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.