Staff Training Programmes in Nigerian Public Libraries: The Case of Enugu State Public Library

This paper studied the staff training programmes in public libraries in Nigeria with particular reference to Enugu state library. The training needs of the staff of the library, the extent to which they are exposed to training programmes, how they benefit from training, the factors that hinder training and ways through which staff training could be improved were looked into. Structured questionnaire together with interview questions were used to gather data from the 82 workers of the library who formed the respondents. 80 copies of the questionnaire were returned and used for the analysis using frequencies and percentages. Findings showed that the workers have a variety of training needs; that training programmes are not adequately provided for the staff; that workers gain certain benefits like promotion, professional and personal development. Further findings showed that certain factors like lack of fund, inadequate number of workers hinder training of staff and that staff training could be improved through adequate funding, formulating training policy and recruiting adequate number of staff including training officers. The study indicates a need for the clear identification of each worker’s training need, formulation of training policy statements and the consideration of all workers when planning for training