A study of Institutional Repository Development, Policies and Challenges in University Libraries in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the availability of various institutional repository policies that guide the development of institutional repositories in university libraries in Nigeria. The study adopted IRs investigation and interview method to collect data on IR policies, challenges from the 19 IRs in Nigeria. The study brought to light some of the IR related policies to guide the implementation and management of contents in institutional repositories. The challenges repository administrators/librarians encountered in the process of developing and implementing IRs in Nigerian universities were also identified. Some of the challenges includes: lack of fund; inadequate facilities; absence of IR related policies; challenge of collecting contents from various contributors; considering copyright issues; lack of mandatory self-archiving policy; lack of interest from contributors to submit to IR. Therefore, the study called for universities intending to establish IR to consider making policy statements related to IRs such as access policy, content policy, submission policy, preservation policy to guide the successful development and management of IRs.