Institutional Repositories: A Gem for UNISWA

Abstract

The use of ICTs has brought about a paradigm shift in academic and commercial publishing industry. In last twenty years or so we have increasingly witnessed a shift from hard copy to electronic/digital publishing. Among many new methods is the concept of Institutional Repository (IR). This paper seeks to highlight the meaning of, and strategic benefits that can accrue with the establishment of IR for University of Swaziland and other institutions that are considering setting up IR. The paper stresses the importance of IR towards developing African scholarship and takes an interdisciplinary approach, the main component of which is library and information services. It is found that IR increases the visibility of African scholarship on the global scale which to is kept to a very minimum due to publishing inabilities and other related problems and also brings to light the intellectual output of university which can be used as a basis for sourcing funds. It is hoped that this paper will influence positive thinking towards IR thereby encouraging scholars and researcher to-participate in building IR in their organizations. The paper adds to the body of knowledge about IR in general