A STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR INFLUENCING JOB PERFORMANCE OFLIBRARIANS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate how workplace environment influence the job performance of librarians
in Federal Universities in North Central Nigeria. The study formulated two objectives and some responding
research questions as well as two null hypothesis. It adopted a descriptive survey design and target population
of 173 professional library staff from the six federal Universities in North Central Nigeria. The study adopted
the entire population of librarians. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. One hundred and
seventy-three (173) copies of the questionnaires were distributed and one hundred and sixty-six (166)
questionnaires were returned; representing a return rate of 95.5%. The data collected were analyzed using
descriptive statistics of frequency tables and mean scores. The decision rule for research questions was based
on whether the mean score value was lower than or equal to and above the criterion mean value of 2.50 for
either rejection or acceptance. The findings of the study revealed that the respondents agreed that conducive
working environment influence the job performance of librarians and also agreed, workplace environment has a
correlation index r level of 0.642 as it affects job performance of librarians. Therefore, the null hypotheses have
been rejected indicating that working environment positively affects job performance of librarians in Federal
Universities Libraries in North Central Nigeria. The study recommended that there should be conducive
working environment. The study also revealed that there are many problems which negatively affect the job
performance of librarians which should be looked into and should be solved once and for all by the
management of Federal Universities. This is to allow librarians who are willing to give their best in terms of job
performance to do so for the general development of Federal University Libraries in North Central Nigeria.