Developing a Federated Institutional Repositories in Nigerian University Libraries

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology has enabled the digitisation of hitherto hard copy information resources which can be made available to information users in digital format. Libraries in tertiary institutions, particularly university libraries, have therefore leveraged on this to deposit the intellectual output of their universities in repositories and make it open so that they can be visible worldwide. This paper discussed the concept of open institutional repositories and requirements for setting up an institutional repository, benefits of a federated repositories and management practices of librarians to ensure effective use of the repositories. The study used the quantitative research method and made use of questionnaire in the collection of relevant data. Existing literature was reviewed and a quantitative data analysis approach was employed. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents (94.10%) stated that they have institutional repositories in their universities; contents in institutional repositories were open (70.6%) and a high percentage of 70.6% of the respondents stated that they have operational institutional repository policies. It was revealed that the repositories contained more journals than the other contents with 70.60% followed by research data with 64.70% and only a little above half (52.9%) of the repositories were registered on the OAI-PMH. Strategies for effective repositories management practices were predominantly dependent on training and retraining of staff and contents of IRs were made open. The major perceived challenges facing the federated IR in Nigeria include poor ICT infrastructure (76.5%) and poor Internet connectivity (76.5%). The study recommended adoption of the institutional repository, specifically, federated institutional repository in Nigeria by university libraries to effectively manage information resources created within the institutions.