Abstract
This article examined mentorship and job performance among librarians in Federal University Libraries in North-East Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine the level of job performance among librarians, ascertain the extent of mentorship among librarians, and establish the relationship between mentorship and job performance in the selected Federal University Libraries. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 247 librarians in six selected Federal University Libraries in North-East Nigeria, and the entire population was used as the sample through total enumeration. Data were collected with a self-designed structured questionnaire titled Mentorship and Job Performance Questionnaire (MJPQ). The instrument was validated by experts and yielded a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of 0.87. Out of 247 copies of the questionnaire administered, 210 were retrieved, representing an 85% response rate. Data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations, while Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to test the hypothesis at the .05 level of significance with SPSS version 27. Findings showed that librarians had a high level of job performance (grand mean = 3.60, SD = 1.02) and experienced mentorship to a moderately high extent (grand mean = 3.62, SD = 1.19). The study also found a statistically significant moderate positive relationship between mentorship and job performance (r = 0.449, p < .001, N = 210) among the surveyed librarians. It recommended that university library management should formalise mentorship structures, assign qualified senior librarians as mentors, and integrate mentorship outcomes into staff development and performance improvement plans.
Keywords: mentorship, job performance, librarians, federal university libraries, North-East Nigeria, academic libraries
Publication Date: 2026-10-31