Usability of digital institutional repositories (DIRs) by faculty and postgraduate (PG) students: Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the Usability of Digital Institutional Repositories (DIRs) by faculty and postgraduate (PG) students at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).The study addressed the following research questions:1) What are the attitudes and perceptions of PG students and faculty towards DIRs? 2) To what extent are PG students and faculty at NUST: a) archiving their research output in the DIR, b) using content in the DIR? 3) What is the perceived usefulness of DIR by PG students and faculty? 4) What is the level of satisfaction of PG students and faculty with DIR? 5) What is the extent of system usability of the DIR by PG students and faculty? Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and post-positivist ontology were used to underpin the study. Interviews, survey questionnaire, document review, observation and expert evaluation methods were used to collect data. The population comprised of faculty, PG students, Librarians and system developers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse Quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Reliability and validity were achieved through methodological triangulation, pretesting the questionnaires, and careful transcription of the data. The findings revealed lack of awareness about DIR among PG students and faculty. The findings further revealed weak institutional policy, which does not clearly stipulate processes and standards on the submission of scholarly works to the repository. he findings revealed misconception by faculty and PG students about DIR and open access. The findings further revealed that the usage of the repository was undermined attitudes, subjective norms, facilitating conditions, and publisher’s policies related to copy right issues. Nevertheless, the findings revealed that PG students generally perceived DIRs as useful. The findings of the study provide evidence based data upon which relevant academic library institutional repositories policies can be formulated. Moreover, the study provides data that is expected to inform budget allocation for ICT infrastructure development for academic libraries, human resource development, and staffing in academic libraries in Namibia. By using the TAM model, this research adds to literature on the aspects that influence the self-archiving and use of information systems such as DIRs in academic libraries from a developing country context.