Job Satisfaction of Library Professionals of Higher Educational Institutions in Mizoram: An Analytical Study

Job satisfaction or employee satisfaction has been defined in many different ways. It is simply believed how satisfied an individual is with the job whether he or she likes it or not. It can be influenced by a person's ability to complete the required tasks. The concept of job satisfaction has been developed in many ways by many different researchers and practitioners. Hoppock (1935), defined job satisfaction as, ―any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job. According to this approach although job satisfaction is under the influence of many external factors, it remains something internal that has to do with the way how the employee feels. That is job satisfaction presents a set of factors that cause a feeling of satisfaction‖. One of the most widely used definitions in organizational research is that of Locke (1976), who defines job satisfaction as "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences". A more recent definition of the concept of job satisfaction is from Hulin and Judge (2003), who have noted that job satisfaction includes multidimensional psychological responses to an individual's job and that these personal responses have affective (or emotional) and cognitive (evaluative) and behavioral components. In the context of library professionals, the library is the dominant agency for dissemination of knowledge to all its users and plays a constructive role in the fulfillment of aspirations and programs for formal and adult education. For successful functioning and performance of its diverse duties, libraries require personnel with a high degree of technical skill, intelligence, imagination, initiative, efficiency, and understanding. They are, therefore, to be not only professionally qualified, competent, and efficient but also to be lively, active, contended, and well satisfied with their jobs. Thus, the need to study the various components of job satisfaction and their effects has become essential for library professionals. The effectiveness and efficiency of libraries are measured in terms of the quality of its service delivered or rendered to its users. The quality of its service mainly depends upon the quality of the workforce, which in turn directly depends on the knowledge, adaptability, and satisfaction level of the professionals working in a given library. A satisfied library professional is regarded as a productive professional. Therefore, a satisfied library professional not only renders quality service to the users but also ensures commitment to the library in which he or she is serving and contributes one's capacity to its image building.

North-Eastern parts of India. It is the southernmost landlocked state which shaped like a narrow triangle. It is one of the states among the seven sisters of the North East States of India, where peace and harmony prevail among the people of Mizo who are the inhabitants of Mizoram. The geographical location of Mizoram is of great significance and forms an ideal field of geographical study. It has a long inter-state boundary with Assam (123 Km), Tripura (66 Km) and Manipur (95 Km). Besides, Mizoram shares international borders from three sides, with Myanmar in the East and South (404 Km) and Bangladesh in the West (318 Km). Geographically, it is 277 Km from north to south and 121 Km from east to west (Survey of India, 1994). Previously, Mizoram was a part of Assam known as Lushai Hills District. In 1954, the nomenclature of the Lushai Hills District was changed to Mizo Hills District by the act of parliament. The district was elevated to the status of Union Territory named Mizoram in 1972 and attained statehood on the 20th of February 1987. At present, there are 8 districts and 3 Autonomous District Council in Mizoram (Singh, 1994). The history of higher education in Mizoram started in 1958 when Aijal Night College, (now a constituent College of Mizoram University named as Pachhunga University College) was established with a donation by Mr. Pachhunga, an education-minded businessman of Aizawl. Six years after the establishment of the first College, another College now known as Lunglei Government College was established in 1964 at Lunglei, the second capital of Mizoram. Most of the present Colleges are established only after Mizoram attained the status of Union Territory in 1972. (http://rusa.nic.in/download/152/shep/3101/mizoram_spglance-final.docx). The Directorate of Education was set up under the Mizoram Union Territory in 1972 which continued for about 16 years. In April 1989, the Education department was trifurcated into three departments, namely, Directorate of School Education, Directorate of Higher & Technical Education and Directorate of Art and Culture. Higher & Technical Education (H&TE) Department was established as a separate department to provide higher & technical education, both in general and technical disciplines. To upgrade the standards and to facilitate the functioning of Higher & Technical Education in Mizoram, the Directorate has to take up various schemes such as up-gradation of Colleges as per UGC Norms in staffing pattern, upgrading of Private Colleges into Deficit Grants-in-aid and provincialisation, maintaining uniformity of standards among the Colleges, giving financial assistance in the form of re-curing and non-recurring grants to the Colleges, giving away financial assistance to the students for Chartered Financial Analyst of India (ICFAI), NIELIT (formerly known as DOEACC), Regional Institute of Para Medical and Nursing Science (RIPANS) and Mizoram College of Nursing (MCON). (https://dhte.mizoram.gov.in/page/directorate-of-higher-and-technical-education). Before 1973, Colleges in Mizoram were affiliated to Gauhati University but later shifted to North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) establishment by an Act of Parliament in 1973. NEHU Mizoram Campus was opened in April 1979. And subsequently Pachhunga Memorial Govt. College (now, Pachhunga University College) was upgraded as a constituent college of NEHU. The last two decades were marked as a rapid expansion of colleges across the state. All colleges in Mizoram were then affiliated to NEHU until the formation of Mizoram University, a central university established by an act of Parliament in the year 2000. Mizoram University started functioning on 2.7.2001 by taking over all the assets and liabilities of NEHU Campus in Aizawl. Mizoram University at present runs as many as 8 Schools with 33 PG Departments. All Colleges under the state got their affiliation to Mizoram University. (https://mzu.edu.in).

In the present scenario, there is a need to study the job satisfaction of the library professionals as their job nature is changing in the current information technology era. And that expectation of the library professionals at present seems to be changing. The present study is thus exclusively focused on the job satisfaction of library professionals with regards to their current job, work allotted, and nature of current work. The scope of the study is limited to library professionals of higher educational institutions in Mizoram. Therefore, the study will cover 70 various library professionals of higher educational institutions divided into four groups according to their affiliations/organizations in the table below.

The objectives of the present study are: 1) To find out the category wise status of Library Professionals of Higher Educational Institutions in Mizoram 2) To find out the level of job satisfaction of library professionals of Higher Educational Institutions in Mizoram 3) To find out the respondents' library professionals‘ satisfaction regarding to their current job and work allotted 4) To find out the satisfaction level of library professionals with their nature of works.

The data for this study is mainly collected from primary sources, for which a structured online questionnaire is prepared by using Google form, and the questionnaire was sent by Email to the library professionals. However, a printed copy was given to

This study covers altogether 70 respondents of library professionals of higher educational institutions in Mizoram having a diverse background and qualification. The category wise data regarding the respondents are analyzed and interprets in a table below. 6.1 Institutional-wise respondents: Out of the 70 library professionals, 31 (44.3%) constitute from Central higher educational institutions. 26 (37.1%) library professionals constitute from State higher educational institutions. 6 (8.6%) library professionals constitute from Medical higher educational institutions. And 7 (10.0%) library professionals constitute from Technical/Professional higher educational institutions. Therefore, all population of 70library professionals of higher educational institutions in Mizoram has responded to the questionnaire and the response rate is 100%. This data is available in the table below:

6.2 Gender-wise respondents: Out of the total 70 respondents, there are 38 male and 32 female library professionals which form 54.3% and 45.7% respectively. Male respondents are more than female by 6 which form 8.6% as data given below in the table.

6.3 Qualification of respondents: The educational qualification of respondents is classified into five groups and presented in the table below. Out of the total respondents, 31(44.3%) have MLI.Sc. degree being the highest in number, PhD degree holders are 15(21.4%), MPhil degree holders are 16(22.9%), BLISc holders are 4(5.7%) and Diploma/ Certificate holders are 4(5.7%).

6.4 Designation of respondents: There are nine designations of library professionals in higher institutions of Mizoram. There are 20(28.6%) Librarians among the respondents having the highest number followed by Library Assistant with 15(21.4%) in the second. Assistant Librarian constitutes 6(8.6%), Professors constitute 5(7.1%), Deputy Librarian constitutes 3(4.3%), Professional Assistant constitutes 4(5.7%), Semi Professional Assistant constitutes to 8(11.4%). There are 3(4.3%) Technical Assistant and 6(8.6%) Library Attendant/Library Worker. This data is presented in the figure below:

four groups and presented in the table below. Out of the total respondents, 24(34.3%) have been in the service for less than 5 years being the highest in number. 18(25.7%) have 10 years of service while 11(15.7%) have attained 15 years of service. And 17(24.3%) have attained more than 20 years of service.

6.6 Status of the Service of respondents: The status of the service of respondents is classified into three groups which are presented in the table below. Out of the total respondents, 59(84.3%) are regular services which are being the highest in number. 9(12.9%) are temporary while 2(2.9%) are into services on a contract basis.

The respondent library professionals are classified into four institutional groups. The job satisfaction relating to pay received by the respondent library professionals are classified into five categories, such as. 1) highly satisfied, 2) satisfied, 3) average, 4) dissatisfied, and 5) highly dissatisfied. They are presented in the table and figures below.

The satisfaction level of the respondents with pay is presented in the table below. 17(24.3%) are highly satisfied whereas 32(45.7%) are satisfied with the pay they received. 14(20.0%) respondents are on average while 6(8.6%) respondents are

7.2 Satisfaction of library professionals with work allotted: The satisfaction level of the respondents with their present work allotted is classified into five groups and presented in table and figures below. Out of the total respondents, 13(18.6%) are highly satisfied, 39(55.7%) are satisfied, 14(20.0%) are average, 3(4.3%) are dissatisfied while 1(1.4%) is highly dissatisfiedwith the present work allotted.

7.3 Satisfaction of library professionals with nature of current work: The satisfaction of respondent library professionals with nature of current work is classified into five groups and presented in table and figures below. Out of the total respondents, 11(15.7%) are highly satisfied, 33(47.1%) are satisfied, 24(34.3%) are average, 1(1.4%) is dissatisfied whereas 1(1.4%) is also highly dissatisfied with the nature of current work.

The research data shows the category wise data of the working library professionals which reflects the level of satisfaction. The average levels of job satisfaction of library professionals of higher educational institutions in Mizoram with regards to their current job are as follows. Out of the total respondents, 14(19.5%) are highly satisfied. 35(49.5%) are satisfied while 17(24.7%) are on average 3(4.7%) of the respondents are dissatisfied and as much as 1(1.4%) is highly dissatisfied with their current job. From the data analyzed on average, most respondent library professionals are more or less satisfied. The reason is that those satisfied respondent library professionals are mostly incumbents of central higher educational institutions.

The following observations were found from this study: 1) Central higher educational institutions constitute 31 (44.3%) respondents having the highest in number. 2) The professional designation of Librarian represents 20(28.6%) of the respondents.

4) In the gender distribution, 32(45.7%) are female respondents. 5) Out of the total respondents, 17(24.3%) have attained more than 20 years of service 6) Out of the total respondents, 59(84.3%) are regular services which are being the highest in number. 7) 17(24.3%) of the respondents‘ library professionals are highly satisfied with their current job. 8) 39(55.7%) respondents are satisfied with the works allotted to them. 9) 24(34.3%) are on average with their nature of current work. 10) Out of the institution wise, respondents of central higher institutional library professionals are found to be more satisfied.

The main purpose of this paper is to find out the satisfaction level of the library professionals on their current job for personal satisfaction as well as to meet the changing demand of the users. The effectiveness and efficiency of library professionals is measured in terms of the quality of the service they delivered or rendered to the library and users. Therefore, the quality of their service may deeply dependent upon the treatment they received. A satisfied library professional is regarded as a productive professional. Therefore, a satisfied library professional not only renders quality service to the users but also ensures commitment to the library in which he or she is serving and contributes one's capacity to its image building.

Hulin, C. L., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Job Attitudes. Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp. 255-276. Hoppock, R. (1935). Job Satisfaction. New York, Harper, and Brothers, pp. 47. Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. Chicago, Rand McNally, pp.95. Mizoram. Directorate of Higher & Technical Education. Available at: https://dhte.mizoram.gov.in/page/directorate-of-higher-and-technical-education http://rusa.nic.in/download/152/shep/3101/mizoram_spglance-final.docx Survey of India (1994). District Planning Map Series – Aizawl Mizoram: Gupta, Dharam Paul. Surveyor General of India, Govt. of India. New Delhi.

Research Scholar, Department of Library & Information Science, Mizoram University (Central University), Aizawl