Issues in career advancement prospects among librarians in Nigerian universities

ISSN： 0143-5124

Source： Library Management, Vol.20, Iss.2, 1999-02, pp. : 76-83

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Abstract

Survey data were used to examine some issues, obstacles and the structure of career advancement prospects in Nigerian universities which was found to be slow and frustrating to reach the peak by practising librarians. The survey results indicate that 147 respondents (73 per cent) identified and rated the combination of professional duties with the academic work of publishing as their greatest obstacle to career advancement, whereas 25 librarians (12 per cent) indicate inadequate opportunities to reach the rank of university librarian as their second greatest obstacle. Furthermore, empirical results show that 12 respondents (6 per cent) indicated a lack of higher educational qualifications in librarianship as their third obstacle and ten respondents (5 per cent) indicated the lack of a generally accepted laid down policy on promotion criteria as their fourth problem, whereas eight respondents (4 per cent) indicated being uncomfortable with the unnecessary emphasis on publication output at the expense of performance of professional duties as their fifth obstacle. Issues such as the appointment of professors in university libraries, higher educational qualifications for librarians, retirement benefits and uniformity in designations were identified and solutions proffered. The author recommends the creation of new positions at the top to reduce frustration and stagnation