Self-archiving by LIS schools in South Africa: practices, challenges and opportunities

Abstract

This article reports findings of an exploratory study of institutional repositories (IRs) in South African institutions of higher learning and more particularly the practices, challenges and opportunities of self-archiving by the library and information science/studies (LIS) scholars. A content analysis of the IRs and a survey involving the Heads of LIS Departments/Schools were conducted in order to find out the existence and number of IRs; the document types indexed in the IRs; publication language; the software used to create the IRs; LIS departments‟ contributions in the IRs; factors motivating self-archiving; challenges faced by LIS scholars in self-archiving; and to determine the LIS scholars attitudes and fears on self-archiving. Results indicate that there are few IRs in Africa as whole; South Africa has the highest number; most IRs are located in institutions of higher learning; some IRs are subject-specific while others are multidisciplinary; a variety of documents are self-archived; LIS scholars are aware of the importance of self-archiving; and LIS scholars face several challenges in self-archiving which include lack of facilities, know-how and institutional support. The article concludes by providing areas for further research and other recommendations.