Burnout and its Relationship with Age and Experience of Librarians of Academic Libraries in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: An important aspect of human resource organization is mental health workers. The phenomena of emotional stress and burnout have a significant effect on employee performance. The purpose of the present study was to measure burnout and its dimensions in the librarians of Tehran Universities. Methods: This was a descriptive–correlation study. The data collection tool was the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The reliability of this test is 0.76. The study samples consisted of 111 university librarians working in academic libraries in Tehran, Iran, in 2012. They were selected using cluster sampling. Results: The findings showed that librarians had high emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment during their work process. In addition, age and occupational experience were significantly related to occupational burnout and its components. This means that with increase in their age and their career experience their burnout also increased. Conclusion: The results suggest that with increase in age and work experience of librarians, burnout and its three components have increased. Accordingly library managers can create an environment for greater productivity and prosperity in human capital in order to provide users with appropriate and up-to-date information by making timely decisions and taking action. Keywords: Burnout; Librarians; Universities