Digitization of Library Resources and the Development of Institutional Repositories in Nigeria

Introduction

This chapter highlights some important aspects of institutional repositories. The chapters broad objective is to give an exposition of what institutional repository is. More specifically, the chapter’s objectives are;

• 1.

  To give an overview of the importance of Institutional Repository.

• 2.

  To give an overview of the state of Institutional Repository in Nigeria.

• 3.

  To give an overview of library digitisation requirements and procedures for creating an institutional repository.

• 4.

  To give an overview of the challenges facing library digitisation in Nigeria.

Background

A library is an essential component in all educational institutions because of the role it plays in ensuring academic excellence of it patrons through the provision of information resources needed to sustain the curriculum of institutions of learning (Sobalaje and Ogunmodede, 2015). Libraries are the store house of knowledge; hence, they are crucial for knowledge development and they serve to provide easy access to information resources which are either in digital or in printed forms. The importance of libraries today cannot be overemphasized because they perform an important role in self-education and providing access to information resources of the society and for the society. Libraries literally serve as a link between the information users and their needed information resources.

The advent of information and communication technology in libraries have revolutionized the roles of libraries worldwide today. The revolution has changed the outlook of libraries and placed more demands on librarians to acquire more knowledge on use of ICT so as to remain relevant in the society. Since the beginning of the era of ICT, libraries worldwide have been making efforts to adapt to the new changes of information storage and dissemination so as to remain relevant in its parent’s institution. The adoption of ICT in library has made it easier for libraries to render their services efficiently and effectively. This is buttressed by Mosuro (2000) who stated that ICT has provided libraries with efficient ways of acquiring, organizing, storing and disseminating information to library users.

With the advent of technology, Libraries have found better ways to make information available to its clientele with less restrictions and one of such means is through the development of Institutional Repositories (IR). According to Ifijeh (2020) an institutional repository is an archive which collects, preserves disseminate electronic copies of the scholarly outputs of an institution. Similarly, Velmurugan (2010) opined that institutional repositories collects and make available the scholarly works and other relevant information resources to the users. However, the main aim of IR is to provide global access to an institution’s scholarly materials.

The adoption of IR’s in many institutions worldwide has been remarkable. Florida State University (2012) opined institutional repositories have the capability of assisting staff, students and researchers with information resources which will help in improving the image of the school.

Research scholars and Faculty members have immensely benefited from IR through the increased visibility of their scholarly publications and more citations for their work. The nature of IR as an open access system has also been an added advantage. Institutional repositories eliminate limitations of printed information resources by allowing availability and accessibility of the digitized information resources irrespective of location or time. This therefore helps in the creation of knowledge and complement printed information resources.