EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON PRODUCTIVITY OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined effect of environmental factors which are: public power supply, day light radiation and Internet accessibility – on the productivity of academic librarians. Survey research design was used. The population for the study comprised 99 academic librarians working in the 12 academic libraries in Niger State. A purposive sampling technique was used to select five (5) out of the 12 academic libraries. Seventy two academic librarians in the five selected academic libraries were used. The purposive selected academic libraries enjoyed better funding and better infrastructural facilities (like Internet access and connectivity) than the ones that were not selected. The questionnaire instrument tagged Power Supply Internet, Access and Daylight illumination (PSIADI) was used to collect data for the study. Data were analysed with simple descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages. It was found from the study that public power supply affected the productivity of librarians as majority of them mainly depended on it. Moreover, daylight radiation had negative effect on the productivity of the librarians, while Internet accessibility affected the productivity of academic librarians. It is recommended amongst other things that there should be synergy among stake-holders-academic librarians, various library and institutions management in the provision of constant and stable electricity in the institution used for the study. Moreover, management of various institution should make the office environment of the librarians conducive as much as possible to optimise their productivity