Automation and its impact on the job satisfaction among the staff of the Margaret Thatcher Library, Moi University
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000005597 |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Pages | 303-310 |
| Author | Harrison Kibet Bii,Patrick Wanyama |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Automation and its
impact on the job
satisfaction among the
staff of the Margaret
Thatcher Library,
Moi University
Harrison Kibet Bii and
Patrick Wanyama
The context
Moi University is one of five state
universities in Kenya. It was established in
1984 following the recommendations of the
Collin Mackay-led 17-member presidential
working party appointed in 1981 to examine
the possibility and plans for setting up a
second university in Kenya. This was in
response to the increasing demand for
higher education and the consequent
pressure exerted on the University of
Nairobi, then the only institution of higher
learning. Moi University was a result of the
Kenya Government's emphasis on the
introduction of new areas of learning that
would help meet the high level of manpower
requirements of a modern and increasingly
technological society. It was expected to
focus on problems of rural development in
its training, research, extension and
consultancy programmes.
The first group of 83 students was
transferred from the University of Nairobi's
Department of Forestry which had,
following the working party's
recommendations, been transferred to form
the nucleus of the first academic programme
of Moi University. The department was
elevated to a full Faculty of Forestry
Resources and Wildlife Management. At the
present time, having a combined staff
strength of about 1,800, the university has
about 7,000 students in various faculties,
schools, and institutes in its three campuses:
Main, Chepkoilel, and the College of Health
Sciences. One of the Moi University's
constituent colleges, Maseno University
Campus,isintheprocessofbecominga
fully-fledged state university.
The main campus, where the Margaret
Thatcher Library (MTL) is located, is 35km
south east of Eldoret town, about 350km
north west of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. It is
in a rural setting, on land that was originally
a wattle plantation at the southern border of
Eldoret Municipality. The location of the
university, coupled with prevailing
economic conditions, presents a major
challenge to the accessibility of information
technology training and other courses found
in Kenya's urban centres such as Eldoret
and Nairobi.
The Moi University Library was established
with the university in 1984 at Kaptagat Hotel
near Eldoret where library services were
The authors
Harrison Kibet Bii is a Graduate Assistant (e-mail:
hbii@moiuniversity.ac.ke), Department of Information and
Medic Technology, Faculty of Information Studies and
Patrick Wanyama is a Lecturer (e-mail:
pwanyama@moiuniversity.ac.ke), Department of Library and
Information Studies, both at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.
Keywords
University libraries, Job satisfaction, Automation, Kenya
Abstract
Presents the findings of a study which examined the
impact of automation on the job satisfaction among
library staff of the Margaret Thatcher Library (MTL), Moi
University, Kenya. With the exception of the university
librarian, his deputy and the systems librarian who were
interviewed face to face, questionnaires were distributed
to all other library staff. An 80 percent response rate
resulted and data were coded and analysed. It was
established that there were myriad problems within the
library regarding training and access to automated
systems of interest. However, MTL staff members viewed
automation as enrichment and a source of satisfaction to
their jobs. For automation to boost the staff members' job
satisfaction, concrete plans for consistent structured in-
house training, free access to the available software,
additional systems staff, and centralised databases,
among others, must be implemented.
Electronic access
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303
Library Management
Volume 22 .Number 6/7 .2001 .pp. 303±310
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124
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