The Nigerian institutional repositories: Opportunities and barriers

Abstract

This paper reports on the Nigerian Institutional Repositories: Opportunities and barriers. To elicit the necessary information, a literature review of studies done on Institutional Repositories was carried out. Researcher’s personal experiences and observation methods were also employed in the course of this study. The paper gives an overview of Institutional Repositories in Nigeria. It highlighted opportunities in Institutional Repositories that institutions and scholars can exploit such as opening up output of an institution to a worldwide audience, boosting institution prestige, increasing the visibility and citation impact of institution scholarships and preserving the institution scholarship etc. Some of the issues identified in this which adversely militate against the development of Institutional Repository in the country are lack of awareness of open access, Institutional Repositories, inadequate information and communication technology infrastructure, inadequate advocacy for open access, copyright issue, technological obsolescence and deterioration of media etc. This paper establishes that there are challenges militating against the Institutional Repositories in Nigeria which demands immediate attention. However, solutions are proffered, which can help in ameliorating the challenges raised.