Abstract
Librarians play an important role within the domain of the university education and more
reason it is vital for these information professionals to improve on their career
development This can better be improved when they have the right level of emotional
intelligence in the discharge of their duties. It is based on this premise that this study
investigates the influence of emotional intelligence on career development of librarians in
Universities located in Oyo state, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted
for the study. A structured questionnaire was adopted as the instrument for data collection.
The study population consists of 101 librarians from eleven universities in Oyo state,
Nigeria. The entire population was included in the study due to the small size of the
population. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using both descriptive and
inferential statistics. The study found that the respondents level of emotional intelligence is
high and therefore has a significant influence on the career development of librarians (Adj.
R2= 0.179, p = 0.001). The study concluded that emotional intelligence is an important skill
required of librarians to achieve a meaningful career development. It was therefore
recommended that continuous personnel development should be an integral part of the
library programmes as a way to develop emotional intelligence for librarians.
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Career development, Librarians, Universities, Nigeria
Word count: 212
Publication Date: 2026-02-05