Introduction

Organizations have the mission of offering high quality service and this depends greatly on the disposition of its employees. Human resource is the most important factor in any organization notwithstanding the abundance of physical and financial resources. For any organization to be termed as being successful, it is of paramount importance that its employees are taken good care of both physically and emotionally because the physical resources available can only be turned to products or services that will bring about economic returns with the involvement of the human resource. It is the obligation of every organization or institution to provide adequate working environment, health and safety measures for their employees' in order to forestall accidental occurrences and to avoid high rate of turnover. Absence of these leads to workers experiencing occupational health hazards, accumulated stress and occupational burnout (Thomas, Kohli & Choi 2014).

Workers are very important asset to any organization or institution and they deserve to be treated with prestige and their welfare packages must be enticing. (Drucker, 2010). Howse (1999) posited that the Nigerian labor law gives room for workers to negotiate for their rights by bargaining for their legitimate interest; however, these laws have not been taken seriously by most employers. Therefore, it has become a trend for workers in Nigeria to embark on demonstrations, rallies and long strike actions because the provision for their welfare only exists on paper and not implemented. Workers are constantly denied of basic social and economic incentives that will help to improve the quality of their life. This has a very great impact on the productivity, passion, self-esteem, financial status and team spirit of workers (Ifijeh & Adebayo, 2014). Hence, this has led workers being faced with stressors such as low income, unfavorable policies, physical loss of strength, being overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands amongst others. When this accumulates, it results in burnout in form of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion (Sowmya, 2011)

The study will be guided by the following objectives:

* find out if library staff in University libraries in Ogun State do experience occupational burnout.

* highlight the perceived causes of occupational burnout

* identify the consequences of occupational burnout on the library personnel surveyed and

* proffer strategies to mitigate burnout syndrome among library personnel.

Review of Related Literature

A library is a center for lifelong learning, research, skill development amongst others and it is supposed to operate in a serene and quiet atmosphere if a meaningful result is to be achieved. Library personnel are saddled with the responsibility of acquiring and organizing information resources and also making these information resources available for use. Traditionally, a librarian is seen as a custodian of books and other print materials but in recent times, especially with the introduction of ICT into library services, the trend has changed. This change in technological advancement has affected both the library and library personnel. In order to remain relevant in the changing environment, it has become necessary for library personnel to develop new skills in processing and making information available to users. Akazue & Ojeme (2010) posited that many academic libraries in Nigeria are fully automated which means activities such as cataloguing, classification, indexing, charging and discharging of books are done using a library management software. All these are only achievable with the use of peripherals such as computers, scanners, and the internet because the software cannot function in isolation.

Occupational Burnout

Occupational burnout is characterized by exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm and motivation, feeling drained and also having a dimension of frustration and/or negative emotions and cynical behavior as a result of reduced professional efficacy within the workplace (Powell, 2011). Occupational burnout does not only imply the loss of physical strength at work; it also entails some other factors that may lead to an employee's lack of interest in the job. Such factors include: low earnings, unfavorable policies, role conflicts etc. Often times, employees become frustrated, bitter and in some cases, they leave their jobs if affected by any of these factors.

Paskey (2012) asserted that occupational burnout is often associated with excessive stress, which most time is not the underlying culprit. She further posited that employees may exhibit signs of burnout if they feel they are not adequately rewarded for a job well done, or if the current job they are doing become mundane and uninteresting. According to Sowmya (2011) burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion which is caused by prolonged stress. This kind of excessive stress occurs when an individual is not able to catch up with the constant demand of work. As the stress continues, there is usually a loss of initial motivation and interest prior to assumption of certain roles. Burnout has the tendency of reducing productivity and decreasing the level of one's energy, leaving a feeling of increasingly helplessness, hopelessness, cynicism, and resentfulness and at the long run; one may feel like he/she has nothing more to give. To confirm this, Templeton and Satcher, (2007) reiterated that employees that are suffering from burnout are those that have low productivity rate, those that deliver poor client service, ineffective and those that do not make themselves available at work regularly. These kinds of employees most often seek for other jobs thereby causing a high rate of turnover in workplaces.

Occupational burnout is not the absence of skills or knowledge of what to do or how to do it; it is just that the will power to carry out the required task is no longer there.

Occupational burnout is said to be common with people who interact with other people frequently. Therefore, library personnel cannot be exempted from these categories of workers since they spend most time communicating and having direct contact with library patrons.

Maslach & Leiter (2005) identified three dimension of occupational burnout:

(1) Emotional exhaustion: This means energy discharge and consumption of emotional resources,

(2) Depersonalization: this is common with employees who interact with clients and customers on a regular basis. This type of burnout separates workers from others and the effect may lead to pessimism.

(3) Dimensional personal accomplishment: this is a situation whereby the employee comes to a negative self-assessment

Burisch (2006) posited that burnout has often been mistaken for stress. He stated that the symptoms could be quite similar but distinctions should be made because stress can only intensify burnout; it is not the main cause of it. Workers might experience stress from work overload, rigid working hours, and inadequate working procedures and yet they might not experience occupational burnout. Burnout can be triggered by many factors. Maslach et al. (2001) posited that job characteristics such as role conflicts and role ambiguity are quite demanding while Demerouti et al. (2001) opined that physical environment (heat and noise) could also be contributing factors.

World Health Organization (2000) reported that most countries do not have a specific legislation that addresses the impact of job stress on employees. Although most of these countries have minimum standards for safety and health, it is not sufficient since the standard focuses on the physical aspects of the workplace and does not include the psychological and mental health aspects of working conditions.

Casey (2012) quoting Caputo (1991) averred that occupational burnout can be manifested psychologically, physically and behaviorally. Casey further opined that physical symptoms can include frustration, anxiety, boredom and attitudinal problem such as cynicism, indifference and resignation; physical symptoms include insomnia, weight gain, fatigue and in some cases, hypertension.

Library personnel and Burnout

Library personnel are not immune to occupational burnout because according to Huprich (2007), library personnel engage in very tedious work while trying to satisfy the users. Affleck (1996) using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) carried out a survey among Bibliographic Instruction Library personnel in Britain and discovered a high rate of burnout among 52.8% of the Library personnel surveyed. Odelia (1999) also surveyed Library personnel in Israel and noted that there was a low burnout rate among the older Library personnel while the younger ones acknowledged the fact that they experience feelings of frustration and lack of self-fulfillment.

Cardina (2004) opined that library personnel have had to do more with fewer resources as budgets have been significantly cut. In a study carried out by Saddiq & Burke (2006), lack of money, budget cuts, budget issues and downsizing were variables that scored high in each parameter. They also observed that these variables are constant in each research involving stress and burnout. This finding affirms the opinion of Cardina (2004).

Baird and Baird (2005) identified lack of variety as a variable that makes the library a boring place to work. According to them, the repetitive nature of library work makes it monotonous and this brings about boredom. A study conducted by Siamian et al (2006) reported that the degree of burnout among the library personnel in Mazandaran University was high. The study identified the following as burnout factors among library personnel: lack of facilities, not given enough time to carry out or perform a task, no opportunity to give suggestions or unconducive working environment; ambiguous roles and duties assigned to the employee's; and lack of proper motivation.

According to Harwell (2013), the following are major factors that contribute to occupational burnout among Library personnel:

* Workload issues: work overload, responsibilities not matched to support systems, working nights and weekends, frequent technological change, obnoxious patrons.

* Control issues: powerlessness to affect change, budget cuts, bureaucratic inertia, poor management and supervision, lack of voice in goal setting or decision making, role conflict, role ambiguity, and lack of autonomy.

* Issues with regard to rewards and recognitions: underpaid and undervalued respective of qualifications and working conditions, lack of adequate recognition, lack of opportunity for advancement.

* Community issues: ambiguous authority structures, blurred roles between professionals and paraprofessionals, poor public image of library personnel.

* Fairness issues: job discrimination and lack of private work space.

* Value issues: expectations that library personnel should be helpful and pleasant. Researchers in the field of library, librarianship and other related disciplines in Nigeria have dealt extensively on issues ranging from job satisfaction and performance of library personnel, job motivation and productivity it is however disheartening to note that no literature existed for occupational burnout among library personnel in Nigeria. Although stress related issues have also been dealt with extensively but it is not sufficient to take the place of occupational burnout.

For clarity, the table below distinguishes between stress and burnout.

Stress                              Burnout

Characterized by over engagement    Characterized by disengagement
Emotions are over active            Emotions are blunted
Produces urgency and                Produces helplessness and
  hyperactivity                       hopelessness
Loss of energy                      Loss of motivation, ideals and
                                      hope
Leads to anxiety disorders          Leads to detachment and
                                      depression
Primary damage is physical          Primary damage is emotional
May kill prematurely                May make life seem not worth
                                      living

(Source: Help Guide.org, http://www.helpguide.
org/articles/stress/preventing-burnout.htm)

Methodology

Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and thirteen university libraries in Ogun State were surveyed. The total sampling method was used. Self-designed questionnaire with closed ended questions were administered to the library staff in the libraries surveyed. A total number of two hundred and thirty (236) copies of questionnaire were administered and two hundred and twenty one (221) copies were retrieved from the library personnel bringing the response rate 93.6%. Analysis and interpretations were done using descriptive statistics. One hypothesis was tested using Pearson correlation to test the relationship.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

The table 2 above shows the demographic distribution of the library personnel surveyed. It reveals that the female respondents were more than their male counterparts. It also shows that most of the respondents were between the age group of 31-40 years (35.3%), followed closely by the age group 41-50 (32.6%), 20-30 (28.5%) and 51-60 (3.6%).

For the working experience parameter, the table shows that most of the library staff 92 (41.6%) had between 1-6 years working experience in the profession, 58(26.2%) of the respondents had between 6-10 working experience while 71 (32.1%) had above 10 years working experience. For the designation of the respondents, a highest proportion 41(18.6%) were Assistant Library personnel, followed by Librarian I with 36 (16.3%) respondents, Library Officers 33 (14.9%) respondents, Principal Library personnel with 25 (11.3%) respondents, Librarian II with 24 (10.9%) Library Assistants 18 (8.1%) respondents, Senior Library personnel with 17 (7.7%) Library Portals with 13 (5.9%) respondents, Chief Librarian 8 (3.6%) respondents and 6 (2.7%) respondents are library attendants.

Research Question 1

From Table 3:178 (80.5%) respondents indicated that they have conflicts with colleagues, 177 (80.1%) agreed that rigid working hours causes occupational burnout, 170 (76.9 indicated unfavorable policies, 162 (73.3%) indicated being always under pressure while the parameter that scored lowest is funding with 69 (31.2%). This implies that resources made available to the library personnel go a long way to affect the level of their productivity. When these resources and the work environment in general are not conducive, burn out may be inevitable.

Research Question 2

Table 4 above sought to find out personal occupational burnout experiences of the library personnel surveyed. The findings revealed that 182 (81%) experience conflicts with colleagues, 178 (81%), 166 (75.1%), 157 (71.0%) indicated that bureaucracy and obeying so many directives at once are personal experiences of occupational burnout while 139 (63.0%) indicated inflexible working hours.

Research Question 3

Table 5 showed that a highest proportion of the respondents 207 (93.7%) indicated that the consequences of occupational burnout is avoiding my colleagues, 204 (92.3%) indicated that occupational burnout result to drinking and smoking excessively, 199 (90%) get irritated easily, 175 (79.2) experience sleepless nights, 173 (78.3) dread going to work, 147 (66.5) agreed that occupational burnout results in low productivity. Only 73 (33%) of the library personnel surveyed attested that they have lost the high hopes with which they entered the profession.

Hypothesis

H0 There is a significant relationship between occupational burnout and demographic factors among library personnel in University libraries in Ogun State Nigeria.

                                    Occupational   Demographic
                                    burnout        Factors

Burnout       Pearson Correlation   1              -.116
              Sig. (2-tailed)                      .085
              N                     221            221
Demographic   Pearson Correlation   -.116          1
Factors       Sig. (2-tailed)       .085
              N                     221            221

This hypothesis was raised to determine the significant relationship between demographic factors and occupational burnout among library personnel in University libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria. The findings revealed that there was no positive significant relationship between demographic factors and occupational burnout among library personnel at r=0.116; p<0.05. It implies that demographic factors such as age, gender, academic qualification and designation have no effect on occupational burnout.

It implies that occupational burnout has nothing to do with age, it occurs among both old and young library personnel. Likewise it is not a matter of gender; both male and female do experience occupational burnout. This is in contrast with the study of Mostafavi and Ghasemi-Nejad (2010) who carried out a study on burnout and its relationship with age and experience of library personnel of academic libraries in Tehran, Iran. The study revealed that age and occupational experience were significantly associated to occupational burnout and its components. The increase in their age and their career experience their burnout also increased. Also the findings of Biglu (2012) on job burnout among public library personnel in Ardabil revealed that there was positive relationship between occupational burnout and gender. There was different level of occupation burnout between male and female; the level of job burnout among married women was higher than the married men. In the same vein the study of Khan (2013) submitted that burnout is more pronounced among men than women.

Discussion of Findings

Drawing from the analysis carried out, it can be deduced that there are some factors that affect the level of burnout experienced by the library staff; these factors go a long way to affect the level of occupational burn out experienced, Some of the factors include the condition of service at the workplace and the resources made available for the library staff. When the conditions of service are not favorable to the library personnel, the tendency of occupational burnout is usually very high. A good number of the library personnel understudied indicated that the experience of occupational burnout brings about hatred and displeasure of the job while some totally detest the workplace environment and in the long run, the level of productivity drops significantly (Jankome, Mangoriand & Ritacco, 2013)

Furthermore, from the hypothesis, there is no positive significant relationship between demographic factors and occupational burn out of library personnel as shown thus: r=0.116; p<0.05, hence the Null hypothesis was rejected. This reveals that the level of burn out experienced or not experienced has little or nothing to do with factors such as age, designation, gender, etc. of the respondents in this study. This however is in contradiction to the findings of Ahola et al (2008) which noted that the level of burnout experienced was higher among the aging population than among the middle aged workers in Sweden; however the reiterated that some demographic variables such as the level of education and marital status do not have effect of the level of burnout experienced

Conclusion and Recommendation

The availability of good working equipment at the various work stations in the library cannot be overemphasized as that is unequivocally instrumental to the achievement of goals and objectives of the library. Besides the provision of these facilities, the library staff should have a healthy working relationship among themselves and every staff should be a self-motivated team member as this will help to improve the level of commitment of every staff. It is paramount to note that the level of commitment could also be determined by the nature of policies being formulated by the institution's Management.

Strategies to Mitigate Occupational Burnout

This comes in two dimensions, personal and organizational.

Personal

> Be creative: creativity can help in reducing the risk of having occupational burnout syndrome. Engage in creative activities such as reading and writing.

> Personal development: acquire new skills.

> Share your feelings: it is advisable to loosen up and share feelings with colleagues, counselors or any other trusted individual.

> Make your work environment friendly: put family pictures, flowers, listen to music etc

> Self-efficacy: accomplish personal goals and tasks.

> Be positive: maintain a positive attitude; it will help to build resilience if challenges arise

> Attend academic/social activities: attend seminars, talk shows, public lectures, weddings etc

> Be excited: laugh/smile always, be surrounded with happy people always

> Go on vacation Organizational

> Role ambiguity: employing the use of surveys can be very helpful in identifying the extent to which role ambiguity exists in an organization. This will enable the organizations management to put in place a clarified job description manual stating what is expected of each worker.

> Support: in cases of perceived unfairness or gaps in values, there should be a feedback technique that will enable the workers air their views about their job.

> Good welfare packages/incentives/reward systems

> Recognition of workers: periodical acknowledgement of dedicated workers will go a long way to reduce the rate of burnout.

REFERENCES

Affleck, M.A (1996). Burnout among Bibliographic Instruction Library personnel. Library and Information Science Research. 18. 166

Ahola, K., Honkonen, T, Virtanen, M., Aromaa, A & Lonnqvist, J. (2008). Burnout in Relation to Age in the Adult Working Population. Journal of Occupational Health. 50: 362-36. Retrieved from http://ioh.sanei.or.ip/pdf/E50/E50 4 08.pdf

Akazue, M. & Ojeme, B. (2010). Design of an Automated Library Management System for State Universities in Nigeria. Asian Journal of Information Technology, 10: 335-340

Baird, T., & Baird, Z.M. (2005). Running on empty: dealing with burnout in the library Setting. LIScareer.com. Retrieved from http://liscareer.com/baird burnout.htm

Bunge, C. A. (1989). Stress in the library workplace. Library Trends, 38(1), 92-102.

Burisch, M. (2006) Das Burnout-Syndrome: Berlin, Springer. S. 35

Caputo, J. S. (1991). Stress and burnout in library service. Pheonix, AZ: Oryx Press.

Cardina, C., & Wicks, D. (2004). The changing roles of academic reference library personnel Over a ten-year period. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 44(2), 133-142.

Casey, S. (2012) How to manage Occupational burnout. Available at: http://susancaseveportfolio.com/work/iobburnout.pdf

Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499-512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499

Drucker PF 2010. Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. New York, USA: Routledge.

Fukuchi, S. (2011) Occupational burnout: What it is and What to do about it. Public Spark Blog available at: http://www.publicspark.com/2011/04/19/iob-burnout-what-it-is-and-what-to-do-about-it/

Harwell, K. (2013) Burnout and job Engagement among Business Library personnel. Library Leadership & Management 27 (1&2). Available at: https://iournals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm/article/viewFile/2084/6218

Howse R 1999. World Trade Organization and the Protection of Workers' Rights. Journal of Small & Emerging Business Law, 3:131-142.

Ifpeh, G & Adebayo, O. (2014). Occupational Health Hazards: Assessing Occurrence and Policies in Nigerian Academic Libraries. International Information & Library Review Taylor & Francis. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10572317.2014.943069#.VMJiSSy9Nro

Jankome, P.K, Mangoriand, M. & Ritacco, G. (2013). The Impact of Stress and Burnout on Employees' Performance at Botswana Power Corporation. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5 (6)

Maslach, C. & Leiter, M. P. (2005). Reversing burnout: How to rekindle your passion for your work. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2005, 42-49.

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Occupational burnout. Annual Review of Over a ten-year period. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 44(2), 133-142.

Odelia, S. (1999). Burnout among librarians in Israel's academic libraries: scope, rate and reasons. Library and information sciences system number 826845. Available online at: Website www.is.biu.ac.il/library

Paskey, T. (2012). An Examination of Self-Care and Social Support Regarding Burnout Levels of Direct Care Staff and Social Workers. Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers. Paper 71. http://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/711

Powell, J. (2011). Job Burnout: Definition, Contributing Factors, What You Can Do. Available at: http://www.scontrino-powell.com/2011/iob-burnout-definition-contributing-factors-_what-you-can-do/

Saddiq, S. & Burke, E. (2006). An investigation into the role of perceived work stress upon absenteeism, job satisfaction, psychological health and family, across 5 disparate occupational groups. Distance Learning Center. Retrieved from: http://www.distancelearningcentre.com/access/materials/hbs3/Perceived work str ess.pdf

Siamian H., Shahrabi A., Vahedi M, Abbsai, C. & Rad A. M. (2006). Stress and burnout in libraries and information centres. Asia-pacific conference on library and information education and practice. p.263.

Sowmya, K. R., & Panchanatham, N. (2011). Job burnout: An outcome of organisational politics in banking sector. Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, 2(1), 49-58.

Templeton, M. C., & Satcher, J. (2007). Occupational burnout among public rehabilitation counselors. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 38(1), 39-45.

Thomas, M., Kohli, V. & Choi, J. (2014).Correlates of job burnout among Human Services Workers: Implications for Workforce Retention. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. 31(4)

Topper, E. F. (2007). Stress in the library workplace. New Library World, 108(11/12), 561-564

Khan, S. N. (2013). The Relationship between Job Burnout and Gender-Based Socio-Demographic Characteristics in Lahore. Lahore Journal of Business, 1(2): pp. 65-95. http://www.lahoreschoolofeconomics.edu.pk/businessjournals/V1issue2/04%20Nabi%20 Khan.pdf

Mostafavi, E. and Ghasemi-Nejad, M.A. (2013). Burnout and its Relationship with Age and Experience of Library personnel of Academic Libraries in Tehran, Iran. Health Information Management; 9(6): 949.

Biglu, M.H. (2012) A Study of Job Burnout among Public Library personnel in Ardabil. European Psychiatry. Retrieved from http://www.europsv-journal.com/article/S0924-9338(12) 74756-9 pdf

Oyeronke Adebayo

Covenant University, [email protected]

Chidi Deborah Segun-Adeniran

Covenant University, [email protected]

Michael Opeoluwa Fagbohun

Covenant University, [email protected]

Odaro Osayande

Covenant University, [email protected]

Table 1: Population of Library personnel in University
Libraries Ogun State

S/N   List of Universities in Ogun State, Nigeria      Number of
                                                        Library
                                                         Staff

1.    Babcock University,Ilishan-Remo                      26
2.    OlabisiOnabanjo University, Ago Iwoye                34
3.    Tai Solarin University of Education Ijebu Ode        18
4.    Covenant University Ota                              45
5.    Mountain Top University                              12
6.    Mcpherson University, SerikiSotayo, Ajebo            3
7.    Crescent University                                  11
8.    Crawford University Igbesa                           15
9.    Southwestern University, Oku Owa                     5
10.   Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta          60
11.   Bells University, Ota                                7
      Total                                               236

S/N   List of Universities in Ogun State, Nigeria      Ownership

1.    Babcock University,Ilishan-Remo                   Private
2.    OlabisiOnabanjo University, Ago Iwoye             Public
3.    Tai Solarin University of Education Ijebu Ode     Public
4.    Covenant University Ota                           Private
5.    Mountain Top University                           Private
6.    Mcpherson University, SerikiSotayo, Ajebo         Private
7.    Crescent University                               Private
8.    Crawford University Igbesa                        Private
9.    Southwestern University, Oku Owa                  Private
10.   Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta       Public
11.   Bells University, Ota                             Private
      Total

Source: National University Commission website and personal contact

Table 2: Demographic Information

                                            Frequency

                                            N     %

Gender            Male                      91    41.2
                  Female                    130   58.8
Age               20--30                    63    28.5
                  31--40                    78    35.3
                  41--50                    72    32.6
                  51--60                    8     3.6
Work Experience   1-5 yrs                   92    41.6
                  6--10 yrs                 58    26.2
                  Above 10 yrs              71    32.1
                  Total                     221   100.0
Qualification     PhD                       13    5.9
                  Masters                   74    33.5
                  BSc (in any discipline)   88    39.8
                  SSCE (Senior Secondary    6     2.7
                    School graduates)
                  Diploma                   40    18.1
                  Total                     221   100.0
Designation       Library attendant         6     2.7
                  Library assistant         18    8.1
                  Library Porter            13    5.9
                  Library Officer           33    14.9
                  Assistant Librarian       41    18.6
                  Librarian II              24    10.9
                  Librarian I               36    16.3
                  Senior Librarian          17    7.7
                  Principal Librarian       25    11.3
                  Chief Librarian           8     3.6
                  Total                     221   100.0

Table 3: Perceived causes of Occupational burnout

                                                            Agree
                                                            N     %

Rigid working hours (work time is not flexible)             177   80.1
Unfavourable policies made by University Management         170   76.9
Lack of proper funding                                      69    31.2
Lack of proper institutional guidelines and policies        122   55.2
Conflicts with colleagues and patrons                       178   80.5
The resources at my disposal are not enough to do my work   87    39.4
obeying so many instructions almost at once                 154   69.7
I don't have a say when it comes to decision making         92    41.6
I am always under pressure to meet deadlines                162   73.3
No opportunity for capacity building (training, getting     134   60.6
higher degrees.)
The working environment is not conducive                    126   57.0
Things are never done at the appropriate time               128   57.9

                                                            Disagree
                                                            N     %

Rigid working hours (work time is not flexible)             44    19.9
Unfavourable policies made by University Management         51    23.1
Lack of proper funding                                      152   68.8
Lack of proper institutional guidelines and policies        99    44.8
Conflicts with colleagues and patrons                       43    19.5
The resources at my disposal are not enough to do my work   134   60.6
obeying so many instructions almost at once                 67    30.3
I don't have a say when it comes to decision making         129   58.4
I am always under pressure to meet deadlines                59    26.7
No opportunity for capacity building (training, getting     87    39.4
higher degrees.)
The working environment is not conducive                    95    43.0
Things are never done at the appropriate time               93    42.1

                                                            Total

Rigid working hours (work time is not flexible)             221   100.0
Unfavourable policies made by University Management         221   100.0
Lack of proper funding                                      221   100.0
Lack of proper institutional guidelines and policies        221   100.0
Conflicts with colleagues and patrons                       221   100.0
The resources at my disposal are not enough to do my work   221   100.0
obeying so many instructions almost at once                 221   100.0
I don't have a say when it comes to decision making         221   100.0
I am always under pressure to meet deadlines                221   100.0
No opportunity for capacity building (training, getting     221   100.0
higher degrees.)
The working environment is not conducive                    221   100.0
Things are never done at the appropriate time               221   100.0

Table 4: Personal experience of occupational burnout of the
Library personnel:

                                                           Agree
                                                           N     %
I experience burnout when:

My working hours is inflexible                             139   63.0
I cannot carry out my work effectively due to limited      178   81.0
resources at my disposal.
There is bureaucracy and obeying so many directives        157   71.0
almost at once
I cannot partake in decision making process.               98    44.3
I am under pressure to meet the target and deadlines       166   75.1
The working environment is not conducive                   131   59.0
There is lack of opportunity for career progress           111   50.2
I have conflicts with colleagues and patrons               182   82.5

                                                           Disagree
                                                           N     %
I experience burnout when:

My working hours is inflexible                             82    37.0
I cannot carry out my work effectively due to limited      43    19.0
resources at my disposal.
There is bureaucracy and obeying so many directives        64    29.0
almost at once
I cannot partake in decision making process.               123   55.5
I am under pressure to meet the target and deadlines       55    25.0
The working environment is not conducive                   90    41.0
There is lack of opportunity for career progress           110   49.7
I have conflicts with colleagues and patrons               39    17.5

                                                           Total

I experience burnout when:

My working hours is inflexible                             221   100.0
I cannot carry out my work effectively due to limited      221   100.0
resources at my disposal.
There is bureaucracy and obeying so many directives        221   100.0
almost at once
I cannot partake in decision making process.               221   100.0
I am under pressure to meet the target and deadlines       221   100.0
The working environment is not conducive                   221   100.0
There is lack of opportunity for career progress           221   100.0
I have conflicts with colleagues and patrons               221   100.0

Table 5: Consequences of occupational burnout

                                          Agree        Disagree
                                          N     %      N     %

Frustration                               152   68.8   69    31.2
Lack of career progression                145   65.6   76    34.4
Lack of commitment                        151   68.3   70    31.7
Drinking and smoking excessively          204   92.3   17    7.7
Sleepless nights                          175   79.2   46    20.8
Dread going to work                       173   78.3   48    21.7
Avoiding my colleagues                    207   93.7   14    6.3
Get irritated easily                      199   90.0   22    10.0
Headaches, back pains and HBP             124   56.1   97    43.9
Feeling unappreciated                     113   51.1   108   48.9
Loss of creativity                        114   51.6   107   48.4
Hoard relevant and useful information     136   61.5   85    38.5
I have lost the dreams and high hopes     73    33.0   148   67.0
with which I entered this career
Low productivity                          147   66.5   74    33.5

                                          Total

Frustration                               221   100.0
Lack of career progression                221   100.0
Lack of commitment                        221   100.0
Drinking and smoking excessively          221   100.0
Sleepless nights                          221   100.0
Dread going to work                       221   100.0
Avoiding my colleagues                    221   100.0
Get irritated easily                      221   100.0
Headaches, back pains and HBP             221   100.0
Feeling unappreciated                     221   100.0
Loss of creativity                        221   100.0
Hoard relevant and useful information     221   100.0
I have lost the dreams and high hopes     221   100.0
with which I entered this career
Low productivity                          221   100.0