Abstract
The study examined mentorship practices for efficient career growth of librarians in academic
libraries in North-Central, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Three
research questions guided the study, and were on the extent to which mentorship practices are
required and employed for efficient career growth of librarians and areas of career growth where
mentoring practices are required. The population of the study is 428 librarians in public
academic libraries. Self-structured questionnaire and interview method were used. The study
employed the use of a four-point rating-scale. The copies of the questionnaire were administered
with the help of research assistants. A total of 346 copies of questionnaire were returned
representing 80.8% of the population. An interview was also conducted on some selected
institutions' management staff using an interview schedule. The data collected for the study were
analyzed using descriptive statistics. The research used mean score and standard deviation
employing the use of SPSS for the data analysis. The Major findings of the study showed that
mentorship plays a significant role in the career growth of librarians in academic libraries.
Findings revealed that mentorship practices are highly required in coaching among others. It
recommended that the administrators should make sure that maximum attention is paid to the
areas of librarians' professional growth that call for mentoring practices.
Publication Date: 2024-05-15