Abstract
Research competence among librarians is essential for effectively supporting scholarly activities,
facilitating knowledge creation, and advancing academic endeavours. However, despite the
importance of this competence, there exists a significant gap in understanding the multifaceted
factors that contribute to librarians' research competence in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Literature established that there are many factors that could inhibit employee research
competence among librarian in tertiary institutions one of which could include emotional
intelligence. Thus, this study examined the emotional intelligence and research competence
among academic librarians in south-west, Nigeria. The population consists of the 485 librarians
in the 41 accredited public universities and polytechnics in South-West, Nigeria. Total
enumeration sampling technique was adopted and questionnaire was the instrument used for the
data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed
that majority of the respondents 271 (68.3%) were librarians in universities, while the least, 126
(31.7%) works in the polytechnics. There was a moderate level of emotional intelligence in
universities ( ̅ =50.57) and polytechnics ( ̅ =49.65). There was a moderate level of research
competence in the universities ( =65.78) and polytechnics ( =62.19). There was significant
positive relationship between emotional intelligence and research competence of the librarians in
both universities (r=.495 df =270; p
Publication Date: 2025-05-01