Promoting access and use of the institutional Repository by academic staff of Kenyatta University, Kenya

Abstract

Institutional repositories are increasingly being fronted as a major way in which universities can disseminate research output globally. Despite the immense potential benefits they present to scholars, their use is significantly low. The aim of the study was to investigate access and use of the institutional repository by academic staff at Kenyatta University, Kenya with a view to recommending ways of improving access and use of the institutional repository. Specific objectives were to establish the types of content contributed by academic staff at Kenyatta University, examine access and use of institutional repository by academic staff at Kenyatta University, assess the infrastructure that has been put in place to support the access and use of institutional repository, establish the challenges encountered by academic staff at Kenyatta University in accessing and using the institutional repository, and propose solutions that can be used to promote the use of content by academic staff at Kenyatta University. The research was guided by Technology Acceptance Model by Davis Bagozi. Using a mixed method research paradigm, a sample size of 91 academic staff, was drawn using stratified random sampling method from a population of 972.Also an additional sample consisting of university librarian (1) and 3 institutional repository staff were drawn as key informants. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. Qualitative data was analyzed via content analysis while quantitative data was analyzed via frequency distribution and cross tabulation methods. Tables, charts, graphs and thematic discussions were used to present the data. Major findings indicate that academic staff contribute a range of content, albeit limited in number, into the institutional repository including; peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles, conference papers amongst others; the level of usage of the institutional repository is unsatisfactory and therefore need for improvement; to promote the access and usage of the institutional repository, Kenyatta University has put up a number of ICT infrastructures such as Wi-Fi hotspots, Ethernet access points, power backup generators; Academic staff face a number of access related challenges which include but not limited to, low internet bandwidth, institutional repository downtimes, and access barriers such as passwords; The profound barriers to effective usage of the institutional repository were: plagiarism, quality control, research impact, and long item submission procedure. The study concludes that access and use of content at the Kenyatta University institutional repository is unsatisfactory. Consequently, to promote the use of content by academic staff at Kenyatta University, the study proposes the following interventions: provision of full texts rather than abstracts, provision of online peer review, regular information literacy training on the institutional repository, increase of internet bandwidth, and use of the institutional repository content in research output assessment.