Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Journal of Academic Librarianship journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jacalib Library Personnel Reflections about Night Shift Performance on Attainment of Work-Life Balance in a Nigerian Mega City Oluwole O. Durodolu a,b, ⁎ , Samuel Kelechukwu Ibenne c , Onyinye Alexander Osedo d a Department of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa b University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria c Department of Library and Information Science, Abia State University, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria d Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture Library, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Afternoon/nightshift Work-life balance Mega-city Maslach burnout theory Lagos state University of Lagos ABSTRACT This study explored the outcomes of, and adaptive strategies employed by library personnel in performing afternoon/nightshift in a mega-city like Lagos, Nigeria. The Maslach Burnout Theory was used as the explanation framework for burnout concepts such as; emotional exhaustion, cynicism, depersonalisation and individual accomplishment and other matters allied with longstanding, unsolved job-induced stress. The qualitative methodology guided by a phenomenological research paradigm, which is an approach that focuses on the commonality of real-life experiences in a particular group, was used. A focus group discussion among purpo- sively selected library personnel was used as a method of data collection from staff who are involved in after- noon/nightshift. The participants were selected using convenience sampling technique in which all categories of staff in the cataloguing unit involved in nightshift were included in the sample because of their representative characteristics. The phenomenological approach was adopted in conducting the study to enable a deep elici- tation of data for understanding the phenomena as it is reasonable and from a broad interpretation of per- spectives drawn from individual experiences. The questions posed were meant to shed light on issues relating to the participants' maintenance of a work-life balance in-situ with performance of nightshift duties. The study discovered that library staff experience emotions of fear, insecurity, stress and financial strain over their in- volvement in the performance of nightshift duty at the University of Lagos library. Introduction and background to the study The effects of the afternoon/nightshift shift on the productivity of workers have been extensively discussed by researchers. Arendt (2010) observed that the circadian clock adjusts slowly to variations between several alterations in job schedules. The situation can lead to dis- equilibrium of rhythmic physiological structures, which is a biological, internal procedure that controls the sleep-wake cycle and repeats every twenty-four hours, leading to insomnia, lack of concentration, and general hormonal imbalance, with adverse effects on work-life balance. James et al. (2017) observed that around the clock working environ- ment has become imperative in the modern world where 24 h' services are required to meet the high demand for information products and services; hence, librarians, just like many other productive sectors are needed to work for an extended period especially in a mega-city like Lagos state where high productivity is required. A lot of revolutionary changes have taken place in a contemporary academic library en- vironment, which are mainly driven by technology. These changes necessitate making considerable adjustments to meet the ever-un- folding needs of library users. The expansion of a library's working hours is one of the adaptive measures to cope with the job demand of adequately satisfying users' needs and expectations. As some libraries have switched to night duties in response to these dynamics, however, ensuring an undisruptive lifestyle conversion to this schedule requires the implementation of several adaptive strategic measures to guarantee safe and effective transition by the library staff (Bowman, 2013). Work-life balance indicates the lack of conflict between work or professional activities with private life role. It is the condition of evenness in which demands of personal, professional, and family life are equal and non-antagonistic in which a flexible work arrangement is permitted (Cook, 2020). Specifically, Durodolu and Mamudu (2020) examines intervening influence of work–life balance among library staff https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102216 Received 28 May 2020; Received in revised form 7 July 2020; Accepted 7 July 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. E-mail addresses: woledurodolu@gmail.com (O.O. Durodolu), samuel.ibenne@abiastateuniversity.edu.ng (S.K. Ibenne), osedo.onyinye@mouau.edu.ng (O.A. Osedo). The Journal of Academic Librarianship 46 (2020) 102216 0099-1333/ © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T