Developing of Institutional Repository in Public Sector University Libraries of Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The target of this analysis to discover the current status of open source institutional repository software’s usage in the public sector university libraries of Punjab, Pakistan. Survey method was used by the researchers and a survey was adopted for information gathering. The target population of the investigation was library professionals of public sector universities in Punjab. Data was gathered from a sample of 135 university librarians using a convenience sampling approach. The analyses explored in which majority of library professionals have incorporated or are currently in the process of incorporating institutional repositories (IR) into their respective libraries which shows that library professionals are well aware about the importance of development/need of IR in this digital age. Further, this study revealed that most of the professionals preferred to use open source software i.e. D-Space for development of IR. Moreover, library professionals are of the view that IR software is a vital tool to organize the digital content/material. Further, IR software provides easy access to the users and enables them to provide efficient and effective services to their users.

Furthermore, this study highlights that majority of participants were preferred to use those software which have the facility of customization, E-mail based sharing of books. Library professionals are satisfied with that IR software which is freely available, provide format for conversion of different digital files, and publishing digital contents. The study also highlights barriers which faced by majority of respondents i.e. selection of proper software while developing the Institutional Repository. The respondents also ranked lack of budget is another major barrier that forbade the development of IR followed by the selection of scanner technology, selection of material for digitization, institutional repository knowledge. The investigators will explore additional avenues for additional investigation through the lens of institutional repositories (IR).