Impact of Library Professionals’ Attitude on Career Development: A study based on the University Library Professionals in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Career development practices are designed to enhance the career satisfaction of employees and to improve organizational effectiveness. Samarakoon(2002) stated that to successfully attract, and retain junior knowledge workers, companies should pay attention in providing ‘support for career and continuous development’. The main objective of the study was to examine the impact of library professionals’ attitude on career development in relation to university library professionals of Sri Lanka and to assess the career satisfaction of the library professionals. The entire library professionals (n=112) attached to university libraries in Sri Lanka were considered as study sample. A self-administered survey questionnaire and personal interviews were used as data collection instruments. Collected data were analyzed by using a statistical package called SPSS 22.0. The response rate was 91%. Results revealed that the attitude of the library professionals has a mean value of 68.2 and Standard Deviation (SD) of 4.67. Whilst career development has a mean value of 34.94 and SD of 2.62. This predicts that career development is influenced by the attitude of the library professionals. The simple correlation between the attitude of the professionals and career development is 0.541, which seems to be moderate and positive. Majority of the university library professionals (82%) stated that they are pleased to work in an academic environment with freedom. Moreover, working condition of the University Libraries are adequate and promotional scheme of the University Library Professionals is fairly handled. The involvement of the professionals in their profession seems very high, because the majority of professionals (86%) responded that they are prepared to contribute their maximum efforts for the better performance. It was observed that positive attitude of the library professionals contributes to the career development, because the correlation (0.541) between these two variables is positively significant and moderate. It is recommended to have seminars, workshops, conferences or training programmes periodically for library professionals to upgrade their skills, knowledge and abilities which will enhance their personal capabilities. Further, a system in continuing education should be provided for all library professionals to increase their interest and involvement, so that they can render the best possible service