PERCEIVED IMPACT OF STRESS ON WORK PERFORMANCE OF PERSONNEL IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN A PHILIPPINE PROVINCE: BASIS FOR A STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

Academic librarians encounter stress because of the demands in library service. Hence, the researcher attempted to find out the impact of stress on work performance of academic librarians in a Philippine province. The study employed descriptive-survey, descriptive-correlational and descriptive-comparative designs. Seventy-four library personnel from 37 academic libraries in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) served as respondents of the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and a weighted arithmetic mean (WAM), analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-test, Kolmogorov-Smirno and Shapiro-Wilk were employed to analyze the data. Results show that majority of the respondents were 30 years old and below, and female. There were more married than single respondents, and have been in the service for 10 years and below, with bachelor’s degree, and working in the Circulation Section. As to the respondents’ level of stress, the respondents moderately experienced stress, particularly that of cognitive stress. No significant relationships between physical and cognitive stress and work performance were found. Only knowledge and skills on library service are significantly correlated with emotional stress. Personal attributes and development, service to clients and co-workers and knowledge and skills on library services were significantly correlated with behavioral stress. Meanwhile, no significant differences were found between the respondents’ level of stress and their age, sex, civil status, length of service and highest educational attainment. Hence, the output of the study is a stress management program for the academic libraries in a Philippine province.