or flint with fletchers, or trading rotten flesh with novice Clerics. A diverse villager trading setup supports your librarian habit effectively.