UNIZULU INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY GATEWAY TO LOCAL CONTENT Institutional

UNIZULU INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY GATEWAY TO LOCAL CONTENT

Institutional Repositories - Traditional research documents at universities available in hard copy - Digital Libraries run by educational institution - Digitised intellectual assets - Archive research owned and produced by institution - Electronically available, accessible on www - IR is not publishing and not document management - IR is electronic collection of an institutions research output - IR is a full text database of research of a particular institution

Link between Institutional repositories and Local Content • STATUS QUO REPORT Knowledge created and owned by community relevant to their situation Mutula (2008) Examples: indigenous knowledge, theses, dissertations, community information

INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES IN AFRICA Access to scholarly information in African Universities is limited due to: • High cost of publishing • Lack of information policy • Poor ICT infrastructure etc. • SA university libraries lead Africa In South Africa: • Currently 14 Repositories in SA • Dissertation and Theses main component • Excellent networking and support in SA • Accessible on Web

UNIZULU INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY BACKGROUND • Started in 2007 • Existing 3200 hard copy dissertations in UNIZULU collection • High research output in Unizulu and value of local content • Motivated by current library trends and developments in of research • Registered IR Project over three years

Fig. 1: Phased approach of the Unizulu IR project

CURRENT STATUS OF IR PROJECT • Steering Committee established with all stake holders • Hardware and software installed • Project and implementation plan approved by Library Committee • Project registered • Meta editing training done • Awareness and marketing drive • Challenges: skills, funding, copy right, staffing

Value of the IR Project for staff and researchers • Gateway to Unizulu research • Increase citation impact • Effective archiving of scholarly work • Creates collegial colleges and networking opportunities • Bridge the digital divide • Provide access to unique local content

CONCLUSION: • IR digitisation world wide trend • Unizulu IR benefits from Support and networking • Zululand becomes part of the information society in Africa • Becoming a gateway for local content • Project opens many possibilities for future • http: //196. 21. 83. 35/ uz. SPACE • http: //ir. dut. ac. za/ Durban University of Technology

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