PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: A CASE STUDY OF IDAH FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC LIBRARY NORTH CENTRAL ZONE

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

Administration is the means by which formal goals are achieved through corporate human efforts. It is the capacity to coordinate many and often inflicting social energies in a single administration so adeptly that they shall operate as unity.

Adam, (2001) pointed out that administration is generally defined as the process of working with and through others to efficiently accomplish organizational goals. It is the act or science of getting things efficiently done. Administration in general is concerned with building individual(s) into organization and with managing and directing those organizations. In more specific terms, administration is concerned with the performance of executive duties; the carrying out of the these decision is fulfill the purpose and controlling, satisfaction of the individual worker to seek their corporative. In accomplishing the goals of the organization. Khati, (2010), there are three major mechanisms that facilitate the acquisition of administration competence and skilled these are:

• Education: This involves undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
• Experience:  This involves exposure to variety of situations and demand
• A Mentor Mentee Relationship: It involves a going administration learning a set of administration skill by observing, working with and relating to more seasoned higher administration.

(Szilagyi 2000), Personnel administration can be defined as “the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, and accommodation to human resources by organization”. The human resources of an organization consist of all individuals engaged in any of the organization’s activities. Libraries employ not only large numbers of people, but also very diverse kinds of people. It is not unusual for sixty to eighty percent of a library’s budget to be devoted to salaries. Thus effective personnel administration is critical to a library’s achieving its goals and objectives. In time of extreme financial constraint, the way survival of a library may be highly dependent upon the quality of personnel administration.

Personnel administration is responsible for supply and placement of workers and maintenance and study of records yet it is a fact that present day contest, recruitments and selection is still a crucial aspect or personnel work.

Personnel administration is more commonly called Human Resources Management (HRM). People are considered the more important resources which an organization has. It includes a skills inventory, an analysis of expected expansions or reductions in operating units, and a systematic plan for recruitment and promotion. It is a comprehensive, on –going process which includes, but is broader than, making estimate. Personnel administration refers to the recruitment, accessing, developing, and retraining employees.

According to Penala (2008), organization is a large part of personnel administration. Employees must be organized in a way to gets the work done as long as employees are striving to be efficient in completing their employment responsibility, comprises usually work at retaining or keeping the good employees which saves the time of replacing them.

A library is a social institution which is established primarily to collect materials, organize and make them available to the users, preferably at the right time and at the right place.

1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Federal  Polytechnic Idah Library was established in August 1978, when the first set of library staff assumed duty. An old building of the temporary site which has being earmarked for use as library was expanded and renovated and the 678 volumes of books purchased and kept initially by the rector for staff use only formed the foundation stock.

In February, 1981, a new temporary library was opened at the permanent site. The library served as the main library of the school. It contained books that support the curriculum of the department of Accountancy Management Studies, Marketing, Secretarial studies, Food Technology, Hotel and Catering Management, Science Laboratory Technology and General Studies. The library has a sitting capacity for 196 readers. The administrative offices as well as processing unit of the library also relocated to the main campus.

The second library was located at the temporary site, contained books for the schools for engineering and metallurgy and material for science. This library in 1986 moved to the permanent site after an expansion of the library at the permanent site. This library continued to develop with increasing volume of book. The total volumes of books then were about thirty five thousand (3500).

In October 14^th 2004 the library was burnt down by rampaging students who claimed that their industrial attachment allowance was released to the management and the management refused to pay them. Thus raised down almost the whole library, what was left of the library where the science technology reading area and serial section. These section was saved with the intervention of the fire unit.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A library depends of its personnel for both resources building and service. The staff therefore should be professionally qualified and experienced. The staff should efficiently and effectively serve students, researchers, academic and non academic staffs of the institution.

Library has suffered both in collection development and service because of the inadequacy of professionally trained and experienced staff. The capabilities of the individual staff involved in the responsibility of the different levels of specialization and also the kind or organization line of staff, centralized or decentralized contribute a lot. The library can have appropriate selected materials when professional staff is employed. The accelerating rate of change in all phase of our problems indicates clearly that top management must show greater concern with the genuine development of capable library specialist.

This study examines the personnel problem in Federal Polytechnic Idah Library.

1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following are the research questions:

1. What are the different types of management style administered?
2. What are the functions of the personnel in the library?
3. How are the activities of the personnel in the library coordinated?
4. What are the weaknesses of the personnel in the library?

1. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Objective of the study are to:

1. Identify the type of personnel management style employed in the library;
2. Identify the functions of personnel in the library;
3. Examine the co –ordination of the activities of the personnel in the library
4. Identify the weakness of personnel in the library

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will help to reveal the importance of good management style as necessary condition for the successful attainment of the organizational goal and objectives.

The study will afford members of the library management the opportunity to access their management style and the obvious consequence the management style has on the organization.

It is expected that the conclusion and suggestion made in this study will foster better management style and staff morale in the organization and it will provide additional information on management style in the academic libraries for researchers and information seekers and will foster management style practice in the library.

1. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study covers the development of personnel administration in Federal Polytecnic Idah central Library. It covers the personnel management which involves organizations, services, personnel, structure, stock fund, method of acquisition of material etc.

1. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Administration:  The act of directing people towards accomplishing organizational goals.

Academic Library is the type of library found in tertiary institution like the Polytechnics, Institutes, Colleges of education, Monotechnic and the Universities. This libraries serve the reading and research interest of freshman and undergraduates, lecturers, and graduates of the campuses. The materials are diversified to support teaching and other programmes students and teachers are engaged in.

Personnel in any library consist of the people who work there. The employees are the personnel.

Personnel Administration in the library includes all activities which help the management in getting work done by labour force in the best manner possible to accomplish the library objectives. Personnel administration in the library consists of recruitment, selection, development, utilization of an accommodation to human resource by the library. Libraries employ not only large numbers of people, but also very diverse kinds of people. It is not unusual for sixty to eighty percent of library’s budget to be devoted to salaries. Thus effective personnel administration is critical to a library’s achieving its goals and objectives.

The personnel function of the academic library may be carried out by personnel (now often termed “human resources”) Offices of the parent organization.

Library is a repository of wisdom of great thinkers of the past and present.  is a building that houses properly organized knowledge (collection) in form of books, periodicals, audiovisuals, etc with trained personnel who manipulate the collection for use by the community for which it is established. It is also a social institution charged with the responsibility of disseminating knowledge, conserve knowledge, preserve the culture heritage to the people without any discrimination.

Regardless of the type of library, the broad objective of every library is to acquire, preserve and disseminate information that can facilitate the attainment of the objective of its present institution.

REFERENCE

Adam. G.(2001), Personnel Administraiton. 9^th Ed. New York: Mc Grawhil, Pp.689.

Khati, O. (2010), Management Control. 3^rd Ed. New York: Mc Grawhil, Pp.234

The Federal Polytechnic Idah (2012), Student Handbook 20. Fed.Idah Press.

Penala.K. (2008), Research Manual: Guide for Research in Applied Science Education and Technology and Business Studies, 2^nd Ed. Ikeja: Longman

Szilagyi F.G. (2000), Management. 2^nd New York: Macmillan Pp. 753.