Institutional repositories and the new normal for academic libraries in Nigeria: the DSPACE option

Abstract

The outbreak of a new strand of coronavirus called Covid-19 across different countries of the world, which led to paralysis in almost all areas of human endeavours, including education, has imposed more responsibilities on academic libraries. Such responsibilities include how to put in place facilities for prevention of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and developing more capacities for online services delivery. This study looked at institutional repositories and the new normal for academic libraries in Nigeria. The study is a qualitative survey based on literature review. Various definitions of institutional repositories by various authors were examined. The study examined steps that academic libraries in Nigeria need to take to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Literature was reviewed on DSPACE as an example of open access software for institutional repositories. The study advanced reasons why DSPACE is a good software to be adopted by academic libraries in Nigeria for building their institutional repositories. The study concluded that academic libraries in Nigeria needs proper funding and training of personnel to be able to perform effectively and efficiently as information resources centres in a world of new normal.