Faculty’s and Postgraduate Students’ Awareness of and Attitudes to Using the Institutional Repository

Abstract

Institutional repositories (IRs) play an essential role in preserving universities’ intellectual output, enhancing access to research, and increasing the visibility of scholars and their institutions. IRs are therefore expected to be accepted and optimally utilised by scholars. However, the literature reveals that IRs are growing at a slower pace than anticipated, and that it has not been easy to convince faculty members to contribute their work to IRs. Therefore, this study examined the awareness of the faculty and postgraduate students at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) of their IR, and also assessed their attitudes to using their IR. The study was underpinned by the post-positivist paradigm, and the quantitative research approach was used. The study adopted a survey design with questionnaires administered to the faculty and postgraduate students. The results of the study revealed that most of UNISWA’s faculty knew about the existence of the IR, whereas the majority of the postgraduate students were not aware of it. It was established that the most popular sources of hearing about the IR were colleagues, institutional emails, and seminars and/or workshops. The results further revealed that even though the majority of the faculty was aware of the IR, very few contributed their research. The reasons cited for the poor uptake of the university’s IR included lack of awareness, few or no publications to contribute, and no time to access the IR due to heavy workloads. The faculty and postgraduate students also preferred to be assisted by librarians in archiving content in the IR. The issues discussed in this article have implications for the enhancement of research, practice, and policy in the context of developing countries.