The perceptions of professional librarians about the leadership styles of University Librarians in Ghana

Abstract

The study is an examination of the perceptions of professional academic librarians of the leadership styles of University Librarians in Ghana. Perception is the process through which a person, object, thing and the environment can be recognized or realized. In organizations, staff are always judging one  another and university libraries are no exception. Theories of leadership and gender issues are discussed. The case studies of five public university  libraries and their librarians are presented as one unit. The study is a  descriptive survey where the author used the questionnaire to elicit responses from fifty (50) out of sixty (60) professional librarians. The study concludes that the telling style of leadership was more dominant among male University Librarians as compared to their female counterparts. It is recommended that University Librarians should be seen to be flexible and adjust styles as the situation demands and that any change in style should be communicated to subordinates.