The study sought to examine issues of motivation and how it influence staff performance in academic libraries. The study adopted a qualitative approach to explored motivation among library professionals in Ghana using interviews as an instrument for data collection. The population of the study was ten (10) professional librarians selected from five academic libraries in Ghana. The study population was professional librarians of the selected academic libraries. The thematic areas investigated were availability of motivational packages, types of incentives, influence of motivation on library staff performance, level of staff satisfaction, and strategies to improve the condition of library staff at academic library environment. The study revealed that there are some motivational packages for the library staff. On strategies to improve the general condition of library staff, both senior members and senior staff indicated similar incentives and packages such as good working conditions, staff welfare, free medical care, and free accommodation for staff, allowances for child education, and many others. Recommendations were made to management to increase the overtime allowances, and also to improve both monetary and none – monetary incentives to boost the morale of library staff in academic libraries of Ghana.
Keywords: academic libraries; library staff; job performance; motivation; public university libraries.
