Development And Management Of Institutional Repositories In Selected University Libraries In Kenya

ABSTRACT

University libraries should consider institutional repositories as ongoing projects in order to cater for the changing needs of modern scholarly communication. Many universities have not made all research outputs from their scholarly communities available in their IRs. A number of research outputs available in IRs of universities in Kenya are not available in full-text and only available in abstract form thus making such resources less useful to the users they are meant for. University libraries in Kenya have also not incorporated a full range of services in their IRs to support academic and research work. The repositories lack tools and services that are necessary in meeting the changing needs of modern scholarly communication. The objectives of the study were to establish what resources and strategies for development and management of IRs are available in university libraries in Kenya as well as challenges affecting development and management of theirs IRs. The study used a cross-sectional, descriptive survey research design. The study was carried out in two selected university libraries in Kenya. These included JKUAT and USIU-A libraries. The target population for this study was JKUAT and USIU-A library staff and their chief librarians. JKUAT library had 34 library staff and the chief librarian while USIU-A library had 25 library staff and the chief librarian. The total targeted population was therefore 61. For the sampling technique, the two chief librarians from the selected libraries were purposively selected (non-probability sampling). The study used census method for the library staff from the two selected libraries whereby all staff who are trained librarians were involved in the study. As a result, the total sample size was 61 subjects. The study used a questionnaire and interview schedule as the research instruments to collect data. Quantitative data collected using the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage so as to provide answers to the research questions. The researcher also used SPSS software to help in data analysis. This data was then presented in textual form, tables, bar graphs and pie charts. In the analysis of qualitative data collected using the interviews, all responses were organized and classified in order to generate themes and categories from the responses. This data was then presented in textual form. From this study, the researcher found out that the selected university libraries had resources for development and management of their IRs although majority of them were not adequate. The study also found out that the libraries were using a number of strategies to ensure continuous development and management of their IRs although they had not incorporated all the available strategies necessary to meet the changing needs in the modern scholarly communication. The study finally found out that these libraries were facing various challenges in development and management of their IRs such as problems in gathering research outputs for the IRs. This study concluded that: there were no adequate resources and strategies for development and management of IRs in university libraries in Kenya and they faced a number of challenges. This study recommended that university libraries in Kenya should come up with strategies such as allocation of adequate funds for their IRs in order to ensure adequate resources for development and management of the IRs, explore all available strategies for development and management of IRs and come up with ways of curbing or minimizing the challenges affecting them.