FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES IN TERTIARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: LIBRARIANS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

One way of improving visibility and accessibility of national research is for institutions of higher learning to use Institutional Repositories (IRs). Studies done to date show that generally, academic staff do not deposit their research outputs on or even use IRs for academic related work. However, in recognition of the diverse stakeholders on IR adoption and success, there have been calls for a wider understanding of the role of university administration, funding agencies, librarians, academic disciplines, commercial publishers, conference and workshop organizers and other entities that are directly and indirectly involved in the contemporary scholarly publishing cycle on scholars’ failure to adopt university IRs. This multi-site case study, therefore, investigated the role of librarians in creating an enabling environment to assist academic staff to utilise IRs. This study adopted an interpretivist approach and used Engeström’s Third Generation Activity Theory to guide the investigation. The research data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with librarians in two tertiary institutions. The findings of the study show that there is need for institutional repository advocacy and outreach programs by academic librarians to familiarise academic staff on utilisation of IRs. The study also established the need for librarians to reconsider their information resource capturing and dissemination practices, including user support services.