Aassessing institutional repositories’ capacities in supporting teaching, learning and research in four selected universities in Kenya

Abstract

Institutional repositories (IRs) are digital archives for collecting, managing, providing access to, disseminating, and preserving digital materials produced at an institution. Many benefits are gained from implementation of the IRs. Kenyan universities have adopted institutional repositories (IRs) to support teaching, learning and research activities. However, the adoption of IRs in Kenyan universities seems not to have been successful in supporting these primary functions of universities. The aim of this study was to assess institutional repositories 'capacities in supporting teaching, learning and research activities in four selected universities in Kenya with a view to proposing an appropriate model to improve teaching, learning and research. The specific objectives of the study was to establish the effectiveness of content and content recruitment in IRs; assess content utilization of IRs; establish the contribution of librarians and research directors on use of IRs; determine the effectiveness of IRs in supporting teaching, learning and research activities and to propose an appropriate model to improve teaching, learning and research. The study was informed by technology acceptance model and the diffusion of innovation theory. This study adopted a pragmatic paradigm associated with mixed method approach and a multiple-case (embedded) research design. The target population for the study comprised of 93000 students, 2463 academic staff. A combination of stratified random and purposive sampling techniques was employed to obtain 370 students, 322 academic staff and 12 key informants from the four selected universities. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using frequency distribution tables and bar charts while qualitative data was analyzed thematically based on the objectives and research questions and presented in form of narrative. Content in IRs was found to be inadequate, sometimes outdated, of poor quality, and infrequently uploaded. Half of the respondents (n=298, 50%) discovered content in IRs by directly visiting them but a significant proportion (n=225, 38%) discovered IR content inadvertently, when using search engines. Respondents preferred to use traditional journals (38%) and subject repositories (26%), rather than IRs (25%) for teaching, learning and research materials. The study found that university librarians, system librarians and research directors were involved in all the stages of IR implementation. They work together to design and develop the system, identify user needs, work with faculty to recruit content, verify the type of content, validate and approve contents. The study concluded that IRs as currently constituted are not effective in supporting teaching, learning and research because about 50% of the academic staff did not use them, the content though broad was not deep, and members of academic community preferred research journals and subject repositories for their sources of teaching and research materials. The study recommended among others, that IRs should be promoted and marketed; adequate funding; IR policies reviewed and implemented regularly; content should be optimized for greater search engine visibility; described and uploaded, and the proposed IR model should be adopted to improve teaching, learning and research activities.