Building an institutional repository: the case of University of Ilorin, Library, Nigeria
| Pages | 1-6 |
| Published date | 07 October 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-08-2019-0053 |
| Date | 07 October 2019 |
| Author | George Osas Eromosele |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Building an institutional
repository: the case of University
of Ilorin, Library, Nigeria
George Osas Eromosele
Introduction
The University of Ilorin, Ilorin,
Kwara State, Nigeria is owned by
Federal Government of Nigeria and was
established in 1975 with the aim of
providing opportunities for Nigerians to
acquire a university education
(Figure 1). The University of Ilorin is
digital technology-driven and digital-
dependent on ICT development and the
impact on teaching and learning at all
levels (www.unilorin.edu.ng/index.php/
fnews). The University embarked on
building its institutional repository
because of the immense benefits to
improve its global visibility and high
webometric rankings. As there has also
been a gradual realization of the
usefulness of institutional repositories
among various institutions of learning
(Chowdhury et al., 2011). Akpokodje
and Akpokodje (2015), and how their
usage has played a major role in world
webometrics rankings and intertwined
to the open access movement.
Institutional repositories (IRs) are
still in a nascent stage in Nigeria. An
increasing number of academic
institutions and research libraries have
reputable institutional repositories to
collect and provide digital access to
research in their institution (Nagra,
2012). The technology focuses on
developing a database with a set of
services to capture, store, index,
preserve and redistribute a university’s
scholarly research output in digital
formats (Barton and Waters, 2004).
The building of institutional
repositories is based on software that
has now gained significant popularity
today’s digital environment. There are
several software options available when
setting up an institutional repository and
institutions have chosen different paths
and options on the performance their IR
(Barwick, 2007). The University of
Ilorin Library settled on DSpace
because it had a good web interface and
the ability to manage various file
formats in developing a “blended”
repository (Barwick, 2007). DSpace is
an open-source software package which
provides tools for management of
digital assets and is also intended as a
platform for digital preservation. Since
its release in 2002, as a product of the
HP-MIT Alliance, it has been installed
or is currently in production at over 100
institutions worldwide (http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/DSpace).
In the process of searching for the
appropriate software in building the
University of Ilorin, Institutional
Repository (IR), many software
application programs such as
Greenstone, E-Prints and Fedora, which
are all open source and easily
downloaded were considered
(Laxminarsaiah and Rajgoli, 2007). The
majority of academic libraries in
VOLUME 36 NUMBER 8 2019
SEPTEMBER
AN EMERALD PUBLICATION
LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS NUMBER 8 2019
CONTENTS
Feature articles
Building an institutional repository: the
case of university of Ilorin, library,
Nigeria ...................1
Mobile phone messaging to increase
communication and collaboration
within the university
community..................7
Resolving multiple copies problem in
unique-titles from biblio-records
available through KOHA Library
Management System .........12
Through the looking glass
“Through the looking glass:
envisioning new library
technologies” streaming video
services: future of information,
future of libraries – Part 2 .....17
Library Link
www.emeraldinsight.com/librarylink
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 8 2019, pp. 1-6, V
CEmerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-08-2019-0053 1
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