Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / The study examines job satisfaction among research librarians in selected research libraries situated in the Western Cape region. Many studies worldwide have been done on job satisfaction in various subject fields including librarianship. The theoretical framework for this study refers however only on the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) (1976) of Hackman and Oldham. The reason why this model was chosen was because this model was the most appropriate model given the nature of the study, even though there are other models available. A brief overview of the other theoretical models namely; Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's (1954) two factor theory of motivation are discussed as a starting point of this research study. Research librarians work under stressful conditions given the need to produce successful end results.