Academic Staff Awareness and Attitude Towards the Use of Institutional Repositories: Lessons from Delta State Polytechnic, Nigeria

Abstract

Rationale of Study – The study examines academic staff's attitudes towards institutional repository (IR) usage, identifies the purposes for its use, and explores the challenges academic staff face when using repositories, contributing to global understandings of IR adoption in diverse institutional contexts.

Methodology – A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and total enumeration sampling was employed due to the small, manageable population size. Of the 322 questionnaires distributed, 291 were completed and usable, yielding a 90.3% response rate.

Findings – The study revealed that the overall mean awareness level among academic staff of IRs was high at 2.95. It also showed that academic staff's average attitude towards IRs is positive, with a mean of 2.80, and that their purposes for using IRs are high. Challenges identified include low bandwidth, financial constraints, epileptic power supply, an absence of an IR policy that hinders content submission, unwillingness to deposit, fear of copyright infringement, fear of plagiarism, limited awareness of publisher policies regarding the deposit of published works in IRs, and insufficient training opportunities in research. Meanwhile, 287 (98.6%) of the respondents disagreed with the statement that IRs lack global accessibility

Implications – This paper supports theories on open access and knowledge sharing, illustrating how cultural, institutional, and infrastructural contexts influence participation worldwide, and providing insights that can inform strategies to enhance IR engagement, mandate or encourage deposits, and address barriers in institutions globally, including those in resource-constrained settings like Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara, Nigeria.

Originality – The original research generated empirical data on academic staff awareness and attitude towards the use of IRs at Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara, Nigeria, offering valuable lessons for broader international efforts to strengthen institutional repositories as key components of scholarly communication.