The study was on work empowerment: a comparative examination of Chief Librarians and staff in university libraries. The design for the study was descriptive survey. One hundred and fifty one (151) librarians and 5 Chief Librarians in five federal university libraries in South-East, Nigeria formed the population for the study. The study used the entire population and questionnaire was used for data collection. However, after questionnaire administration and retrieval, 142 copies of the staff questionnaire were found usable. All the 5 Chief Librarians were also used in the study. Data were analyzed with frequency count, mean and chi-square statistics. The study revealed that the librarians (staff) were work empowered in their various libraries, while the Chief Librarians were pro work empowerment. The mean scores of staff and University Librarians scores agreed on work empowerment, though there was a significant difference in mean scores between the two groups. Library Management must make sure that staff have the correct combination of information, comprehension, and authority to work with passion and independently.