Institutional Factors for Institutional Repositories Usage by Lecturers in Federal Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of the study is to investigate the influence of institutional factors on and institutional repositories’ usage by lecturers in federal universities in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive design. A total of five hundred and forty copies of questionnaire were administered on respondents from the selected federal universities in Nigeria. The population of this study comprised all lecturers in the federal universities selected for this study totaling 7,591. The multi stage sampling procedure and purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument tagged “Institutional Factors and Use of Institutional Repositories’ Questionnaire (IFUIRQ)” consists of three sections. The test-retest method was employed using the Cronbach’s reliability technique to determine the reliability of the instrument. Findings from the research revealed organizational culture, environmental and motivational factors as the dominant and prevalent institutional factors that support research in federal universities in Nigeria while inaugural lectures, seminar papers, photographs, notebooks, illustrations and drawings and newspapers were the most prevalent types of information materials available in the knowledge and institutional repositories of Federal universities in Nigeria. The study further revealed that the major purposes of using institutional knowledge repositories by the lecturers include; for preparation of seminar/lecture notes, writing papers/proposals, seminars presentations, research works and lecture series. This research established occasional institutional repositories’ usage by the lecturers and a significant positive relationship between institutional factors and institutional repositories’ usage such that an improvement in institutional factors would lead to increase in institutional repositories’ usage. It is recommended that the formulation and implementation of adequate university-wide policy that would encourage and supports institutional repositories’ usage by the university management.