Public Library Staff Motivation

Public Library Staff Motivation The public library can be defined as a library that meets the educational, religious, social, cultural needs of the people in which it exist without affiliations to social, cultural, religious. It has wide range of collections and services. It is a library that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources (taxes) and operated by civil servants. It is a library for everybody and nobody in particular. Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. They provide free services such as preschool story times to encourage appreciation of literature in adults. The public library is been operated by civil servants who need to be encouraged to perform their duties effectively and efficiently Motivation Motivation is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to act towards a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. It can be considered a driving force; a psychological one that compels or reinforces an action toward a desired goal. Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. Halepota (2005) conceives motivation as a person’s active participation and commitment to achieve the prescribed results. He averts that the concept of motivation is an abstract construct because different strategies produce different results at different times and there is no single strategy that can produce guaranteed favorable results all the times. Cole (1996) opines that motivation is the term used to describe those processes, both instinctive and rational by which people seek to satisfy their basic drives, perceived needs and personal goals which trigger performance. Halepota (2005) conceives motivation as a person’s active participation and commitment to achieve the prescribed results. He averts that the concept of motivation is an abstract construct because different strategies produce different results at different times and there is no single strategy that can produce guaranteed favorable results all the times. Types of Motivation Motivation can be divided into two types: intrinsic (internal) motivation and extrinsic (external) motivation. Intrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. Intrinsic motivation has been studied since the early 1970s. Students who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage in the task willingly as well as work to improve their skills, which will increase their capabilities.Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they: • attribute their educational results to factors under their own control, also known as autonomy • believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their desired goals, also known as self-efficacy beliefs • are interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving good grades Extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain an outcome, whether or not that activity is also intrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (for example money or grades) for showing the desired behavior, and the threat of punishment following misbehavior. Competition is in an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives. Library staffs motivation Motivation of library staffs is a very essential part of the attribute of a manager of any organization. If the library staff is not motivated about their job in any way, motivating members will be a huge challenge. Motivation is at the core of everything librarians do and work toward. Libraries and librarians are supposed to be community focused; without understanding what motives drive the community they are part of, fulfilling the needs of the community and serving their members is a tall order Any lack of motivation among staff is a hurdlethat should be explored and addressed in some way before any real progress will be made outside of the library. Abimbola (1997) in his investigation of the level of motivation among librarians and para-professionals in Nigerian university libraries reveal a general dissatisfaction with training opportunities, professional development, work environment, sabbatical leave, communication, and management style.Rowley (1996) states that staff are a key resource and account for a significant component of the budget of libraries. It has been noted that public libraries in this part of the world have not been well motivated since it is seen as a pest in the budget of the state. It is seen as an unnecessary entity that takes money doing nothing. With this point, library staffs have not been well motivated. Ways of Motivating Library Staffs There are various ways to motivate public library staffs. They include: 1. Adequate Remuneration: it has been noted that public library staffs are not adequately remunerated compared to their counterparts in order type of libraries. They are paid less and this has demoralized them. Remuneration of staffs adequately motivates them to work harder and effectively. 2. Organization of seminars: organizing seminars for the staffs and allowing them to attend seminars with other librarians motivates them and allow them to know how things are done. 3. Awarding staff: The authority of the library should make it a point of duty to award performance of staffs. The best performing staffs of the library should be awarded probably on an annual basis. Thus, this will motivate other staffs to work harder in order for them to be rewarded the coming year. 4. Provision of modern day technology: provision of technology like online LC for cataloguing of materials encourages them to catalogue more materials unlike using the traditional method of cataloguing 5. Providing conducive working environment: a good working environment encourages librarians to be persuaded to work. Well-built and air conditioned offices have being an agent of full staff utilization. 6. Staff Promotion: Promotion is an agent for motivation, in this light, librarian is allowed to go on an extensive training to increase their base knowledge. Such as on the job training 7. On the Job Training: libraries of all types routinely do on-the-job training focused only on skills and knowledge that library assistants need to perform the task specific of their jobs. Ajidahun (2007) reports that on–the–job training is the most popular training method employed by most Nigerian universities he surveyed. He attributed this to the fact that university libraries could not afford to release their staff to go back to school either for part– or full–time studies. He further stressed that it has cost implications for the university system. According to him, “One wonders how many can be released at a time to go for formal education. An average library manager will be concerned with who will carry out the duties of such staff while they are away. Thus it is far easier to allow on–the–job training. Effect of lack of motivation among library staffs 1. Poor working habit: when librarians are not motivated to work, their attitude to work will be non-challant. They take their work with levity. Motivation of staffs ensures that work is done effectively and efficiently. In a typical library situation, when staffs are not motivated, the number of books to be processed will be reduced and also adequate security of library materials will not be ensured. 2. Poor living condition:poor living condition is as a result of low income. Staffs can be demotivated when their income is relatively low. They tend to operate on a living standard that is very low. They eat from hand to mouth. 3. Low self-esteem: lack of motivation leads to less admiration of staffs by the society. They are not envied and nobody will want to emulate them. A well-motivated staff advertises his/her firm indirectly. People will see them and want to be like them. This is not the case of a demotivated staff; they earn little or no respect from the society. 4. High scale of absenteeism: little or no motivation leads to a high level of absenteeism. The staffs feel the reward they get is not justifying the work they are doing. They come to work late and leave early or do not even come at all. This is rampant in government establishments. References 1. Abimbola, A. (1997). Motivating staff in Nigerian university libraries. Library Management, 18(3): 124 -128. 2. Ajidahun, C.O. (2007). The training, development, and education of library manpower in Information technology in university libraries in Nigeria. World Libraries, 17(1):http://www.worlib.org/vol17no1/print/ajidahun_print.html 3. Cole, G.A. (1996). Management theory and practice. New Delhi: Martins. 4. Halepota, H.A. (2005). Motivational theories and their application in construction. Cost Engineering, 47(3): 14-18. 5. Rowley, J. (1996). Motivation of staff in libraries. library management 17(5): 31-35.