The rapid change in scholarly communication and knowledge management has transformed the repository services and imposed new skills and competencies for repository management. This study is posed to assess the skills and competencies of librarians for repository management and scholarly communication in academic institutions in Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design to assess the skills and competencies of the librarians using NASIG “Core Competencies for Scholarly Communication Librarians 2017”. The sample size of the study comprises 120 librarians across 40 institutions. The findings of the study indicate among others that; 74 % of the librarians have a general understanding of repository platforms, 54.17% background knowledge of open access movement, and 58% experience in advocacy for open access. At the same time, 83.3% of the librarians can capture, store, and preserve the research output. While 62.3% understand research impact, only 35.8% understand emerging alternatives measures of the impact. Although, 73.1 % understand Data description and storage, only 20.8% understand text and data mining. The study concluded that awareness, skills, and competencies of the librarians is increasing and recommends among others; setting up a framework for the employment of repository and scholarly communication librarians and training on repository management and scholarly communication.

Institutional repositories are powerful tools to facilitate global access to intellectual output by members of the institution, particularly in assisting them to preserve and maximize access to their research output globally. This exploratory study of the status of institutional repositories implementation in African countries using the global Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and Transparent Ranking: All Repositories by Google Scholar, reports on the operational status and the performance of repositories. Factor analysis and cluster analysis are used to analyze the operational level of institutional repositories in African countries. The analysis showed that the typical performance of institutional repositories remains below average. The possibility of global open access to research results through institutional repositories in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, and Egypt appeared to be relatively more feasible than other African countries. This study concludes that many organizations, institutions, and societies spend great efforts in support of open access implementation in Africa, however, the widespread implementation of institutional repositories is still very slow paced, and the performance of the implemented repositories was below expectation. Suggestions for regaining the intended direction of African institutional repositories are given based on the current status.

An Institutional repository (IR) is a contemporary paradigm of scholarly communication that operates on a open access initiative. IRs have become essential infrastructure for the global research community with the expectation that IRs will address the issues of visibility, and facilitate the rapid dissemination of knowledge in a sustainable manner. However, scholars show concern about these expectations due to some shortcomings in the management of repositories and digitization projects, especially in Africa. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of how personnel involved in institutional repository at their respective institutions are managing the IR, and identify the driving forces behind the management of these IRs. It also attempts to explore the key challenges in the context of IR management, specifically in Nigeria. The study adopts a descriptive qualitative approach using a semi-structured interview guide as the main instrument for data collection, supported by content analysis and group discussions. Three research questions were constructed to guide the investigation: (a) How are IRs being managed in Nigeria? (b) What are the driving forces behind the management of IRs in Nigeria? An (c) What are the challenges in the management of IRs in Nigeria? Findings reveal that manager of IRs are heavily dependent on mediated depositing and digitization processes. Increasing visibility and ranking of the institution, need for preservation, and need for organization of intellectual output, were among the key drivers of IR management. While, plagiarism, piracy, absence of guiding policies, and inadequate internet connectivity were among the hinderances faced in the management of IRs. The results are imperatively useful for practitioners, especially those managing or aspiring to manage successful IRs in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The study recommends strategic development and enforcement of policies by the institutions, use of similarity checkers, massive awareness creation and staff training for the success of IR management in Nigeria.

Purpose This study aims to validate a proposed conceptual model for the implementation of sustainable institutional repositories (IRs) in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach shaped the survey research design. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to evaluate the proposed model. The population of the study comprises 117 librarians, information technology staff and researchers knowledgeable about IR implementation status across 14 public universities in Nigeria. The data was collected using an online survey. The Smart-PLS v3.3 software was used to facilitate the analysis. Findings The findings indicate that the nine identified factors of the IR sustainability model have a significant influence on the implementation of sustainable IRs. This signified that the model has adequately depicted the relationship between the implementation of sustainable IRs and the identified factors. Originality/value This study provides an integrated synthesis of factors that influence the implementation of sustainable IRs. This study also presents the first-ever empirically validated model for sustainable IRs. The findings of this study addressed the challenge of implementing sustainable IRs and institutionalized the idea of IRs’ sustainability assessment.