The Effect of Stress on Professional Librarians Job Performance in Nigerian University Libraries

INTRODUCTION Stress is part of human life and every living organism undergoes series of stress as a result of daily life activity. Stress at work is one of the major psychosocial risks at work. Work related stress is a problem and is of great concerned to employees, employers, psychologists and counselors (Joseph, 2013). Stress is a pattern of negative physiological states and psychological responses occurring in situations where individuals perceive threats to their well-being, which they may be unable to meet. Whether stressors are harmful or not depends solely on individuals appraise the stressors and how the mind interprets them (Dawson et al, 2015) Stress therefore is the way the individual responds to conditions that scarce, threaten anger, bewilder or excite them. Stress is a psychological concept that can affect health, wellbeing and job performance in negative dimensions, (Casey, 2013). Job stress is a condition where in job--related factors interact with the worker to change his psychological or physiological condition such that he is forced to deviate from normal functioning (Ozioko, Uwakwe, and Asadu, 2014)). Evidently, in university libraries in Nigeria there are life threatening harmful and challenging situations which are stressful to professional librarian's existence and wellbeing. Some of these include economic instability (caused by drastic fall in oil world market), unconducive working environment, incessant power outage, vandalism of information materials, defective information services, insufficient funding and fuel shortage (Amusa et al ,2013; Isebe ,2015 and Komolafe-Opadeji, and Haliso, 2012). Emerging issues in the profession that pose a threat or stress factor to professional librarians, include new expectations, and the constantly changing role of Librarians due to the dynamic nature of information and its delivery in the University system triggered by the emergence of information technology IT in the library and information practice (Shah, 2015). The funding problems that have continued to plague Nigerian libraries (Dina, 2013), lack of enough human and other resources and role conflict or ambiguity are increasing the librarian's stress (Ajala, 2011). Stress may manifest by the presence of headache, sleep disturbances difficulty in concentration, hot temper, upset stomach job dissatisfaction and low morale. Other manifestations or indications of the presence of job stress include muscular tensions and ache, tightness in the chest, high blood pressure heat problems, snapping and arguing with others, aggressive or hostile behavior, blaming others or administration for tension, and absenteeism (Jamadin et al, 2015) PURPOSE OF STUDY The primary objectives of this study are to: * Assess the relationship between stress on professional librarian's work load and job performance. * Discuss the effects of stress on professional librarian overall health and job performance. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM University libraries in Nigeria have become a source of extreme stress as a result of technological changes, information overload, and demand for effective job performance and fierce competition (Ugwuanyi and Ugwu 2011). Stress in library environment is not good for the university libraries as it leads to decrease in quality of service delivery and job performance. It is also not good for the professional librarian either as it leads to job dissatisfaction and low morale (Wijetunge, 2012). In Nigeria today, there appear to be perceived increase in the stress cases among professional librarians as a result the state of economy of the nation among others. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY The following hypothesis shall guide this study: [H.sub. 0]--Work related stress would not negatively affect professional librarian commitment and performance. [H.sub. 1]--Work related stress would negatively affect professional librarian commitment and performance. …