UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND ...

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UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES

ESTABLISHING INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES TO ENHANCE RESEARCH

OUTPUT AT SELECTED COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN GHANA: A

FEASIBILITY STUDY

BY

AGYEMANG BADU BOATENG

(10152708)

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN

PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL

INFORMATION STUDIES DEGREE

OCTOBER, 2020

University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh

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DECLARATION

I declare that this thesis, except for quotations and references contained in other people’s works

which have all been identified and duly acknowledged, is entirely my original work, and it has not

been submitted either in part or whole, for another degree elsewhere.


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DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my wonderful and supportive parents, siblings, wife, and children.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am very much grateful to God for the special direction, sound mind, strength, and grace granted

me during the various stages of this work.

I am immensely grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Musah Adams and Prof. Perpetua S. Dadzie, for

their patience, careful guidance, and invaluable contribution throughout this study. A special

thanks also go to the lecturers and staff at the Department of Information Studies, University of

Ghana for their tremendous efforts made towards the success of this study.

To my lovely wife and children; Comfort, Ethan, Emily, and Enid, I ask for God's special grace to

lead you in life to achieve higher laurels.

I appreciate so much the support of my Dad and Mum, my elder siblings, and their families for

their show of love. A special thank you to Rev. and Mrs. Appiah-Boachie.

A special thank you to Naomi Amofah-Serwaa, and Joseph Owusu Kwakye for being a great

support.

I am most grateful to all those who availed themselves to be interviewed, and all those who

responded to the questionnaire and returned them. Finally, I am grateful to all the 2020 Master of

Philosophy Class for their support, as well as those who have contributed in one way or the other

to make this journey a success.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION........................................................................................................................................ iii

DEDICATION............................................................................................................................................ iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................... vi

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... x

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................. xii

ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................................xiii

CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of the Study .................................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................................. 5

1.3 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................................................... 6

1.4 Objectives of the Study ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study .................................................................................................. 7

1.6 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................................... 8

1.7 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................ 13

1.8 Organization of Chapters ............................................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER TW0 ....................................................................................................................................... 15

LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................ 15

2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 15

2.2 Institutional Repository defined .................................................................................................... 16

2.3 Development of Institutional Repository (IR) .............................................................................. 17

2.4 Types of Institutional Repositories (IRs) ...................................................................................... 23

2.4.1 Relationships between types of Repositories ......................................................................... 24

2.5 Level of awareness of Institutional Repositories (IRs) ................................................................ 24

2.6 Feasibility of establishing an Institutional Repository (IR) ........................................................ 27

2.7 Positive Impact of IR ...................................................................................................................... 30

2.8 Technology and Infrastructure needed for the establishment of an IR ..................................... 33

2.9 Challenges of establishing Institutional Repositories (IR) .......................................................... 37

2.9.1 Cost of establishing IRs ........................................................................................................... 37

2.9.2 Challenge of ICT and related issues ....................................................................................... 38


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2.9.3 The challenge of institutional support .................................................................................... 39

2.9 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 43

CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................. 44

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 44

3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 44

3.2 Research Design .............................................................................................................................. 44

3.3 Selection of Case(s) ......................................................................................................................... 46

3.3.1 Study Setting................................................................................................................................. 47

3.3.2 Accra College of Education ..................................................................................................... 47

3.3.3 Bagabaga College of Education .............................................................................................. 48

3.3.4 Berekum College of Education ............................................................................................... 48

3.3.5 Holy Child College of Education ............................................................................................ 48

3.3.6 Jasikan College of Education .................................................................................................. 49

3.3.7 Wesley College of Education ................................................................................................... 49

3.4 Selection of Subjects ....................................................................................................................... 50

3.4.1 Population ................................................................................................................................. 50

3.5 Data Collection Instrument ............................................................................................................ 52

3.5.1 Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 53

3.5.2 Interview Guide ........................................................................................................................ 54

3.6 Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................................ 55

3.7 Presentation of Data and Analysis ................................................................................................. 58

3.8 Ethical Consideration ..................................................................................................................... 59

3.9 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 59

CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................................... 60

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ...................................................................................................... 60

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 60

4.2 Background Information of the Respondents .............................................................................. 61

4. 3 Level of awareness of IR among Respondents ............................................................................ 64

4.3.1 Means of Awareness of IR ....................................................................................................... 66

4.3.2 Accessed materials from IR .................................................................................................... 69

4.4 Feasibility of establishing IRS in the CoEs in Ghana .................................................................. 70

4.4.1 Resources needed for the establishment of IR ....................................................................... 73

4.4.2 Specific involvement of staff and other officers in the establishment of an IR .................. 75

4.4.3 Measures that must be in place to ensure that IRs are established in CoEs in Ghana ...... 77


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4.5 Benefits of institutional repositories .............................................................................................. 81

4.6 Availability of required infrastructure to establish IR ................................................................ 82

4.6.1 Personnel with the required technological skills for the establishment and maintenance of

IR ........................................................................................................................................................ 85

4.6.2 Personnel required for the establishment of IR .................................................................... 86

4.7 Challenges of establishing IR. ........................................................................................................ 88

4.8 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 90

CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 91

DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS ................................................................................................. 91

5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 91

5.2 Level of Awareness ......................................................................................................................... 91

5.3 Feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana ................................................................... 97

5.4 Benefits of IRs ............................................................................................................................... 103

5.5 Availability of required infrastructure to establish IR .............................................................. 104

5.6 Challenges of establishing IR ....................................................................................................... 107

5.7 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................................ 108

CHAPTER SIX ....................................................................................................................................... 109

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. ............................... 109

6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 109

6.2 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................... 109

6.2.1 The level of awareness of IRs among the staff of the Colleges under study. .................... 110

6.2.2 The feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana ................................................... 110

6.2.3 The benefits of IRs to the CoEs in Ghana. ........................................................................... 111

6.2.4 The availability of technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of IRs in the

colleges. ............................................................................................................................................ 111

6.2.5 Challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.

.......................................................................................................................................................... 111

6.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 112

6.4 Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 112

6.4.1 Awareness creation on IRs among stakeholders of the CoEs in Ghana ........................... 112

6.4.2 Making the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana a national policy. ...................... 113

6.4.3 Making the benefits of IRs known to the Colleges of Education in Ghana. ..................... 113

6.4.4 Emphasis on expertise to manage IRs. ................................................................................. 114

6.4.5 Provision of adequate funding .............................................................................................. 114

6.4.6 Commitment of scholars and non-scholars.......................................................................... 114


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6.5 Future areas of research ............................................................................................................... 114

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 116

APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 130

APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 130

APPENDIX 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 135

APPENDIX 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 136


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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1.1: Alignment of the theory with the objectives of the study 10

Table 2.1: The distribution and size of IRs in public universities of South Africa 20

Table 3.1: Population of respondents 52

Table 4.1: Institutions of respondents 62

Table 4.2: Gender distribution of respondents 63

Table 4.3: Years of experience of respondents 63

Table 4.4: Level of Awareness of IR 64

Table 4.5: Channels of awareness of IR 67

Table 4.6: Accessed resources 69

Table 4.7: Resources needed in the establishment of IR 73

Table 4.8: Availability of required infrastructure 84

Table 4.9: Skilled personnel needed for the establishment of IR 87

Table 4.10: Challenges to the establishment of IRs 88


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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1.1: The five Stages in the Innovation Decision Process 10

Figure 1.2: Classification of members of a social system 11

Figure 2.1: Number of Repositories by country worldwide 22

Figure 2.2: Major five repository software and their share of adoption 35

Figure 4.1: Feasibility of establishing IR 71

Figure 4.2: Specific involvement of staff and other officers in the establishment of IR. 76

Figure 4.3: Measures that must be in place to ensure the establishment of IR 79

Figure 4.4: Benefits of institutional repositories 81

Figure 4.5: Required infrastructure to establish IR 83

Figure 4.6: The required personnel for the establishment of IR 86


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACCE - Accra College of Education

BACE - Bagabaga College of Education

BECOLED - Berekum College of Education

CoE - College of Education

PRINCOF - Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education

GES - Ghana Education Service

HCCE - Holy Child College of Education

IR - Institutional Repository

ISCED - International System of Classification of Education

IT - Information Technology

JASICO - Jasikan College of Education

NAB - National Accreditation Board

NCTE - National Council for Tertiary Education

NGOs - Non-Governmental Organizations

ORCiD - Open Researcher and Contributor Identification

T-TEL - Transforming Teacher Education and Learning

WESCO - Wesley College of Education

WWW - World Wide Web


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ABSTRACT

Underpinned by the recent upgrade of CoEs in Ghana to tertiary status and their distinct lack of an

established IR, this study sought to ascertain the feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in

Ghana. Six colleges were selected from the five main zones of the CoEs. The multiple case study

design was employed and operationalized through a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods

with questionnaire survey and key informant interviews. 286 questionnaires were fully

administered and augmented with 13 interviews for the analysis. The Google Sheet was employed

in analyzing the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was adopted for the qualitative data.

The findings of the study showed that majority of the respondents were aware of IRs. Again, it

emerged from the study that, there was a high possibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.

Besides, the study revealed that the staff of the CoEs stand to benefit massively from the creation

of an IR. Although technological infrastructure for the formation of IR exist, findings of the study

showed that many other pre-requisites were lacking. This include Library/ICT systems skills,

System and networking skills, and Research skills were needed. The findings of the study again

made it clear that despite the many challenges an establishment of an IR can face, funding is the

most paramount. Based on the study findings the following recommendations were put forward:

Awareness creation on IRs among stakeholders of the CoEs in Ghana; Making the establishment

of IRs in the CoEs a national policy; Making the benefits of IRs known to the CoEs in Ghana;

Emphasis on expertise to manage IRs; and the Provision of adequate funding. These

recommendations will hopefully help facilitate the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.


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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The present age has been commonly referred to as a knowledge-based generation (Chan, 2009;

Paul, 2012). Indeed knowledge-based development remains one of the predominant development

paradigms of the modern era. This is largely rooted in the widespread recognition of the

development role of knowledge and by extension information, in an era where information has

become a valuable commodity in its own right (Paul, 2012:194). Such an era is characterized by

new ways of information production, storage, sharing, as well as transfer (Chan, 2009; Paul, 2012).

Notable among these is the establishment of Institutional Repositories (IRs). Bangani (2018), notes

that their proliferation in the 2000s gave life to millions of documents that would have either stayed

hidden on shelves in small libraries across the globe or disposed. Accordingly, this peaked the

interest of institutions with vested interest in the production and sharing of scholarly content and

knowledge impartation such as academic and research institutions in both the global north and

south (Dlamini & Snyman, 2017).

Digitized documents that are organized and maintained for the sake of accessibility will enhance

the output of research, either directly or indirectly. The intellectual output of an institution, as well

as all other records, are digitized to preserve and disseminate information and knowledge globally.

This global accessibility of digitized records has been made possible by the emergence of the

institutional repository (IR) and also made institutions functional. Lynch (2003) explained

Institutional Repository (IR) to mean an established arrangement that a university put in place for

the benefit of its members and the university community for the management and sharing of digital


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resources that are produced by the university and the members of its community. Johnson (2002)

on his part, defined an institutional repository as “A digital archive of the intellectual product

created by the faculty, research staff, and students of an institution and accessible to end-users both

within and outside of the institution with few if any barriers to access”. Providing a summary of

what institutional repository represents, Crow (2002) described it as institutionally defined,

scholarly in scope, cumulative and perpetual, open, and interoperable. Lynch (2003), Johnson

(2002), and Crow (2002) have succinctly described institutional repository as the management and

sharing of continuous scholarly creation of an institution and its staff.

Yet the establishment of IRs is characterized by diverse challenges that could undermine the

feasibility of implementation across diverse contexts. Robinson (2009) for instance notes that

trends from the establishment of IRs globally suggest it is technology-driven rather than demand-

driven. The foregoing suggest that in contexts where technological advancement is poor, their

establishment and sustainable operation may be quite challenging. Additionally, the author

variously described the in-house establishment of IRs as a time-consuming, labor-intensive,

capital-intensive, and also requires technological expertise. Therefore, without the right resources

and commitment to such a course, feasibility may be unlikely. Another feasibility challenge may

manifest in the general lack of understanding of its usefulness by institutions. This is aptly captured

by Lagzian, Abrizah, & Wee (2015), who argue that when a general appreciation of the salience

of IRs is lacking among administrators of institutions, it may be considered not worthwhile and

consequently organizational support towards its establishment and sustainable growth may be

seriously undermined. Corroborating viewpoints are shared by Tapfuma & Hoskins (2021), who

highlight the general lack of enabling conditions as major impediment to IR development across

Universities in Zimbabwe.


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Notwithstanding the foregoing feasibility challenges to their establishment, investing in IRs has

been established to yield various benefits to institutions (Mittal, 2017). Notably, it provides

considerable inputs into global knowledge creation in the form of improved and valid research

outputs (Chan, 2009). This is realized through improved and easy access to quality information

readily accessible to students and staff alike. Institutional Repositories in academic institutions

yield a lot of positive results such as an increase in academic institutions’ visibility and prestige, a

tool for marketing institutions to entice excellent workforce as well as students, and funding into

an institution. It is also a means of centralizing, storing, and long term curation of all forms of

official output (Jain, 2012). As part of the technological transformation and advancement,

institutional repositories have come to stay, this is because paper formats of information can now

be digitized, organized, preserved, and made available for access and use (Mittal, 2017).

According to Martin-Yeboah (2015:1), “several establishments in the world such as universities,

research institutions, museums, and governmental organizations retain artifacts and other

documents that embody their very culture and identity. These include scientific, technological,

cultural, artistic, and historical materials. To ensure their perpetuity, such intellectual outputs and

historical documents are not only digitized, but are now being created, managed, preserved, and

maintained in repositories”. The benefits of IR were realized in the 1990s at the world stage (Jones,

n. d.; Harnad, 1990). The knowledge and benefits of Institutional Repositories have been

appreciated in Africa and Ghana in particular (Corletey, 2011). From the foregoing, it has become

very necessary for higher academic institutions of learning, such as the Colleges of Education

(CoEs) in Ghana to embrace this development to enhance the output of research in the colleges.

From the preceding discussion, it has become very necessary for higher academic institutions of

learning, such as the Colleges of Education (CoEs) in Ghana to embrace this development to


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enhance the output of research in the colleges. Teacher training institutions have gone through a

transformation from Post-Secondary Teacher Training (Government of Ghana, 2004; Asare &

Nti, 2014; Newman, 2013) to the College of Education (Ministry of Education, 2018). Tracing

the development of Teacher Training Development in Ghana, Nyarkoh (2016:18, 19) pointed out

that the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana at Akropong-

Akwapim in 1848. The government of Ghana continued the establishment of teacher training

institutions to meet the human resource needs and the increased enrolment in schools. Over time,

teachers have been required to upgrade their competencies, which eventually led to the

introduction of Diploma courses in 2004 (Government of Ghana, 2004). Following the

publication of the Government’s White Paper declaring the upgrade of Teacher Training

Colleges into diploma-awarding institutions, the 38 Teacher Training Colleges that were

functioning at a level comparable to level 4 of the International System of Classification of

Education (ISCED, 2012) were considered as Colleges of Education to offer tertiary education

in the year 2008.

The Colleges of Education Act 2012 (Act 847), eventually formalized the tertiary status. The

colleges of education in Ghana had an upgrade to run the 4-Year Bachelor of Education program

in 2018 (Ministry of Education, 2018). The first batch of teacher trainees for the 4-Year Bachelor

of Education program was admitted in the 2018/2019 academic year. The demand of the new

curriculum which seeks to ensure life-long learning on the part of teacher trainees and its eventual

impact on school children, coupled with the upgrade of Colleges of Education to degree-awarding

institutions (Boakye, 2020), would require that rigorous academic activities are undertaken by

the staff, especially those who are required to publish for career progression. The provision of

section 4 of the Colleges of Education Act 2012 (Act 847) which provides that governing


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councils of CoEs should “ensure that basic and action research form integral part of teacher

education to promote quality teaching and learning in the classroom” has a stronger relationship

with the idea of establishing an institutional repository for the enhancement of research output in

the CoEs in Ghana.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The establishment of IRs for the enhancement of research output remains an indispensable

component of tertiary education and one that many tertiary institutions aspire to possess (Mutiis

& Kitchen, 2017). As Macha (2012: 155) puts it, “the implementation of institutional repositories

is a value-added service that can be provided to an institution...”. Indeed, all top global academic

institutions known for their cutting edge and development impacting research among numerous

other academic achievements have an IR (see figure 2.1 for an overview of IRs by country).

Martin-Yeboah, Alemna, and Adjei (2018: 13, 14) therefore posit that repositories exist to project

the image of institutions, with research productivity being the main driving force.

A study of the available literature on institutional repositories in Ghana indicates that there are

established repositories in the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science and Technology (Martin-Yeboah 2015:157; Asamoah–Hassan, 2009). Correspondingly,

Martin-Yeboah, Alemna, and Adjei (2018) in their study also established that the Kwame

Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ashesi University College, Central University

College, and University of Ghana, all have IRs of their own. Beyond the foregoing, Malekani

and Kavishe (2018: 6) have also pointed out that the many other Ghanaian academic and research

institutions have been able to establish institutional repositories through the assistance of the

Consortium of Research and Academic Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) and the International


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Network for Availability of Scientific Publication (INASP). These institutions are the University

of Cape Coast, University of Education, Winneba, Methodist University College, University for

Development Studies, and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Colleges of Education constitute major academic and research institutions in Ghana. Indeed they

have recently been upgraded to tertiary status and have admitted the second batch of students for

the 4-Year Bachelor of Education Programme. As tertiary institutions, they are getting ready to

award degree certificates. It becomes apparent from the above-mentioned that they require IRs

for the enhancement of research output so that they remain relevant in the scholarly community,

this is because there are a lot of value-added services attached to the implementation of

institutional repositories.

Yet having reviewed the extant literature on IRs in Ghana, the researcher found no evidence of

existing institutional repositories among Ghanaian colleges of education. Indeed, from the

reviewed literature by the author, there is presently no study that has been carried on IRs on any

CoE in Ghana. This has therefore created gaps in our knowledge with respect to the feasibility

of establishing Institutional Repositories within Colleges of Education. This study, therefore,

aims at investigating the feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories to enhance research

output at selected Colleges of Education in Ghana.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to find out how feasible it will be to establish institutional

repositories in Colleges of Education (CoEs) to enhance research output.


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1.4 Objectives of the Study

The following specific objectives guided the study:

1. To find out the level of awareness of Institutional Repositories among the staff of the

Colleges under study.

2. To examine the feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories in the Colleges of

Education in Ghana.

3. To identify the benefits of Institutional Repositories to the Colleges of Education in

Ghana.

4. To find out the availability of technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of

Institutional Repositories in the colleges.

5. To identify challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of Institutional

Repositories in the Colleges of Education in Ghana.

6. To make appropriate recommendations based on the findings of the study.

1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study sought to carry out a feasibility study on the establishment of Institutional Repositories

in six Colleges of Education in Ghana. There are Forty-Six public Colleges of Education in

Ghana and it was practically impossible to do a comprehensive study of all the 46 Colleges, hence

the selection of six Colleges of Education in Ghana.

The following six Colleges were selected from the five main zones created by the National

Conference of Principals of Teacher Training Colleges (PRINCOF) in Ghana (T-TEL, n. d.). The

Ashanti/Brong Ahafo Zone which has the highest number of colleges had two of the colleges


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selected for the study from that zone, hence the six colleges from the five main zones. This is an

objective representation of all the 46 public CoEs in Ghana. The selected colleges were the

following: Accra CoE (Eastern/Greater Accra Zone), Bagabaga CoE (Northern Zone), Berekum

CoE (Ashanti/Brong Ahafo Zone), Holy Child CoE (Central/Western Zone), Jasikan CoE (Volta

Zone), and Wesley CoE (Ashanti/Brong Ahafo Zone). The 46 colleges have a common legal

document (Act 847, 2012) that regulates their activities, therefore the selected colleges could

help in providing the kind of information the study sought to achieve.

Though responses from the questionnaire were obtained from all the selected CoEs for the study,

telephone and personal interviews needed for the study could not be obtained from the Accra

CoE and the Jasikan CoE. The telephone and personal interviews conducted in the four remaining

colleges and the responses obtained from the questionnaire from the six colleges were used for

the study.

1.6 Theoretical Framework

This study adopted the Diffusion of Innovation Theory in an attempt to understand how the

experience of repository establishment would permeate the Colleges of Education fraternity and

how stakeholders of Colleges of Education in Ghana would embrace it. The Diffusion of

Innovation Theory gives a description of how, why, and at what proportion novel concepts and

technologies are transferred from one society to the other. Rogers (2003) considers diffusion to

be the developmental process through which an invention is transferred to members of a society

across definite channels at a particular period of time. An innovation, Rogers further explains,

could be an idea, practice, or object that is considered as new by an individual or other unit for

adoption. Rogers (2003) believes that for an innovation to spread among members of a


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community and be appreciated for implementation, it should have relatively better advantages

over the existing technology, have appreciable ease of use, and as well be in tune with prevailing

standards, previous familiarities, and meet the requirements of potential users within the social

system. The innovation-decision-process thus involves five steps; they are knowledge,

persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation.

Knowledge takes place when the prospective adopter becomes conscious of the existence of a

novelty and thinks about how it functions. A person is assisted to form a positive or negative

attitude towards innovation through persuasion. The process of decision has to do with making a

choice or a selection to either approve or discard a novelty. The implementation happens once

an innovation has been put into practice, and finally a confirmation of this innovation. Rogers

(1983:163) confirmed from scholars that a decision about innovation is not an instantaneous

happening. These steps, in a time-ordered manner, follow each other as shown in Figure 1.1.


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Figure 1.1: The five Stages in the Innovation Decision Process

Source: Rogers (1983:165)

Rogers (2003) tries to explain that adoption is the complete use of an innovation as the best

course of action available, while rejection is a decision that explains an absolute refusal of an

innovation. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory further identifies the classification of members

of a social system as the adopter categories based on innovativeness; this classification as shown

in Figure 1.2 includes innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards

(Rogers, 2003).

Additional information to the adopter categories is as follows. Innovators play a gatekeeping role

in the flow of new concepts into an organization. Early adopters are individuals more integrated

into the social system who adopt an innovation and become a reference point for prospective

adopters. The early majority adopt new ideas immediately before the average colleague of an

organization. The late majority adopt new ideas as a result of increasing network pressures of


11

peers. Laggards, the last group to adopt an innovation because of their attitude of

apprehensiveness of innovations and change agents.

Figure 1.2: Classification of members of a social system

Source: Rogers (2003)

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory has been used by many researchers for studies. Martin-

Yeboah (2015: p.14) assumed that the different segments within the tertiary institution

community belong to the different adopter categories so long as the institutional repositories are

concerned. Swanepoel (2005) and Campbell-Meier (2008) also applied the Diffusion of

Innovation Theory to a study of the development of institutional repositories in some institutions

where it was believed that the concept was in the early majority adoption category.

The theory is appropriate because it will help in identifying the perception, support, denial or

opposition, and interest of the members within the selected colleges and their stakeholders. The

theory will provide a successful guide to this study because it embraces the objectives of the study.

Table 1.1 describes how the theory aligns with the objectives.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjV_vnRxcTlAhWC5OAKHUOcDNkQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsneezr.ca%2F%3Fp%3D7607&psig=AOvVaw21pTj2H0mJ442wZ7xxN2EV&ust=1572543309832999

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjV_vnRxcTlAhWC5OAKHUOcDNkQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsneezr.ca%2F%3Fp%3D7607&psig=AOvVaw21pTj2H0mJ442wZ7xxN2EV&ust=1572543309832999

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12

Table 1.1: Alignment of the theory with the objectives of the Study

Research objectives Theoretical factor Instrument

To find out the level of

awareness of Institutional

Repositories among faculty

of the Colleges under study.

Knowledge takes place when a

prospective adopter develops an

awareness of the existence of innovation

and thinks of how it functions.

The theory is appropriate because it will

help in identifying the perception,

support, denial or opposition and interest

of the members within the selected

colleges and their stakeholders

The use of

interview and

questionnaire

To examine the feasibility of

establishing Institutional

Repositories in the Colleges

of Education in Ghana.

Early adopters are individuals more

integrated into the social system who

adopt innovation and become a reference

point for prospective adopters.

There are also prior conditions such as

felt needs/problems, previous practice,

norms of the social system, and

innovativeness.

The use of

interview and

questionnaire

To identify the benefits of

Institutional Repositories to

the Colleges of Education.

A person is assisted to form a positive or

negative attitude towards innovation

through persuasion.

The process of decision has to do with

choosing to either adopt or reject the

innovation.

The use of

interview and

questionnaire

To find out available

technologies and

infrastructure for the

establishment of Institutional

Repositories.

Innovators play a gatekeeping role in the

transfer of new ideas into a system with

socio-economic characteristics in focus.

The use of

interview and

questionnaire

To identify the challenges

that are likely to be faced in

the establishment of

Institutional Repositories in

the Colleges of Education in

Ghana.

Laggards are the last group of people in

the social system to adopt an innovation

since they feel apprehensive of

innovations and change agents.

Norms of the social system, personality

variables, communication behavior, and

complexities associated with new ideas

The use of

interview and

questionnaire


13

1.7 Significance of the Study

Research accessibility has propelled development in many spheres of human life. Institutional

repositories make research outcomes available worldwide, thus complementing academic

institutions’ role of societal development. Therefore the fact that academic institutions are

gradually accepting the establishment of institutional repositories and their operation, and the

subsequent benefits IRs offer, any study that would explore its establishment for the enhancement

of research output would be justified.

This study will identify and recommend some of the appropriate issues that need consideration

by policymakers and managers of the colleges of education in Ghana. Besides, information

professionals, the staff of colleges of education, as well as other groups in academia would

understand the nature of colleges of education, and be informed on how to build networks in the

academic fraternity for the production and sharing of knowledge.

Finally, this study will contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of institutional repositories

and project the colleges and efforts they are making to fully become tertiary institutions and their

readiness to establish institutional repositories for the enhancement of research output.

1.8 Organization of Chapters

This study is organized into six chapters.

The first chapter is the Introduction and covered the Background to the Study, Statement of the

Problem, Purpose, Objectives, Scope and Limitation of the Study, Theoretical Framework,

Significance of the Study, and Organization of the chapters.


14

The second chapter reviewed the literature of the study on IRs. This review took into

consideration studies that are related to the objectives of this study from the global, African and

Ghanaian points of view, as well as, other related issues of the Colleges of Education in Ghana.

Chapter Three, which is the methodology, described how the research design, selection of cases,

and selection of subjects was done. Again, the kind of instrumentation that was adopted in

collecting data, how data was collected, analyzed, and ethical consideration.

The fourth chapter focused on how the data collected was analyzed and the findings presented.

Chapter Five discussed the findings obtained from the analyzed data, taking into consideration

the related literature of this study.

Chapter Six, which is the concluding chapter, looked at the summary of findings, conclusion, and

recommendations of the study.


15

CHAPTER TW0

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

The idea of literature review of a study arises out of the need to satisfy a requirement. An author

may also be interested in learning more about a particular phenomenon, hence a review of

literature of that phenomenon (Torraco, 2005). A literature review helps in situating the study in

a proper viewpoint so that a decision could be taken after the review. It is also likely that a gap

or a notable idea may be identified. Neuman has identified that literature review is built on the

notion that knowledge creation is a continuous process and that people learn from what has been

created by others and build on what others have done (Neuman, 2011). According to Boote and

Beile, (2005), literature review should generally describe, evaluate, clarify and summarize related

literature of what other authors have written and shares with readers the results of other studies

that have been reported.

The literature review for this study captured a wider perspective (world point of view), the

African perspective, and the Ghanaian point of view. The literature for this study was reviewed

under the following themes based on the objectives of this research:

2.2 Institutional Repository (IR) Defined

2.3 Development of Institutional Repository (IR)

2.4 Types of Institutional Repositories (IRs)

2.5 Level of awareness of Institutional Repository (IR)

2.6 Feasibility of establishing Institutional Repository (IR)


16

2.7 Positive Impact of Institutional Repositories (IRs)

2.8 Technology and Infrastructure needed for the establishment of an Institutional

Repository (IR)

2.9 Challenges of establishing Institutional Repositories (IRs)

2.2 Institutional Repository defined

Several definitions have been provided by different authorities when it comes to Institutional

Repository (IR). Swan and Chan (2009) consider IRs as digital collections of the members of the

university’s research community that make their content freely accessible over the internet for

archiving and long-term preservation. Crow (2002) believes that IRs are institutionally-defined

because unlike subject-oriented repositories, IRs collect and store the original research and other

intellectual property created by an institution’s essential populace in different disciplines or

subject areas. Institutional Repositories, thus, represent the very embodiment of the institution

that developed it and accordingly becomes the yardstick to gauge the scholarly output and quality

of the institution (Johnson, 2002; Shearer, 2003).

The idea of “institutionally-defined” does not warrant a single institution to act alone in operating

the repository if the full benefits of establishing IRs are to be realized. It is, therefore, to be noted

by every institution that there is the need to collaborate with other academic institutions in order

to share cost, expertise, and advance in any area they consider very important in the management

of their repositories. In effect, the content of IRs could be made available, and for accessibility

beyond the borders of an institution’s community, thus the only means to increase the awareness

of research contributions of an institution and as a platform for managing research output for the

support of teaching, learning, and research. Ukwoma and Mole (2017) think that IR is a platform


17

librarians adopt to manage research outputs for the improvement of accessibility for the support

of teaching, learning, and research. They further expressed that IR consists of an online collection

of research, writing, and projects conducted by university’s faculty and students.

Crow (2002) has identified several materials generated by researchers, the faculty, students, non-

faculty and other employees of an institution. Such materials include students’ electronic

portfolios, classroom teaching materials, the institution’s annual reports, video recordings,

computer programs, data sets, photographs, and art works, as well as any digital resource the

institution wishes to preserve. Since these are the kind of materials IRs are meant to keep,

preserve and make available and accessible as identified by Crow, then it is required by owners

of institutional repositories to collaborate and form consortia for an excellent result from their

repositories. A look at the literature demonstrates that IR is owned by an institution, populated

by the members of the institution, and managed by the same institution. This means that it is

established to support the attainment of the vision of the institution that established it. It also

exists to support academic activities across the globe.

2.3 Development of Institutional Repository (IR)

Several factors led to the development of IRs in the 1990s. Stevan Harnad championed the

movement in 1994. Harnad’s movement required authors to deposit their work on internet File

Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers (Prajapati, 2015). High journal subscription rates which required

that libraries pay huge subscriptions for restrictive journals provoked this initiative. Though there

have been different levels of awareness and use in the different continents and regions, the

widespread global acceptability of institutional repositories is as a result of this initiative. Apart

from what was required of authors to deposit their work on the internet File Transfer Protocol,


18

the prevalent access and use of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the late 1990s and early 2000s

boosted the growth of IRs (Jain, 2012). Again, the availability of the internet at the time led to a

massive change in the way information became common. Activities such as conferences and the

issuance of policy statements on open access took place to enhance the development of IR. In

2002, the Budapest Open Access Initiative (Chan et al., 2002) aided the affirmation of the

commitment of scholars to preserve their work and for the production of open-access journals. A

declaration on open-access that tremendously transformed the availability and accessibility of

information to all users in the world followed in 2003 as the “Berlin Declaration”. This statement

makes a plea for support of the dissemination of knowledge for both traditional and electronic

forms of information (Planck, 2003).

Bangani (2018) has traced the history of Open Access in a study titled “The history, deployment,

and future of institutional repositories in public universities in South Africa”. This work traced

the concept of open-access from 1969 with the introduction of ARPANET (Suber, 2010). The

idea of open access gained more control in the early 1990s with the introduction of the Internet

and the World Wide Web in 1989. The history of IRs, therefore, has links with both the open-

access movement and the introduction of the World Wide Web. IRs can be traced to William

Gardner's article in 1990 in the journal “Psychological Science”. Due to the impactful

suggestions, the article gained immediate attention and quickly became open for “open peer

commentary” (Harnad, 1990). Most of the commentators who expressed views on the article

demonstrated their support for the idea of repositories (Estes, 1990; Fox, 1990; Harnad, 1990;

Kintsch, 1990) with one obvious opponent being Hunt (1990), who chose to identify the expected

challenges that would be associated with IRs. Gardner put forward various reasons to show why

it was essential to have IRs, and they included:


19

• Unnecessary delays in the publication of articles,

• Rising cost of journals, and

• Information explosion.

The first open-access archive called arXiv.org was started in 1991 at the Cornell University

(Jones, 2006: 111). The mention of a full IR, however, did not come in literature till 1994

(Okerson & O'Donnel, 1995 cited in Jones, 2006). The launch of American Scientist Open

Access Forum and SPARC was another vital progress that took place in the historical account of

IRs in 1998. Another significant happening was the formation of the Public Library of Science

(PloS) in 2000. This also heralded a new period for open-access journals.

The deployment of IRs that was experienced in public universities in South Africa was

tremendous. South Africa has become one of the prolific countries in the developing world in

terms of deployment of IRs (Chilimo, 2015; Mostofa et al., 2015). Table 2.1 depicts the

distribution and size of IRs in public universities of South Africa.


20

Table 2.1 The distribution and size of IRs in public universities of South

Africa

Name of university Popular name Size

University of Pretoria UPSpace 59,640

Stellenbosch University SUNScholar 51,841

University of South

Africa

UNISAIR 27,989

University of Cape Town OpenUCT 21,868

University of

Johannesburg

UJContent 21,169

North-West University Boloka 20,959

University of Kwazulu-

Natal

ResearchSpace 15,873

University of the

Witwatersrand

WIReDSpace 14,674

Rhodes University

Rhodes

University Digital

Commons

8,402

University of the Western

Cape

UWC Research

Repositorya

5,955

University of the Free

State

KovieScholar 3,892

Cape Peninsula

University of Technology

Digital Knowledge 3,879

Nelson Mandela

Metropolitan University

None 3,383

University of Fort Hare None 2,265

Durban University of

Technology

DUT Open Scholar 2,187

Tshwane University of

Technology

TUTDOR 2,087

University of Limpopo ULSpace 1,533

Walter Sisulu University SEALS Digital

Commons

1,315

Central University of

Technology

DSpace Repository 1,079

University of Venda UnivenIR 443

University of Zululand UZSpace 492

Vaal University of

Technology

VUT DigiResearch 358

Source: Chilimo, 2015 and Mostofa et al., 2015


21

The studies by Chilimo (2015) and Mostofa et al. (2015) have clearly shown that South Africa has

actually gone far with regards to IR development, despite the slow rate of its development in the

African continent. On the other hand, growth and development of open access IRs was successful

in the developed countries. Christian (2009) noted that some developing countries have also done

well in this aspect and gave an example of such countries. Among them are Brazil, India, and

South Africa. In South Africa, 24 academic institutions have open-access IRs. University of

Pretoria is known to be the leading example. In 2010, it was ranked number 65 in the world and

number one in Africa in terms of content, size and visibility by ROAR (Hammes, 2010). Studies

by (Martin-Yeboah, 2015), (Malekani & Kavishe, 2018), and (Martin-Yeboah, Alemna & Adjei,

2018) have also demonstrated the growth, sustainability, and success of IRs in Ghana. The

following universities reveal the example of Ghana: the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science

and Technology, the University of Ghana, Legon, the Ashesi University College, the Central

University College, the University of Cape Coast, the University of Education, Winneba, the

Methodist University College, the University for Development Studies, and the Ghana Institute of

Management and Public Administration.

The total number of IRs in 2015 (OpenDOAR) which was around 88 has now risen to 4,124

around the world as at April 2019 (OpenDOAR). Africa has a total of 202 out of the total number

of IRs in the world. The growth of institutional repositories has been centered mainly in

institutions found in the advanced countries. This trend is shown by the Directory of Open Access

Repository (Open DOAR Statistics, 2020) in its publication. It has published the number of

repositories by country in the year 2020 as shown in Figure 2.1.


22

Figure 2.1: Number of Repositories by country worldwide

Source: Open DOAR, 2020

From Figure 2.1, it is only South Africa that comes 28th in position as the only African country

that is rated among the top 29 countries with a large number of repositories. This is clear evidence

that the development of IRs has indeed been concentrated in the advanced world. Kasusse et al

(2016) have noted that, despite the slow adoption, there are adopted strategies that have been put

together in the form of investments to ensure the establishment and the operationalization of

institutional repositories to host heritage materials. For example, in Nigeria, the University of

Nigeria, Nsukka uploaded 20, 207 of digitized materials (Ezeani & Ezema, 2011)


23

2.4 Types of Institutional Repositories (IRs)

Armbruster and Romary (2010) in their paper Comparing Repository Types, proposed four ideal

types of repository. The ideal types are subject-based repository, research repository, national

repository, and institutional repository. The subject-based repository is set up by members of a

community and adopted by the wider public and could be commercial and non-commercial, as

well as single and federated. The research repository is normally sponsored by a research funding

organization to obtain outcomes. Attached to this type of repository is the requirement of a

deposit mandate which includes a record of science and a rigid standard for deposit and

preservation. Research repository has high-quality output since its contents are peer-reviewed

several times. A national repository exists to generally capture the scholarly output to preserve a

record of scholarship and to support teaching, and learning in higher education. A national

repository system in a federated system will require more coordination than a unified system.

Institutional repository contains the various outputs of the institution that established it. The

important part of the many outputs that institutional repository holds are research results, works

of qualification, and teaching and learning. It is normally seen as a library and a showcase if it

captures the entire output. A library because it is a database of institutional collection. It is a

showcase because of the online open-access exhibition of the availability of the holdings of the

IR that may assist in impressing and connecting the alumni and the research fraternity. Again, IR

can serve as an internal and external assessment tool, and for strategic planning for the parent

institution.


24

2.4.1 Relationships between types of Repositories

In the review of literature, the researcher did not come across any study that generally discusses

the relationship existing between the various types of repositories. Meanwhile, certain studies on

specific types of repositories reveal their impact on other repositories. For instance, Starkey and

Madan (2001) revealed in their report that there is the need to bridge the relevance gap, that is,

there should be a collaboration that should exist between management of research and managerial

practice. That is, the work of academia and its storage in the academic repositories must be

utilized by the larger society to ascertain the usefulness of works in academic repositories. Again,

some of the repositories must show the need for collaboration and how repositories relate to each

other as indicated by a report of the Association of Research Libraries (2009). This is an

indication that, no one type of repository could be an island on its own, regardless of the

organization that manages it, especially considering the academic and professional connections

to the establishment and management of all types of repositories (Starkey & Madan, 2001).

2.5 Level of awareness of Institutional Repositories (IRs)

The proliferation of IR as at April 2019 and the OpenDOAR statistics show that Africa has a very

low awareness of IR. The low awareness of IRs gives weight to what Crow (2002) suggested that

there is the need for the existence of a closer tie between the repository and marketing for a wider

adoption and use. This is a call for greater awareness creation to raise the consciousness of the

formation, use, and implementation of an IR. Awareness creation strategies suggested by Enoch

and Harker (2015) could be employed to raise the awareness of interdisciplinary e-journal titles,

as such an interdisciplinary approach might have the potential of drawing IR to the fore because it

is an electronic database that holds such electronic materials. A significant awareness creation

strategy by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Library was an


25

“open access week” organized in October 2009 (Agyen-Gyasi, Corletey & Frempong, 2010). This

awareness creation was put together by the IR team. Lectures on the IR was given by the University

librarian, a familiarization tour was done at the IR unit, and other sensitization activities to bring

the university community closer to the IR. Though the level of awareness of IR is woefully low in

Africa as a whole, South Africa is exceptional (Agyen-Gyasi, Corletey & Frempong, 2010). In

their study, Kumah, Adzadi and Imoro (2018) revealed that the absence of awareness on the

appropriate tools and practices pose a serious challenge to the creation of sensitization. Kwadzo

(2015) has however noted that consciousness could only be an essential condition but not

appropriate for use of the resources. This is an assertion that supports the fact that awareness

creation is always indispensable.

Awareness is an important feature in the utilization of any information product (Anenene,

Alegbeleye & Oyewole, 2017). In this light, Yang & Li (2015) noted that IR could only be adopted

by its stakeholders and serve to its full capacity when awareness has been created for the

stakeholders to realize its existence. The library staff forms a critical mass in the adoption of IR

and their awareness is of much importance as it could lead to the establishment of IR. It is after IR

has been established that the awareness of users will come to play. However, it seems as if there

is a dearth of literature on specific library staff awareness of IR. But literature is replete with studies

focusing on users especially faculty members, which often at times include librarians. These

studies however provide valuable insights on awareness of IR by the stakeholders. Kim (2011)

investigated the perceptions of faculty members from 17 Carnegie doctorate-granting universities

in the United States regarding institutional repositories. The findings revealed that 60% of the

respondents were not aware of the university’s IR. Dutta and Paul (2014) studied selected science

and technology faculty members of the University of Calcutta, India. They reported that most of


26

the respondents noted that their awareness of IR was less satisfactory as they only became aware

of IR through the Internet. On the contrary, the study by Dhanavandan & Tamizhchelvan (2013)

on the attitudes and awareness of institutional repositories and open access publishing among 200

faculty members in Annamalai University presented a different view, though 160 completed the

questionnaire. The respondents included assistant professors, associate professors, and professors,

and results showed that 150 (93.75%) indicated that they were aware, 6 (3.75%) were not aware

and 4 (2.50%) said they had no opinion.

In the Nigerian context, Aghwotu & Ebiere (2016) also conducted a survey on the awareness and

attitude of lecturers towards establishing IR in Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State Nigeria. The

report was that 90% of the respondents were aware of IR. Apart from awareness, the kind of

perception potential users, beneficiaries, and all other stakeholders hold on IR is very key to its

acceptance and subsequent application. Oguz & Assefa (2014) conducted a study on the faculty

members’ perceptions towards institutional repository at the regional university in the South-

Eastern U.S.A. The questionnaire which was the research instrument was delivered to 500

respondents online via surveymonkey.com. Findings revealed that little over half of the

respondents had a favorable or positive perception towards the IR. Results from the study of Dutta

& Paul (2014) also showed that the majority of the faculty reported a positive favorable perception

regarding IR. In a recent study, Ukwoma & Dike (2017) studied 491 academics’ attitudes towards

the utilization of IRs in five Nigerian universities with IRs according to OpenDOAR. They

reported that the fact that academics disagreed with the negative statements in the null hypothesis

showed that they had a positive attitude towards the submission of their publications.

Stating their opinion on awareness, Kasusse et al (2016) cited what Namaganda said, that

awareness creation and marketing of the archives is done through training workshops, conference


27

presentations, peer-reviewed publications, mailing listserves, academic meetings bulletins, social

media, among others. Mgonzo and Yonah (2014) and Ofosu-Ampong (2016) have identified that

the level of awareness of institutional repositories in Tanzania and Ghana was low. It is indicative

that most students are still less aware and have not gained adequate knowledge on how to

adequately use the institutional repositories. Lack of adequate knowledge tends to influence user's

persuasion to search for information from the institutional repository. The argument on low

awareness and adoption and use are being supported by the fact that the majority of students

occasionally use institutional repositories. Findings have revealed that most scholars are aware and

make use of institutional repositories to address their academic needs. There is a confirmation by

Muneja (2010), Dulle (2011), and Lwoga and Questier (2014), for the usage of institutional

repositories in Tanzania. In a study by Uzuegbu (2012:11), the researcher identified that the

materials mostly accessed were journal articles, theses, and dissertations. The study continues that

they are the prime content in African repositories.

2.6 Feasibility of establishing an Institutional Repository (IR)

The World Wide Web (WWW) in the late 1990s and early 2000s boosted the growth of IRs (Jain,

2012). Again, the availability of the internet at the time led to a massive change in the way

information became common. Activities such as conferences and the issuance of policy statements

on open access took place to enhance the development of IR. In 2002, the Budapest Open Access

Initiative (Chan et al., 2002) aided the affirmation of the commitment of scholars to preserve their

work and for the creation of open access journals. A declaration on open access that tremendously

transformed the availability and accessibility of information to all users in the world followed in

2003 as the “Berlin Declaration”. The boost provided by this statement is the plea for the support

of the dissemination of knowledge for both traditional and electronic forms of information (Planck,


28

2003). There was no doubt, however that IR would receive the world’s attention from that moment.

It is therefore not strange with regards to the experience, and the kind of growth and acceptance

IR has obtained.

The idea of open access gained momentum in the early 1990s with the introduction of the Internet

and the World Wide Web in 1989 (Bangani, 2018). The history of IRs, therefore, has links to both

the open access movement and the introduction of the World Wide Web. Institutional repository

is traced to William Gardner's article in the journal “Psychological Science” in the year 1990. Due

to its far-reaching suggestions, the article was quickly opened for “open peer commentary”

(Harnad, 1990). Repositories had a lot of support from most of the people who commented on the

article. (Estes, 1990; Fox, 1990; Harnad, 1990; Kintsch, 1990) with the exception of one obvious

opponent being Hunt (1990) who decided to find and predict the challenges that would come along

with institutional repositories.

The rate with which IRs were deployed in public universities in South Africa was tremendous

and became a motivation for most countries and academic institutions in Africa in particular.

South Africa is one of the countries in the developing world identified to be a fast growing

country in terms of deployment of IRs (Chilimo, 2015; Mostofa et al., 2015). A study of the

available literature on institutional repositories in Ghana indicates that there are established

repositories in the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

Technology (Martin-Yeboah 2015:157). In his study, an assessment of how IRs were created and

have been sustainably managed for use by these two public universities was done. Again, Martin-

Yeboah, Alemna, and Adjei (2018: 13,14) identified repositories that exist to project the image

of the institutions, with research productivity being the main driving force in Kwame Nkrumah

University of Science and Technology, Ashesi University College, Central University College,


29

and the University of Ghana, Legon. Apart from the institutions identified above, Malekani and

Kavishe (2018: 6) have also pointed out that the following institutions have established

institutional repositories through the assistance of the Consortium of Research and Academic

Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) and the International Network for Availability of Scientific

Publication (INASP). These institutions are the University of Cape Coast, University of

Education, Winneba, Methodist University College, University for Development Studies, and

the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. These studies present a show and

a clear evidence of the establishment of IRs in Ghana, following the experience of the

establishment and growth IRs in other parts around the globe.

Yang & Li (2015) noted that IR could only be accepted by all stakeholders and serve to its full

capacity when awareness has been created for the stakeholders to realize its existence and the

potential benefits it provides. The library staff forms a critical mass in the adoption of IR and their

awareness is of much importance as that awareness could lead to the establishment of IR or

otherwise. It is after IR has been established that the awareness of users will come to play. This

expression by Yang and Li is an indication that the possibility of an IR establishment will highly

be dependent on the knowledge acquired by the institution that is yet to introduce it. As identified

by Rogers (2003), the adopters or managers of the institution that want to create the IR need to

have knowledge and understanding of how the intended innovation works.

There are so many strategies such as the Open Access Week that could be employed as an initial

measure that leads to the establishment of an IR. The IR of Tshwane University of Technology

was established alongside its launch in 2013, during the Open Access Week (Maake, 2017). The

study by Nunda and Elia (2019) concludes that promoting awareness, change of attitude, and an

understanding of the repository benefits depends on the availability of a vigorous information


30

literacy program. This is an emphasis on education that is aimed at creating consciousness among

stakeholders of institutional repositories.

2.7 Positive Impact of IR

IRs are an important area within the educational landscape. They are open-access electronic

systems that provide a lot of benefits to academic institutions, researchers, publishers, funding

agencies, and the entire nation (Nicholas & Rowlands, 2005; Cullen & Chawner, 2008; Suber,

2010). In a briefing paper, Swan (2009) provided a summary of the advantages an institution

obtains from an IR:

i. Opening up outputs of the institution to a worldwide audience

ii. Maximizing the visibility and impact of these outputs as a result

iii. Showcasing the institution to interested constituencies (prospective staff,

prospective students, and other stakeholders)

iv. Collecting and curating digital output

v. Managing and measuring research and teaching activities

vi. Providing a workspace and work-in-progress, and for collaborative or large-scale

projects

vii. Enabling and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to research

viii. Facilitating the development and sharing of digital teaching materials and aids

ix. Supporting student endeavors, providing access to theses and dissertations, and a

location for the development of e-portfolios.

As pointed out by Swan (2009) in his briefing paper above, academic institutions also benefit

immensely from the existence of IRs. There is better worldwide visibility and reputation, an


31

effective means of attracting funding, students, and exceptional staff. There is also an opportunity

for putting together all forms of institutional outputs in an organized manner and ensuring their

preservation for long-term use (Pickton & Barwick, 2006; Lyte et al, 2009; Jain, 2011).

According to Jain (2012), it is a way of maximizing availability, accessibility, discoverability,

and functionality of scholarly research output at no cost to the user. Researchers in developing

countries tend to gain a lot from IRs as they provide unhindered access to information (Christian,

2009). The potential benefits of open access IRs to researchers, educators and institutions in

developing countries is very prominent (Canada, 2009).

Authors also have their share of the benefit as they obtain greater security and long term

accessibility of material from IRs as opposed to a personal website. That is, they serve as a central

archive of one’s work, enhancement in the form of professional prominence that is achieved as

a result of wider publicity and improved use of publication, and also the chance of collaborating

on a wider scale (Johnson, 2002; Bankier & Perciali, 2008; White, 2009; Lyte et al, 2009; Jain,

2011). The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent suspension of academic activities in

schools by many governments in the year 2020 has brought to the fore the need to consider

electronic means such as IRs very important for accessing academic resources. As part of

ensuring that plans are in place for continuous learning in schools, the use of online learning and

e-learning strategies were adopted by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

as part of the means of accessing learning resources (World Health Organization, 2020). In Japan,

for instance, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports, and Technology used various

means of motivating university libraries to establish institutional repositories to enhance the

sharing of knowledge globally and across the country as far back as 2008 (Cullen & Nagata,

2008).


32

The benefits of institutional repositories in situations like the COVID-19 era can never be

underestimated. The outbreak has presented in its wake the need to make use of electronic

resources such as the holdings of IRs. The University of Ghana through the head of the electronic

resources of the Balme Library on the 25th day of March 2020, through an email message,

reiterated the need for the university community to access electronic resources which include the

holdings of the IR (University of Ghana, 2020). According to Rieger (2008), IRs expedite

numerous activities including digital asset management; protection of digital assets; promoting

the visibility of institutions; and facilitating the location and access to content. IRs can also

provide access to outputs of public research initiatives. Many benefits can accrue from the

creation and implementation of IRs as outlined by Moahi (2009). One such benefit is that the

institute or university will be able to maintain a centralized collection of its output. This depends

on the type of IR, and whether it is for research outputs (theses, dissertations, working reports,

published papers, and similar material) or entire institutional output, beyond what is academic

and research-based. Moahi goes on to say that, the output of value, and what would otherwise be

lost to the institution, is collated and made available for current and later use by members of the

institutions and indeed others who may have an interest. Generally, universities and research

institutions produce a considerable output of material that may not be published and therefore

accessible, and having an IR means that the grey literature that is produced in an institution can

be compiled, preserved, and disseminated as needed.

Omeluzor (2014) stated that both institutions and contributors benefit from IR. Institutions

benefit from IR as it serves as real pointers of an institution’s excellence, thus increasing its

visibility, reputation, and public worth; Increases the ranking of an institution both at local and

international level; enhances learning, online teaching, and research, especially in higher


33

institution of learning; and presents an institution’s intellectual capital to a whole lot of scholars

(Crow, 2002; Sharma, Meichieo & Saha, 2008; and Murray, 2008). Other benefits to the

institutions as expressed by the authors above are that IR provides a central component in

reforming scholarly communication (Chawner, & Cullen, 2009) by stimulating innovation in a

disaggregated publishing structure; provides an immediate and valuable complement to the

existing scholarly publishing model, while stimulating innovation that evolves and improves

overtime; and enhances resource sharing and provides long-term solution. All these are the

benefits that universities as higher institutions can derive from IRs.

Dhanavandan & Tamizhchelvan, (2013) agreed with their observation that the benefits related to

the use of IR covers open-access to the global audience of scholars, increased impact of scholar’s

work, easy availability and accessibility to research studies and the establishment of further

research approaches, self-archiving and increased citation to published scholarly work by other

scholars and many more. Crow (2002) provides an idea of broad benefits, which is that, the

college or university boundary is not absolute, and that organizations finding use and benefit

from an institutional repository could include government departments, non-governmental

organizations (NGOs), museums, independent research organizations, federations of societies

and even commercial entities.

2.8 Technology and Infrastructure needed for the establishment of an IR

In dealing with IRs, the required infrastructure and technology cannot be overemphasized.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is the driving force behind any IR

require that the appropriate personnel, software, and infrastructure are in place to ensure that IRs

function effectively as they should (Bankier & Gleason, 2014). Saffady (1995) enumerated a


34

number of ICT requirements for effective implementation of technological innovation in libraries

such as large information repositories, various online databases, information products, computer

storage devices on which information repositories reside, computerized networked library

systems, the internet, database servers, collection of computers, adequate technical support, and

so forth. This suggests that, technology and accompanying infrastructure are very essential in the

establishment of IR which thrives on the adoption of ICT (De Castro, Shearer & Summann,

2014). Amofah-Serwaa (2018) in her study findings indicated that servers, operating systems,

good bandwidth, and all internet enabled devices were required infrastructure needed in an

academic library. Most of the ICT related implementations can never be possible without these

technological infrastructure.

Repository systems are currently highly used in education and research environments, hence they

provide a solid base for a global infrastructure of research. However, most of the platforms used

in the repositories are using out of date technology which was designed two decades ago (Zervas,

Kounoudes, Artemi, & Giannoulakis, 2019). For this reason, repositories have not yet reached

their full potential and they are mainly used for publishing the research output of the institutions.

Therefore in 2016, COAR7 formed a Working Group to “identify the core functionalities for the

next generation of repositories. These functionalities include more web-friendly architectures,

embedding repositories into the workflow of researchers, open peer review and quality

assessment of the content, and better impact and usage measures.” These new functionalities aim

to transform repositories into the foundation for a distributed, globally networked infrastructure

for scholarly communication. Layers of added value services can be deployed on this

infrastructure which makes a repository more research-oriented, innovative while providing open

peer review and quality assessment of the content and better impact and usage measures.


35

According to COAR, the exact vision for Next Generation Repositories is “to position

repositories as the foundation for a distributed, globally networked infrastructure for scholarly

communication, on top of which layers of value-added services will be deployed, thereby

transforming the system, making it more beneficial. The two main groups of software for setting

up an IR are the open-source and the commercial software. A study by Sheeja, Mathew, &

Cherukodan (2015), revealed that the five major repository software are open source. DSpace is

the world’s most widely used open-source software among the top five for building digital

repositories. According to their study, out of the 2,680 repositories listed in the ROAR, 1,489

repositories are using DSpace software, which represents 55.5%. The total number of the

remaining four repository software and their percentages are 535 (19.9%), 335 (12.5%), 56

(2.08%), and 43 (1.6%) for EPrint, Digital Commons, OPUS and Fedora respectively. Figure 2.2

is a pictorial representation of the usage of the top five repository software.

Figure 2.2: Major five repository software and their share of adoption

Source: Sheeja, Mathew & Cherukodan (2015)

55.50%19.90%

12.50%

2% 1.60%

Dspace

Eprints

Digital Commons

OPUS

Fedora


36

Laxminarsaiah and Rajgoli (2007) have identified that the open-source institutional repositories

software include ARNO, CDSware, DSpace, ePrints, FEDORA, Greenstone, Invenio, MyCoRe,

and SobekCM. DSpace and ePrints are the most widely used among them. DSpace software

facilitates the management of multidisciplinary content while ePrints can be locally customized.

Greenstone, however, is preferred because it can support multilingual documents. In a survey by

Bailey et al (2006) as cited by Martin-Yeboah (2015), DSpace was recognized as the software of

choice for many institutions due to the availability of technical support and its ability to support

different formats of content. Additionally, a large user group is a major reason why it is mostly

adopted.

Nature and fashion are changing the world every day in different ways including technology.

Technology is changing fast and what seems to be nearly perfect today can be disastrous

tomorrow. It is very hard to imagine that the good old technology that played analog audio news

content and was around for nearly a century was misplaced almost overnight on the arrival of

digital equipment. Although there could be a rebirth of the old technology, the need to care for

technology remains very essential (Kasusse, Njoku, Badu, & Mwakyagi, 2016). From the

reviewed literature, technological infrastructure is of essence in the establishment of an IR, and

it behooves on management of institutions to consider it as a very critical factor. The

establishment of IR cannot be sustained without paying attention to the required staff. This is not

just the staff to manage the IR but those with the appropriate skills to manage the technological

infrastructure that would be adopted for the IR. In early 2015, it was decided that the Cyprus

University of Technology must become a member of Open Researcher and Contributor ID

(ORCiD) and the Library undertook the project to integrate ORCiD in its systems. It became very


37

paramount to consider the staff that will manage the IR after its creation (Zervas, Kounoudes,

Artemi, & Giannoulakis, (2019).

2.9 Challenges of establishing Institutional Repositories (IR)

Despite the numerous benefits of institutional repositories, their establishment and sustainability

have not been easy. There are several setbacks that remain a strong force against the

establishment of IRs globally. These challenges and barriers prevent the smooth creation and

effective maintenance of IRs. Dicovitsky (2010) has identified that even though the under-

developed countries have made certain momentous improvements in access to mobile technology

and infrastructure, there is still difficulty in achieving broadband services. Other studies done by

Giarlo and Canada point out that challenges such as connectivity, poor telecommunication, and

high cost of Information and Communication Technology make the sustainability of open access

institutional repositories very difficult in developing countries (Giarlo, 2005; Canada, 2009).

2.9.1 Cost of establishing IRs

Pickton and Barwick (2006) have observed that the main difficulty does not have to do with the

set-up cost but the maintenance cost. Even though maintenance cost has been identified by

Pickton and Barwick, Christian (2009) and Canada (2009) added that the required financial

support needed to upgrade institutional repositories is lacking in developing countries. These

pose a grave danger to technological support for the upgrade, maintenance, and sustenance of

institutional repositories. Saini (2018) observed that slow adoption and development of

repositories in most developing countries is attributed to higher learning institutions that are still

in the process of establishing guiding principles and best practices. Slow adoption and use of

institutional repositories in African countries are also attributed to institutional challenges such


38

as reliable electricity supply, policies, internet access, awareness, and cost (Ofosu-Ampong,

2016; Tapfuma, 2016).

2.9.2 Challenge of ICT and related issues

Technical difficulties are inextricably linked with the challenges of institutional repositories.

These issues relate largely to human resources, material resources, and the conversion of

materials from their existing format to electronic or digital format. There are many technical

challenges faced in establishing an IR, and more relevant when information and communication

technology expertise is at a premium or sought from an already stretched local information

technology department. Issues may range from adapting open source systems and compatibility

of the software to formatting documents in an appropriate long-term format as well as the

provision of adequate training to authors and other stakeholders, and so forth. For some, it is

challenging in itself to move from the traditional print format to electronic, which again calls for

investment in training; many of the above issues may be caused or exacerbated by a lack of

proper understanding about the roles, purposes, and workings of an IR.

Using institutional repositories to preserve information including "born-digital" news content

while increasing their usage is an optimistic trend but it relies on a technology environment and

therefore prone to challenges of technology. It is mainly compatibility and upgrades that may

bring about obsolescence, storage space, and content security. The rapidly changing technology

environment may render a repository obsolete and limit access to digital content. The changing

technology environment is also capable of making hugely invested old-fashioned machines or

technology obsolete in a very short time. In addition to the financial consequences of

obsolescence, there is a risk of survival of the preserved digital news content (Kasusse et al 2016).


39

Priti (2011) has also outlined the following challenges associated with the establishment of IR;

The initial financial cost for IR open-source software opted for by most institutions is not high

but the ongoing maintenance costs may be significant and may prohibit an IR project from getting

beyond the proposal stage (Pickton and Barwick, 2006). Sometimes, the initial costs are

prohibitive for a poorly resourced organization; In-house development of IRs is time-consuming,

labor-intensive, and requires long-term sustained efforts (Robinson, 2009; Chan, 2009). This

time-consuming factor hampers the success of an independent IR; Literature notes that IR

benefits are not properly marketed and, therefore, they are not well appreciated by all academic

institutions and academic staff (Chan, 2009).

2.9.3 The challenge of institutional support

Institutional repositories receive little or no support from institutions that host them and this

causes a very serious setback. Christian (2009) points out that knowledge about the benefits of

open access institutional repositories is very low among the major stakeholders like lecturers,

researchers, librarians, and students. Due to this, the kind of commitment and the support that is

required of stakeholders is rare (Pickton & Barwick, 2006). Lynch (2003) has described this

particular challenge as “stewardship is easy and expensive to claim; it is expensive and difficult

to honor, and perhaps, it will prove to be all too easy to later abdicate”. Closely linked with

institutional challenge is the alternative methods of access to materials other than what journals

of known prestige with effective systems of peer review. The means of dissemination by IR are

not given special attention in most cases by some researchers. These researchers are accustomed

to these journals of known prestige to the extent that, they see little benefit in alternative methods

of access to materials that institutional repositories provide (Cullen & Chawner, 2008).

Fernandez (2006) has noted that India uses both top-down and bottom-up approaches to create


40

awareness of open access through talks at local and international fora, local workshops, and also

by the use of reputable databases such as Bioline.

In a study by Corletey (2011), it emerged that most of the challenges that Ghanaian institutional

repositories were facing were very technical such as poor connectivity, low bandwidth, and a

lack of skilled personnel. These were a common feature of repositories trying to take off after

their creation. In his study, it emerged that the fulcrum of the challenges of the repository was

about getting the involvement of the broader campus community to participate fully. Meanwhile,

it has been observed that to change the current structure of scholarly publishing requires the

acceptance and support of key stakeholders such as faculty, librarians, and publishers (Ming,

2000; Johnson, 2002). As the Diffusion of Innovations Theory postulates, early adopters are very

crucial in the success of innovation (Rogers, 2003). As such, bringing on board CoE officials

such as the principal, vice-principal, college librarian, college secretary, finance officer, internal

auditor, quality assurance officer, the ICT officer, and other key members would be of great

necessity. In the case of a university, bringing on board the Vice-Chancellor, the Provost and the

University Registrar, and the librarian would make them champion the course of the repository

to the benefit of the entire campus community (Martin-Yeboah, Alemna, & Adjei, (2018).

Asamoah-Hassan (2009) argues that it is difficult to convince university management,

researchers, and academics that it is necessary to have an institutional repository and get them to

agree to plan and support it on a long term basis. Lamptey and Corletey (2011) have revealed

that funding to start and sustain the institutional repository, reliable electricity supply, dependable

and good internet connectivity, permission for licensing issues, and resistance from computer-

phobia researchers and faculty are other areas of serious challenge. The early part of establishing

institutional repositories have encountered not only the challenges identified above but


41

generating content for the repository. The unwillingness on the part of some researchers to

deposit research work has resulted in this particular difficulty repositories face in their early

stages of establishment. Stevan Harnad, the ePrint pioneer has therefore suggested a self-

archiving feature. It is believed that when it becomes obligatory for the academic community to

populate repositories, they could effectively function as it is required of them (Bankier & Perciali,

2008; Harnad, 2008; Xia, 2009). Some universities and institutes such as Hong Kong and

Harvard universities have already started with this option as revealed by Gardner (2008).

Mandatory self-archiving is a better strategy that would help in surmounting the challenge IR

establishment face, if managed properly.

Also, it should be clearly known to all prospective institutions that, to establish a well-functioning

IR without the full involvement of the management and without the consideration of ethical

issues could be dire. In most cases, this remains the concern of stakeholders. (Anenene,

Alegbeleye, Oyewole, 2017)). Shedding a light on one of the issues, John-Okeke (2008) noted

that appreciating copyright issues are very important to building a successful institutional

repository. These issues therefore need proper management in order to prevent any impediment

to the establishment of IRs. Eke (2011) viewed the legal aspects of IRs as a challenge. Musa,

Musa & Aliyu (2014) also raised the concern of issues relating to copyright. If these ethical issues

are not well ironed out, the perceived benefits of IRs to universities which include exposure of

researchers (Cullen & Chawner, 2008), increasing the reputation and recognition of the higher

institution (Pinfield, 2002), and the preservation of the entire scholarly knowledge of the

institution (Lynch, 2003), would not be realized. In dealing with challenges confronting

institutional repositories, the issue of copyright cannot be disregarded. Since some researchers

do not have ample knowledge about issues of intellectual property rights, they become very


42

careful not to flout publisher copyright. They fail to negotiate their intellectual property rights to

their advantage, especially when it comes to alternative publishing arrangements. Similarly, there

is an intelligent way on the part of publishers to oppose institutional repositories since they see

it as a threat and a competition to their business (Pickton & Barwick, 2006; Davis & Connolly,

2007; Moahi, 2012).

Promotional challenges faced by the establishment of Institutional Repositories are

comparatively new to much of the academic world, particularly in developing countries. It is a

challenge to promote the benefits IRs offer whiles allaying stakeholders’ concerns. A relentless

promotional and marketing segments are crucial to successful IR implementation. It is

specifically important to win support from academia and senior management. According to

Westell (2006), the concept of archiving the scholarly output of the university and making it

available in the context of the institution is one that scholars and administrators are still coming

to terms with. Equally, the real challenge is not the technical implementation of the IR, but rather

the cultural change necessary for it to become embedded and commonplace in the activities and

normal behavioral patterns of researchers (Chan et al., 2005). Moahi (2009) believes that doing

this implies understanding the “existing human landscape” in the form of the organizational

climate, that is, culture, policies, governance issues, politics, and goals. Hence, the general claim

agrees with the assertion of Chan et al (2005) and Moahi (2009) that the real pivot of sustainable

repositories are not the technical issues but rather the cultural change necessary for it to become

embedded in the activities and normal behavioral pattern of the campus community (Rogers,

2003). It is therefore necessary to ensure that policies become the driving force to enhance

digitization activities (Dadzie & van der Walt, 2015; Nurminen, 2014).


43

2.9 Chapter Summary

The reviewed literature has revealed that there is a need to establish an institutional repository as

an academic setup due to the enormous benefits it offers. It is clear that institutional repositories

are concentrated in developed countries, yet developing countries tend to gain a lot from the

institutional repository as they provide unhindered access to information. Institutions,

researchers, publishers, funding agencies, and countries benefit from institutional repositories.

The main challenges to institutional repositories include low funding and support due to the

ignorance of the benefits. Several other impediments such as upgrade, legal issues, maintenance,

and sustenance of institutional repositories. These and other challenges could be lessened by the

creation of awareness for all stakeholders to realize its need.


44

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter addressed the various tools, procedures, and methods that were employed in

obtaining the appropriate data for the study. The chapter systematically described the design,

selection of cases and subjects, the instrumentation employed, data collection procedures,

presentation, and analysis of data. The standard ethical procedures were duly followed.

3.2 Research Design

Research design is the framework that outlines the interconnections between the various studies

that are needed to successfully handle the essential stages of a study in order to ensure that the

focus of the investigation is achieved (Bryman, 2004). Cooper and Schindler (2003) state that

research design is a strategy that guides the investigator through the process of gathering,

analyzing, and interpreting ideas in a systematic model that allows inferences to be made about

the variables under study. Research design ensures that the information obtained addresses the

research objectives. In general, a research design can show how various tools and instruments are

used to achieve the study's objectives in a step by step manner (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhil,

2012). Byrne (2017) has identified the following research designs; Descriptive or exploratory (case

study, naturalistic observation), Correlational (case-control study, observational study), Quasi-

experimental (field experiment, quasi-experiment), Experimental (experiment with random

allocation and a control and test group), Review (literature review, systematic review), and Meta-

analytic (meta-analysis)

For the purpose of this study, the researcher employed the case study design in carrying out the

research. The case study design is defined as a thorough study about a person, a unit, or a group


45

of persons, where the aim is to generalize over several units (Jacobsen, 2002). A close definition

offered by Thomas (2011) states that a case study examines systems with a complete view of either

one or several methods. The case study design is not aimed at analyzing cases, but a good way to

describe and explore a situation in order to understand it (Cousin, 2005). Creswell (2009) also

identified a case study as a pragmatic investigation where the focus dwells on a contemporary

occurrence within its real-life setting. The case study research design is very flexible and can

introduce new results in the course of its use. Case studies also provide more realistic responses

than a purely statistical survey.

Baxter and Jack (2008) identified the following types of case study: explanatory, descriptive,

exploratory, intrinsic, collective, instrumental, and multiple-case study. This study employed the

multiple case study design. According to Yin (2003), a multiple case study can be employed for

a research. Multiple case study is strong and reliable when used in a study. Again, it enables the

researcher to explore the differences within and between cases with the goal of replicating

conclusions across cases (Baxter & Jack 2008). Stake (1995) also buttressed that a multiple case

study permits the researcher to understand the similarities and differences between the cases under

study. Based on the above assertions, the researcher believes that it was more prudent to choose a

multiple case study for the understanding of the phenomenon.

A multiple case study can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches (Yin,

2013; Creswell, 2014). The quantitative approach in multiple case study employs the use of inquiry

such as experimentation, survey, and uses of numeric data for its measurement and analysis

(Armitage, 2007). The quantitative approach deal with the use of numbers and variables that can

be mutated in a systematic process of describing a phenomenon (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). The

quantitative approach in multiple case study aids the researcher in tackling the exact issues of study


46

and tends to generalize the results of the study to the relevant population (Creswell, 2009). The

quantitative approach is considered to be difficult and tough but explicit due to the accuracy

offered by measurement. The quantitative approach involves the discovery of large-scale social

trends and the connection between variables (Bryman, 2012).

The qualitative approach in multiple case study, on the other hand, is the process of inquiry that

pulls data from the setting in which the study occurs. To describe these happenings, it is a means

of determining the process in which happenings are rooted and the viewpoints of those

participating in the events, using induction to obtain conceivable justifications based on observed

phenomena (Gorman and Clayton, 2005).

The rationale behind the adoption of a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches in multiple

case study approach is that a single approach cannot be employed to explain the data collected

through different methods (Tashakkori, Teddlie & Teddlie, 1998; Creswell, & Plano Clark, 2017).

For instance, the findings from the interviews can further be explained by administering a

questionnaire with a sample of those filled out to gain an understanding of the survey findings

(Robson, 2002). Hence, the use of multiple case study based on a mix of qualitative and

quantitative approaches (Mesel, 2012). This provided a much more detailed analysis to achieve

the objectives of the study.

3.3 Selection of Case(s)

A multiple case study was adopted to carry out a feasibility study on the establishment of IRs in

six Colleges of Education (CoEs) in Ghana. This design was employed because it provides more

realistic responses than a survey. The multiple case study aided the understanding of the

similarities and differences between the cases (Baxter & Jack, 2008). These colleges were


47

selected out of the forty-six (46) public CoEs in Ghana. These cases belong to the five main zones

of the CoEs in the country (T-TEL, n. d.). Two of the cases were selected from the Ashanti/Brong

Ahafo zone because it is the zone with the largest number of colleges; the Wesley CoE (WESCO)

in Kumasi and Berekum CoE (BECOLED) in Berekum. This was to ensure an objective

representation of all the forty-six (46) public CoEs in Ghana. Thus, selected colleges were the

following: Accra CoE (ACCE) (Eastern/Greater Accra Zone), Bagabaga CoE (BACE) (Northern

Zone), Berekum CoE (BECOLED) (Ashanti/Brong Ahafo Zone), Holy Child CoE (HCCE)

(Central/Western Zone), Jasikan CoE (JASICO) (Volta Zone), and Wesley CoE (WESCO)

(Ashanti/Brong Ahafo Zone).

3.3.1 Study Setting

The College of Education Act 2012 (Act 847) upgraded all public colleges of education to tertiary

status. Before 2012, the colleges had run the Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) program since

2004 (Institute of Education, 2013). A brief background of the six selected colleges has been

provided below.

3.3.2 Accra College of Education

The Accra CoE begun in 1962 in a one-storey building at Accra New Town as Government

Teacher Training College. The college came about as a day training college with 19 students and

8 members of staff. Notable among them were Messrs Kodjo Haizel and F.N. Gberbie, both of

whom became principals of the college. The College was later relocated to the present site at East

Legon in 1985. The Accra CoE became a boarding institution in 2001. Currently, the college has

a staff strength of 82 and a student population of 967. The programs of study are Information and

Communication Technology (ICT), Physical Education, Primary Education, and Junior High

School Education. The Accra CoE is affiliated to the University of Ghana.


48

3.3.3 Bagabaga College of Education

The Bagabaga CoE was established on January 31, 1944, as Bagabaga Training College with the

motto: “Advance with the Sciences”. The College which is situated at Tamale has a mission of

training sound, competent, and disciplined professional teachers with academic excellence to

teach at the basic schools in Ghana. The College, which is situated at Tamale in the Northern

Region of Ghana, has the vision to become the best CoE in the Northern part of Ghana, and as

one of the best in the West African sub-region. Bagabaga CoE has a staff strength of 110 with a

total student population of 1,594. The programs of study are Technical, Science, ICT, Early

Childhood Education, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Primary Education. The College is

affiliated to the University of Education, Winneba.

3.3.4 Berekum College of Education

The Berekum CoE is located at the South-Eastern part of Berekum, on the Berekum-Sunyani

road. The college was founded in February 1953 as a government institution. The vision of the

college is to become an icon of excellence in teacher education. The programs of study at the

Berekum CoE are Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, ICT, Early Childhood

Education, and Social Studies. The college has a staff strength of 145 and a student population

of 1,586. The college is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast.

3.3.5 Holy Child College of Education

The Holy Child CoE was originally established in Cape Coast in 1946 as Adiembra Training

College to offer the Post-Primary Certificate ‘A’ course. The Holy Child CoE was moved to its

present site on 18th February 1955, which is at the top of Fijai Hill, Takoradi, and renamed Holy


49

Child College to reflect the role of the Holy Child Community which established the institution.

The Holy Child College of Education has a staff strength of 74 and a student population of 917.

The programs of study are Early Childhood Education, Physical Education, Home Economics,

Primary Education, and Junior High School Education. The college is affiliated to the University

of Cape Coast.

3.3.6 Jasikan College of Education

The Jasikan CoE was first established at Peki Blengo in the Volta Region as Body Corporate

College (BODYCO) in 1952. The motto adopted at the time of its establishment is: ‘Sapre Aude’,

meaning ‘Dare; to be Wise’. The college is now permanently located at Jasikan. Thirty (30) male

students were enrolled at its inception. Jasikan CoE has a student population of 1,132 with a staff

strength of around 80. The programs of study are Early Childhood Education, Information and

Communication Technology, Primary Education, and Junior High School Education. It is

affiliated to the University of Cape Coast.

3.3.7 Wesley College of Education

The Wesley CoE was established at Kemp, Aburi in the Eastern Region, in the year 1922 and

was later moved to Kumasi, the present location on March 3, 1924. The college began with 3

tutors and 30 students who were trained as teacher-catechists. The Wesley CoE has a student

population of 2, 238, and a staff strength of 96. The programs of study are Science, Information

and Communication Technology, Social Studies, Mathematics, French and Primary Education.

It is affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.


50

3.4 Selection of Subjects

Since the study concerned CoEs, the management body, the librarians, tutors, quality assurance

officers, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) officers were engaged. The

involvement of these personnel was essential because their operations and responsibilities were

crucial for the establishment of the institutional repository. The necessary means to choose

respondents were followed carefully as discussed below.

3.4.1 Population

A population is considered by Neuman (2006) as the larger unit with similar characteristics from

which a sample is taken. The concept of a population goes beyond human subjects to include

artifacts, social actions, and documents. Banerjee and Chaudhury (2010) described the

population as all the individuals or objects or elements that have specific characteristics that are

of interest to a researcher for a particular investigation. The various categories of participants for

this study included the college management (principal, vice-principal, librarian, finance officer,

college secretary, and the internal auditor), the ICT officers, quality assurance officers, and tutors

of the selected institutions. The principals were selected for the study because of their position

as the leaders of the college management. The vice-principals assist the principals in the making

and implementation of policies. The head librarians are the information professionals who are in

charge of information resources, hence needed as managers for the establishment of the IR. The

finance officers who are in charge of financial management are crucial when it comes to critical

decisions such as issues relating to funds needed for the formation of an IR. The college secretary

is the head of all administrative procedures of the college, hence responsible for keeping and

preservation of all documents of the college. The internal auditor is the person responsible for

evaluating all transactions of the institution to find out whether value for money has been


51

obtained. The ICT officers are those in charge of all technical issues related to information

systems. The quality assurance officers were selected because they ensure that the appropriate

procedures of the institutions are followed towards the attainment of the institutional vision. The

tutors are the academic staff who will engage themselves in publications for promotion, hence a

major stakeholder in the creation of the IR.

According to field data, 2020, JASICO had no substantive librarian, HCCE and ACCE had no

internal auditors, and WESCO had no vice-principal. Again, it came to light at the time of

gathering data that ACCE, HCCE, and JASICO had no ICT officers. The total number of

management members was twenty-seven (27); head librarians were five (5), ICT officers were

three (3), quality assurance officers were six (6), and tutors were three hundred and twenty-four

(324). Thus, the total population size for the study for the six selected colleges was three hundred

and sixty-five (365). The analysis of the total population used for the study is seen in Table 3.1.


52

Table 3.1: Population of respondents

RESPONDEN

TS

COLLEGES TO-

TAL ACCE BACE BECO-

LED

HCCE JASICO WES-

CO

Management

members

4 5

5 4 4 1 27

Head

librarians

1 1 1 1 - 1 5

ICT officers - 1 1 - - 1 3

Quality

Assurance

officers

1 1 1 1 1 1 6

Tutors 40 70 66 37 41 70 324

Total 46 78 74 43 47 77 365

Source: Field data, 2019

From Table 3.1, the total population was manageable, therefore, the researcher decided to use

the entire population for the study, hence the population served as the sample size and therefore

no sampling technique was employed.

3.5 Data Collection Instrument

Hsu and Sandford (2007), refer to instrumentation as the tools or means a researcher employs in

measuring variables or items of interest through the data collection process. The combination of

qualitative and quantitative methods for the study made the adoption and use of both interviews

and questionnaire appropriate. According to Creswell (2009), using more than one instrument for

data collection allows for triangulation. In the case of Creswell & Miller (2000), triangulation is

the process whereby the researchers look for convergence among multiple and different sources


53

of information in order to validate a phenomenon. In short, triangulation helps to increase the

credibility of a study. Semi-structured interview was scheduled to obtain primary information from

the personal and telephone interviews from the librarians, principals, vice-principals, finance

officers, college secretaries, internal auditors, quality assurance officers, and ICT officers. A

questionnaire was designed in a Google Form and the electronic link sent via WhatsApp to the

respondents (Tutors).

3.5.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire for data collection was developed by the researcher based on the objectives of

the study and the kind of data needed for the study. Thomas (2003) suggests using a questionnaire

in collecting large data. This is because a large quantity of data can be collected in a relatively

short period. Again, a wide variety of data can be obtained from participants, and finally, data

can be obtained from participants in distant places in the absence of the researcher. Creswell and

Poth (2016) pointed out that the questionnaire has weaknesses such as a low response rate and

bias is more likely to occur.

The questionnaire for this study was guided by the objectives of the study and contained open

and closed-ended questions (See Appendix 1). The questionnaire was in 5 sections; sections A

to F. The respondents were allowed to choose from alternative answers as well as stating their

views in response to closed and open-ended questions respectively. This assisted the researcher

to cover a wider area for better inference and analysis. It also ensured greater anonymity and less

opportunity for biases. The questionnaire, again, offered a considerable and objective view on an

issue because it allowed respondents to decide on any statement before ticking the preferred

choice without any interference, and also encouraged greater honesty among them. The

researcher used the Google Form in creating and administering the online questionnaire due to


54

the COVID-19 pandemic that was first recorded in Ghana on March 13, 2020 (Ghana Health

Service, 2020). This led to the closure of all educational institutions in the country by presidential

directive (Ministry of Health, 2020). The directive by the president of the Republic of Ghana was

pronounced on March 15, 2020, a day before the re-opening of CoEs in Ghana to begin the

second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. Hence, the researcher could not visit the

selected CoEs to distribute the printed questionnaire. The Google Form was a convenient and

fast means of creating online questions with responses. Gathering feedback from respondents is

very effective, easier, and very convenient for the respondents and the researcher with no

interviewer present (Bennet, 2016).

3.5.2 Interview Guide

The need for more detailed data to support those obtained from the questionnaire made the

researcher to conduct interviews to create effective means of obtaining detailed and sincere

qualitative information from individual participants (Thomas, 2003; Saunders, Lewis, &

Thornhill, 2007, p.310). According to Mitchell and Jolley (2010), an interview is a survey in

which the researcher orally asks participants questions to describe a phenomenon. They provide

elaborate responses and a forum for sincere participation in a study. Mitchell and Jolley (2010)

discussed that there are three main types of interviews namely; structured, semi-structured, and

unstructured interview. They explained that the structured interview is a type in which all

respondents are asked a standard list of questions in a standard order. A semi-structured interview

on the other hand, is similar to the structured interview and constructed around a core of standard

questions (Adams, 2015). However, the interviewer may expand on any question in order to

explore a given response in greater depth. Finally, Mitchell and Jolley (2010) advanced that with

the unstructured interview, the interviewers have objectives that they believe can be best met


55

without an imposed structure. The interviewer is free to ask what he or she wants, how he or she

wants to, and the respondent is free to answer how he or she pleases.

This study adopted the semi-structured interview guide to collect qualitative data from the

librarians, principals, vice-principals, secretaries, finance officers, internal auditors, quality

assurance officers, and ICT officers of the six (6) colleges selected for the study (See Appendix

2). The interview was designed around the objectives of the study.

3.6 Data Collection Procedures

A proposed visit to the six selected colleges to ascertain how best the interview sessions would

be done and the appropriate means by which copies of the questionnaire would be administered

for the study could not be done due to the COVID-19 pandemic that was first recorded in Ghana

on March 13, 2020 (Ghana Health Service, 2020). This led to the closure of all educational

institutions in the country by the presidential directive (Ministry of Health, 2020). This planned

visit that could not take place was to observe and find any unique peculiarity of the study setting.

An alternative strategy was devised for data collection. That alternate means adopted for data

collection was the use of Google Forms for the questionnaire on one hand, and the use of

telephone and personal interviews for obtaining information from the management members,

quality assurance officers, and ICT officers on the other hand. The questionnaire was

administered separately from the interview.

Fraenkel and Wallen (2008) have provided for the various approaches for collecting data;

internet-mediated, e-mail, face-to-face, live administration, telephone, and so forth. The

questionnaire was designed with Google Forms and the researcher consulted some of the staff

members of the sampled CoEs who agreed to share the URL link of the questionnaire with the


56

tutors on the tutors’ group WhatsApp platforms, and the responses were given online. Again, the

researcher liaised with some librarians and secretaries of the selected colleges who spoke with

the designated interviewees to avail themselves for either telephone or face-to-face interviews.

Section “A” of the questionnaire elicited information on the background of the respondents,

whiles the rest of the sections focused on items that addressed the objectives of the study. The

face-to-face and telephone interviews were structured under themes; section “A” covered the

background information and the other sections were fashioned along with the objectives of the

study.

The respondents for the quantitative data were Tutors from the six (6) Colleges of Education

(CoEs) in Ghana. An online questionnaire designed with Google Forms were distributed to three

hundred and twenty-four (324) respondents via the respondents’ common WhatsApp group

platforms. The respondents from the six selected CoEs namely; Accra CoE (ACCE), Bagabaga

CoE (BACE), Berekum CoE (BECOLED), Holy Child CoE (HCCE), Jasikan CoE(JASICO), and

Wesley CoE (WESCO) were targeted to complete the questionnaire (See Appendix 1).

Out of 40 copies of the online questionnaire administered to respondents from the ACCE, 35

(12.2%) were received in their complete form. Out of the 70 copies of the questionnaire sent to

respondents from the BACE, 64 (22.4%) were returned. Fifty-nine (20.6%) responses were

received from BECOLED in their complete form out of the 66 copies of the questionnaire. Twenty-

eight (28) fully completed copies of the questionnaire out of 37 were returned from the HCCE

which represented 9.8% of the respondents. JASICO returned 34 (11.9%) copies of the

questionnaire out of 41. On the part of WESCO, 66 (23.1%) questionnaire were returned in their

completed form out of 70. In all, two hundred and eighty-six (286) copies of the questionnaire

were fully completed representing a response rate of 88.3%. According to Babbie (2008, p.289), a


57

response rate of 70% is very good for analysis and reporting. 88.3% is, therefore, an appropriate

rate for the study.

The forty-one (41) participants for the qualitative data were principals, vice-principals, college

secretaries, college librarians, finance officers, internal auditors, quality assurance officers, and

ICT officers from the 6 CoEs sampled for the study. The principals and vice-principals could not

avail themselves for the interview because of the demanding nature of their roles. Besides, the

ACCE and JASICO granted no interview to the researcher. The participants of the ACCE were

not ready for the one-on-one interview since the Greater Accra Region had become a COVID-19

endemic area in Ghana at the time (Sarfo & Karuppannan, 2020). Again, the participants of the

ACCE neither picked the researcher’s telephone calls nor returned them. The participants of

JASICO were not ready to receive anyone for one-on-one interview due to the fear of COVID-19

pandemic, and they also failed to grant a telephone interview. The researcher therefore managed

to organize one-on-one interview with 4 participants of WESCO on August 25, 2020.

The remaining participants from the 4 colleges were interviewed via the telephone on the following

dates; September 11, 2020 (BECOLED), September 13, 2020 (BECOLED), September 13, 2020

(BACE), September 14, 2020 (BECOLED), September 16, 2020 (HCCE), September 17, 2020

(HCCE), September 18, 2020 (BECOLED), September 18, 2020 (BACE), and finally September

20, 2020 (BECOLED). Out of the Forty-one (41) interviewees selected from the six (6) CoEs, 13

from four (4) CoEs were engaged. Three (3) were head librarians, 3 college secretaries, 3 finance

officers, 2 internal auditors, one (1) ICT officer, and one (1) quality assurance officer. Data from

both telephone and one-on-one interview represented the views of participants and management

of the CoEs on the establishment of IRs in the CoEs. Codes were assigned to respondents to

conceal their identities. The selection of the code “P” was assigned to all the interviewees in the


58

six colleges to keep their identities hidden in the study. This made it difficult to relate any of the

participants to any of the sampled colleges. Therefore P1 (participant 1), P2 (participant 2), and so

forth were used to refer to the various participants that were interviewed. The interviews were

analyzed under themes in line with the objectives of the study.

3.7 Presentation of Data and Analysis

Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used in the presentation of data

and analysis in relation with the objectives of the study. The data from the questionnaire were

organized, categorized, edited, and analyzed using simple percentages, tables, and graphs for the

analysis in relation to the objectives of the study. The Google Sheet was used for the analysis of

the questionnaire. The Google Form and Sheet were used because it can be used to collect,

analyze, and organize data (Bennet, 2016).

Maguire and Delahunt (2017) have also provided a step by step guide for learning and teaching

scholars on Thematic Analysis. The study by Maguire and Delahunt (2017), has provided the

best means of analyzing qualitative research without difficulty. The suggestion is that it is the

most widely used in the presentation of qualitative data and analysis.

The primary method of analysis for the qualitative data in this study was thematic content analysis.

Thematic content analysis is a method of identifying, analyzing, and reporting themes or patterns

within data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The interviews were transcribed qualitatively using the

thematic content analysis based on the objectives of the study. Codes were assigned to respondents

to conceal their identities. The selection of a single letter code “P” was assigned to all the

interviewees in the six colleges to keep their identities hidden in the study, since that made it


59

difficult to relate any participant to any of the sampled colleges. Therefore P1 (participant 1), P2

(participant 2), and so forth were used to refer to the various participants that were interviewed.

3.8 Ethical Consideration

This study shares the view of Fraenkel and Wallen (2000) that information acquired from

respondents must be held in confidence. Kusi (2012) opines that in educational research, ethics

are the issues that are related to how the researchers conduct themselves or their practices and

the consequences of these on the participants in the research. Similarly, Cohen, Manion, and

Morrison (2013) suggested two concerns to watch out for in ethical considerations; first, how the

research has been conducted in relation to the research subject (matters such as informed consent,

confidentiality, and persons involved). Secondly, acknowledgment of the contributions of all the

people who have been involved in the research, as well as open recognition of individuals whose

research influenced this present study. Due to this, participants were informed about the study

and its purpose, and their consent sought before their engagement in the study. Engagement with

the participants was made possible by an introductory letter obtained from the Department of

Information Studies of the University of Ghana and used accordingly (See Appendix 3).

Additionally, interviews and every source of literature that was used for the study has been duly

acknowledged in accordance with the principles of academic honesty, copyright, and fair use.

3.9 Chapter Summary

This chapter focused on the methodology used in the study. The study employed a multiple case

study design with a mix of qualitative and quantitative method design. The Google Form online

questionnaire was administered and personal interviews were conducted in the collection of

qualitative data for the study.


60

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter contains the findings that were obtained from the questionnaire and interviews

designed for the study. The findings of the study reflected the qualitative and quantitative

approaches adopted for the study. To ensure consistency in the presentation of findings, the data

analysis was presented concurrently under each objective and sub-theme, where necessary. The

results of the quantitative data have been analyzed and presented in descriptive statistics with

tables and graphs showing frequencies and percentages. The various response options in the

questionnaire were interpreted according to the opinions of respondents. On the other hand,

qualitative data were analyzed under themes and the approach adopted for the study required that

data from interviews complemented data from the questionnaire. This was important because

management members, librarians, and other officers selected for the interview were considered as

key decision-makers in the consideration of IR establishment, thus obtaining their views on the

formation of IR was very key to the study. The researcher interviewed college secretaries, head

librarians, finance officers, and internal auditors. The rest were Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) officers, and quality assurance officers.

The questionnaire (See Appendix 1) designed for the study was distributed to tutors of the sampled

colleges since the establishment of the IR will have a positive impact on their performance and

career as academics. Though principals and vice-principals were not available to be interviewed

because of their busy schedules, the other officers who granted interviews represented the views

of the management. Face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews were conducted to collect

data that represented the views of participants on the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.


61

Thirteen (13) interviews were conducted, four (4) were face-to-face, and the rest were conducted

on the telephone. All interviews were audio-recorded. Again, no data such as names and some

other personal information formed part of the recordings in order to maintain the privacy of the

respondents. The ideas and opinions of respondents were analyzed and the highlighted quotations

in the study therefore do not have any relation with any particular respondent. As indicated in

chapter three of this study, the respondents from the sampled colleges have been coded with the

letter “P” to ensure the confidentiality of interviewees. The interviews were conducted alongside

the objectives of the study. The semi-structured interview guide was used (see appendix 2)

The analysis was organized under the following themes in line with the objectives of the study:

1. Level of awareness of Institutional (IR) Repository among respondents

2. Feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories (IRs) in the CoEs

3. Positive Impact of Institutional Repositories (IRs)

4. Technology and Infrastructure needed for the establishment of an Institutional

Repository (IR)

5. Challenges of establishing Institutional Repositories (IRs)

4.2 Background Information of the Respondents

The respondents from the six (6) selected CoEs were asked to indicate their college (Table 4.1),

gender (Table 4.2), as well as designation and years of service (Table 4.3).


62

Respondents were asked to provide the names of their colleges. This enabled the researcher to

identify the responses with the appropriate CoE. From Table 4.1, 66 (23.1%) respondents were

from WESCO, followed by BACE with 64 (22.3%) respondents. Fifty-nine (59) 20.6% were

received from BECOLED, 35 (12.2%) were from ACCE, 34 (11.9%) were from JASICO, and 28

(9.8%) were from HCCE. The highest number of respondents were from WESCO and the least

were received from HCCE.

Table 4.2: Gender distribution of respondents

Table 4.1: Institutions of Respondents

College of Education FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)

Accra 35 12.2

Bagabaga 64 22.4

Berekum 59 20.6

Holy Child 28 9.8

Jasikan 34 11.9

Wesley 66 23.1

Total 286 100



63

Gender FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)

Male 230 80.4

Female 56 19.5

Total 286 100


The gender of the respondents was asked by the researcher in order to ascertain the number of

males and females who responded to the questionnaire. Table 4.2 shows that, out of the 286

respondents, 230 (80.4%) were males, whiles 56 (19.5%) were females. This implies that the male

population in the colleges was higher than females.

Table 4.3: Years of work experience of respondents

Years of Service on the rank FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)

1-5 years 178 62.2

6-10 years 47 16.4

11-15 years 33 11.5

15 years and above 28 9.8

Total 286 100


A follow-up question was asked by the researcher to find out the number of years served by

respondents on their current designations. Those who had served for 1-5 years constituted 178


64

(62.2%), 47 (16.4%) were those who had served between 6-10 years, and 33 (11.5%) respondents

were within 11-15years, whiles 28 (9.8%) had more than 15 years’ experience. The study revealed

that those who had served on their designation or rank between one and five years constituted the

largest number of respondents from the six colleges under study. This is an indication that those

who had served for a few years in the colleges are those who have long years to serve before

retirement, therefore their responses indicate the possible future establishment or otherwise of IRs

in the CoEs.

The interviews conducted sought to find out the background information of respondents and it

came out that 8 of the 13 interviewees were males, whiles 5 were females. A clear indication that

most of the participants were males and this supports the larger male participation in the

background information of respondents for the questionnaire. Six (6) of the interviewees had

served on their current ranks for 5-10 years, whiles seven (7) had served for 1-5 years. A clear

indication that for those who responded to the questionnaire and those who were interviewed, the

designation or rank they had served was between 1 and 5 years which constituted the largest

number of respondents.

4. 3 Level of awareness of IR among Respondents

In order to appreciate the levels of awareness, the respondents were given three options; “aware”,

“fairly aware”, and “not aware” to choose from. This enabled the researcher to find out the level

of awareness of respondents about institutional repositories (IRs). This is depicted in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4: Level of Awareness

Variable ACCE BACE BECOLED HCCE JASICO WESCO Total


65

Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

Aware 11 3.8 15 5.2 11 3.8 7 2.4 10 3.5 22 7.7 76 26.

6

Fairly

aware

19 6.6 38 13.

3

39 13.

6

15 5.2 16 5.6 35 12.

2

162 56.

6

Not

aware

5 1.7 11 3.8 9 3.1 6 2.1 8 2.8 9 3.1 48 16.

8

Total 35 12.

2

64 22.

4

59 20.

6

28 9.8 34 11.

9

66 23.

1

286 100


From Table 4.4, the highest response rate of 162 (56.6%) revealed that the respondents were

already aware of IRs. Respondents with full awareness of IR were 76 (26.6%). The least number

of respondents was 48 (16.6%) and that were those who had no awareness of IR. Respondents

from the college with the highest rate of fair level of awareness was BECOLED 39 (13.6%). The

rest were BACE 38 (13.3%), WESCO 35 (12.2%), ACCE 19 (6.6%), JASICO 16 (5.6%), whiles

HCCE had 15 (5.2%). The college with the highest rate of the full level of awareness was WESCO

22 (7.7%), followed by BACE with 15 (5.2%), ACCE 11 (3.8%), BECOLED 11 (3.8%), JASICO

10 (3.5%), and HCCE 7 (2.4%). The response rates for no level of awareness were BACE 11

(3.8%), BECOLED 9 (3.1%), WESCO 9 (3.1%), JASICO 8 (2.8%), HCCE 6 (2.1%), and ACCE

5 (1.7%). It was revealed from Table 4.4 that, the respondents’ level of awareness was generally

fair, followed by full awareness level and the least showing no awareness level.


66

There was a general observation among the 13 interviewees at the interview session that, there was

no better and deeper understanding of what an IR was about. Some had not even heard about it at

all. This is how P3 expressed the awareness level of IR:

P3: “I just heard it…”

Another person remarked that,

P4: “I used the institutional repository to access journals and other resources during my

MSc. Program but never knew I was making use of that database…”

The few that had some level of knowledge about IR expressed the view that they accessed

information from IRs, especially during their post-graduate study.

4.3.1 Means of Awareness of IR

Another area the researcher sought for information was the process through which the respondents

gained the awareness and knowledge of institutional repository. There were multiple responses to

this question.

Table 4.5: Channels of awareness of IR


67

It can be observed from Table 4.5 that 460 responses were recorded, which is an indication that

respondents selected all answers that applied as designed by the researcher. Respondents who

became aware of IR through the post-graduate study were 112 (24.3%). The remaining processes

that offered respondents the opportunity to become aware of IR were university websites 98



During

post-

graduate

study

14 3.0 19 4.1 21 4.6 16 3.5 19 4.1 23 5.0 112 24.3

University

website

14 3.0 18 3.9 22 4.8 13 2.8 14 3.0 17 3.7 98 21.3

Self-

discovery

10 2.2 20 4.3 24 5.2 10 2.2 11 2.4 18 3.9 93 20.2

Word of

mouth

4 0.9 8 1.7 13 2.8 5 1.1 9 2.0 15 3.3 54 11.7

Orientation 5 1.1 20 4.3 25 5.4 14 3.0 10 2.2 20 4.3 94 20.4

Google

search

- - 1 0.2 3 0.7 - - - - 2 0.4 6 1.3

Workshop - - 1 0.2 - - - - - - 2 0.4 3 0.7

Total 47 10.2 87 19.0 108 23.5 58 12.6 63 13.7 97 21.1 460 100

Source: Field data, 2020 N= Multiple responses


68

(21.3%), orientation 94 (20.4%), self-discovery or personal study 93 (20.2%), word of mouth 54

(11.7%), Google search 6 (1.3%), and workshops 3 (0.7%). It is obvious from Table 4.5 that most

of the respondents got to know about IR during their post-graduate study.

It is also clear from Table 4.5 that, the response rate of the CoE that recorded the highest number

of avenues of IR awareness was BECOLED 108 (23.5%). The rest were, WESCO 97 (21.1%),

BACE 87 (19.0%), JASICO 63 (13.7%), HCCE 58 (12.6%), and ACCE 47 (10.2%).

Interviews conducted showed that some of the participants had accessed resources during their

post-graduate period of study.



P2: “During my MBA study, I accessed various number of resources from institutional

repository…”

P3: “All the universities I know, I have accessed thesis from their repositories…”

P8: “I have accessed journals, thesis, and dissertations from the databases of

universities…”

P11: “I have accessed materials from the institutional repository before at the University

of Ghana…”


69

4.3.2 Accessed materials from IR

The researcher further asked respondents to provide responses on the various resources they had

accessed from IRs in their previous universities and other institutions of study where higher

academic qualifications were pursued. This included resources which respondents had ever

accessed from any IR such as Scholarly articles, Thesis/Dissertations, Conference proceedings,

and Books. Multiple responses were provided by the respondents, and this is depicted in Table 4.6.

From Table 4.6, a response rate of 119 (35.2%) was achieved for scholarly articles that have been

accessed by respondents from IRs. The rest of the resources that were accessed from IRs by

Table 4.6: Accessed Resources

Resources ACCE BACE BECOLED HCCE JASICO WESCO Total

Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Freq % Fre

q

% Freq % Fre

q

% Freq %

Scholarly

articles

30 8.9 10 3.0 25 7.4 14 4.1 22 6.5 18 5.3 119 35.

2

Thesis/

dissertations

18 5.3 14 4.1 21 6.2 11 3.3 24 7.1 8 2.4 96 28.

4

Conference

proceedings

7 2.1 2 0.6 9 2.7 3 0.9 7 2.1 5 1.5 33 9.8

Books 13 3.8 16 4.7 20 5.9 9 2.7 14 4.1 18 5.3 90 26.

6

Total 68 20.

1

42 12.

4

75 22.2 37 10.

9

67 19.

8

49 14.

5

338 100



70

respondents were; thesis/dissertation 96 (28.4%), books 90 (26.6%), and conference proceedings

33 (9.8%). Also from Table 4.6, the total responses was three hundred and thirty-eight (338) and

this implies that participants selected either single or multiple answers that applied. The

information from Table 4.6 reveals clearly that, a large number of scholarly articles had been

accessed from IRs by respondents, and the least accessed were conference proceedings. The CoE

with the highest response rate of 30 (8.9%) for scholarly articles came from ACCE. The highest

response rate for thesis/dissertation 24 (7.1%), was received from JASICO. For the highest

response rate for conference proceedings, 9 (2.7) were received from BECOLED, whiles the CoE

with the highest response rate for books accessed from IRs was BECOLED, which was 20 (5.9%).

There is a clear indication that participants have accessed a considerable number of resources from

IRs, and the highest accessed resource from an IR was scholarly articles 119 (35.2%).

The interview session revealed very little information about the kind of materials accessed by

respondents. The only response was;


universities…”

4.4 Feasibility of establishing IRS in the CoEs in Ghana

The second objective which sought to find out from respondents the feasibility of establishing IRs

in the CoEs in Ghana involved “high” and “low” variables. In order to find out the feasibility of

establishing IRs, the researcher asked respondents to rate the feasibility of establishing IRs in the

CoEs. High possibility responses for the feasibility of creating an institutional repository were 194

(67.8%), whiles 92 (32.2%) represented participants who felt that there was a low possibility of

establishing an institutional repository. This is an indication that the majority of the 286


71

respondents were in support of the establishment of institutional repositories in the colleges, as

displayed in Figure 4.1.

The outcome of the interview conducted by the researcher pointed out that, except for few

participants who were of the view that the establishment of IR is not feasible, the majority of them

stated that the creation of IR was highly feasible. Those who said it was not feasible to be

established gave reasons such as management's lack of commitment to provide resources for its

establishment.

In the words of P7, “attitude of management towards spending money on knowledge

resources is very poor so I do not believe that they will be interested in committing so much

money in establishing it…”

Another respondent (P9) also said that,

67.80%

32.20%

Figure 4.1: Feasibility of establishing Institutional Repository

High (194)

Low (92)



72

“there is no managerial urge to push it. Also, the college system does not encourage new

knowledge and will therefore invest in other things and not a repository. Finally, the

investment in ICT in the college is not encouraging…”

Notwithstanding the responses provided above, the interviews generally demonstrated that there

was a positive sign of its establishment due to the benefits IRs offer.

For instance, P10 stated that, “the possibility of establishing it is very high but it will take

time. Some other universities have those things but the colleges too, with time we are going

to have that…”

P11 also stated that, “the possibility is very high due to facilities such as Wi-Fi, and the

availability of staff such as the librarian, ICT staff and the management…”

Some of the participants gave reasons such as,

P13: “there are enough buildings and other project works ongoing to support the creation

of IR. Additionally, the college council and the management have the required competence

to pull resources together…”

P12: “The College now records tutors’ lecture notes, stores them, and make them available

to students. Furthermore, the institution has ICT tools and equipment that will make such

an establishment possible. There are also material and human resources…”

The interviews conducted and the views expressed by most of the respondents showed that the

establishment of IRs in the CoEs could highly be a reality.


73

4.4.1 Resources needed for the establishment of IR

The various resources needed most by the colleges for the establishment of IR could only be made

known by the respondents. The researcher therefore asked respondents to indicate the resources

needed for the creation of an IR in their various colleges. There were multiple responses from the

respondents and they are depicted in Table 4.7.

Table 4.7: Resources needed in the establishment of IR

Variable ACCE BACE BECOLE

D

HCCE JASICO WESCO Total

Fr

eq

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

%

Infrastructu-

re

25 8.2 12 4.0 19 6.3 17 5.6 23 7.6 21 7.0 117 38.5

Skilled

personnel

9 3.0 19 6.3 32 10.5 14 4.6 17 5.6 12 4.0 103 33.9

Funding 10 3.3 13 4.3 15 4.9 10 3.3 15 4.9 21 7.0 84 27.6

Total 44 14.5 44 14.

5

66 21.7 41 13.

5

55 18.

1

54 17.

8

304 100



74

Table 4.7 depicts that, the highest response rate was infrastructure 117 (38.5%). The skilled

personnel was 103 (33.9%), whiles the responses for funding was 84 (27.6%). It is also seen from

Table 4.7 that the college that gave the highest response for infrastructure was ACCE 25 (8.2%).

The highest response for the skilled personnel was 32 (10.5%), which was received from

participants at BECOLED, whiles the college that provided the highest response for funds was

WESCO 21 (7.0%). The total response was three hundred and four (304) because respondents

were asked to select all that applied in the questionnaire. The general conclusion from Table 4.7

was that infrastructure was much needed for the creation of IR, followed by skilled personnel, and

finally funding.

The responses from the interview session provided a confirmation that infrastructure is needed in

the colleges. Some of the interviewees expressed the fact that there were inadequate infrastructure

whiles others said there were available infrastructure. Some of the participants also stated their

opinions on the need for skilled personnel and adequate funding;

P4: “we have librarians and ICT officers but I do not think that their number is enough for

the establishment of an institutional repository…”

P8: “for funds, they are always available, just that the pressure on it is so much that

sometimes the important issues are ignored if care is not taken…”

P9: “I believe that seeking for financial support from other bodies and institutions would

be the best option since the establishment of something like the institutional repository will

demand a lot of financial support…”


75

P10: “Infrastructure, for now, is inadequate, but with time those that need to be made

available when the time is due will be made available…”

P11: “Infrastructure and technology, yes. That is whenever we are ready for the formation

of institutional repository…”

P13: “I think the college has to work on the infrastructural support before adopting

institutional repository…”

4.4.2 Specific involvement of staff and other officers in the establishment of an IR

The next thing the researcher sought to find out from respondents to ensure that the IR becomes a

reality was the specific tasks the staff and the key officers of the colleges would be required to do

before the establishment of an IR. Thus the researcher sought to find out whether general

sensitization about its importance by all staff members was the key thing to do or prioritizing its

establishment should be the responsibility of few selected staff members at special gatherings.


76

Figure 4.2 clearly shows that the respondents would want the management and staff to generally

involve themselves in the general sensitization activities that would create consciousness about the

establishment of an IR. The involvement of staff in this manner would mean that every staff

member, regardless of their status, would be well informed about this consciousness, and in turn,

sensitize one another by every means possible. Some of the respondents provided other responses

such as “colleagues who are versatile in its usage can help facilitate”, “the college council needs

82.20%

16.10%

1.70%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Sensitization by

staff on the

importance of its

establishment

Prioritizing its

establishment at all

official gatherings

Other

Figure 4.2: Specific involvement of staff and other officers in the

establishment of institutional repository.

235 repondents

46 reposndents

5 respondents

Source: Field data,2020


77

to champion this cause”, and so forth. The total number of responses for the involvement of all

staff members was 235 (82.2%), representing the majority. On the other hand, 46 (16.1%)

respondents felt that sensitization must be limited to only official gatherings where the importance

of instituting the IR would be made known. In this wise, only the key officers and some selected

staff would be assigned to talk about it. The remaining response rate of 5 (1.7%) represented

respondents who gave other responses. The general conclusion from Figure 4.2 was that sensitizing

every staff member about the importance of establishing IR to create consciousness was the best

thing to do.

From the interviews conducted, the researcher’s question to find out whether there is the need to

involve the generality of the staff in its establishment elicited a general response that every staff

member must be sensitized and be involved in the creation of IR.

In the words of P5, “the involvement of staff is very key because that will push them to even

do good work”.

Another participant (P6) remarked that, “Oh, every staff must be involved because using

myself as an example, if no one involves me I will be adamant…”

P7 also said that, “this is a responsibility that should be left in the hands of colleagues

whose expertise is in that area…”

4.4.3 Measures that must be in place to ensure that IRs are established in CoEs in Ghana

The researcher again sought to find out from respondents about the best preparatory measure that

must be in place to ensure the smooth establishment of IRs in the CoEs. The researcher


78

suggested the following measures at this section of the questionnaire; promotion of awareness

services, staffing and human resource development, resource support and provision, and pilot

project. The respondents were given the opportunity to do multiple selection. In all, five hundred

and fifty-seven (557) responses were received from participants. The percentage for the columns

in Figure 4.3 were rounded to the nearest whole numbers. What the respondents felt needed to be

done as the best measure is depicted in Figure 4.3.


79

Respondents who wanted promotion and awareness as the initial measure that must be in place

before the establishment of IR were 187 (33.6%). This particular response was the highest among

the four measures. The next highest measure was resource support and provision 177 (31.8%). The

rest were staffing and human resource development 127 (22.8%), and pilot project 66 (11.8%).

5%

4%

5%

3%

5%

3%

4%

1%

7%

3%

4%

2%

6%

5%

6%

2%

7%

5%

7%

3%

5%

4%

6%

1%

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

Promotion and

awareness 187

(33.6%)

Staff and human

resource

development 127

(22.8%)

Resource support

and provision 177

(31.8%)

Pilot projejct 66

(11.8%)

Figure 4.3: Measures that must be in place to ensure the establishment of

IR

ACCE

BACE

BECOLED

HCCE

JASICO

WESCO



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Figure 4.3 further depicts that the CoE with the highest response for promotion and awareness was

BECOLED 38 (6.8%). Participants from JASICO provided the highest response of 28 (5.0%) for

staff and human resource development. Again, the highest response for resource support and

provision was received from JASICO 36 (6.5%). Finally, respondents from ACCE gave the highest

response of 17 (3.1%) for pilot project. Figure 4.3 depicts that participants wanted promotion and

awareness as the immediate measure to be in place before the establishment of IRs.

The interviewees agreed that promotion and awareness services, staffing and human resource

development, resource support and provision, and Pilot project should be adopted as part of the

preparatory measures for the formation of IR.

P7 remarked that, “we need to embark on awareness, and then train the personnel who

will be in charge…”

P9 also had this to say; “I would require that the right resources are provided, since that

will prepare the grounds well, and then we embark upon serious awareness creation…”

P13 was of the view that, “the colleges should begin with a pilot project, where selected

colleges can start and then later be extended to the rest of the colleges. Before this is done,

promotion and awareness must be done, staff and human resource development must be

done, and resources provided. When all these things are done and the benefits begin to

come, institutional repository will be accepted by all…”


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4.5 Benefits of institutional repositories

Respondents were asked to provide some of the benefits of IR. Some of the benefits researcher

provided for respondents to select form were benefits to the staff, college, academia, individual

respondents, and the country. This is illustrated in Figure 4.4.

The sum of all the responses was three hundred and thirty-six (336) since there were multiple

responses. From Figure 4.4, benefits to the staff were 98 (29.2%), the college 89 (26.5%), the

29.20%

26.50%

18.20%

9.50%

17%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Benefits to

the staff

(98)

Benefits to

the college

(89)

Benefits to

the

academia

(61)

Benefits to

the country

(32)

Benefits to

the

individual

respondents

(56)

Figure 4.4: Benefits of institutional repositories

Benefits to the staff

Benefits to the college

Benefits to the academia

Benefits to the country

Benefits to the individualrespondents



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academia 61 (18.2%), the individual respondents 56 (16.7%), and finally, benefits to the country

32 (9.5%). In all, the highest response was the benefits to the staff.

During the interview, the researcher sought from respondents the benefits of IR. The majority of

the responses from the interviewees were that IR has a lot of benefits. Below are some of the

specific comments made by some of the interviewees;

P1: “I remember I accessed from an IR during my MBA study but never knew it was an IR.

It is very good for research work…”

P3: “During my MSc. program, I accessed journals and other resources from which I

realized that studies done by people of different countries can be seen all over the world

through that medium. This means that IR makes the work of people or scholars seen

worldwide…”

P7: “IR has a lot of benefits such as boosting the image of the institution as a tertiary

institution and also making resources owned by the college available electronically and

globally…”

4.6 Availability of required infrastructure to establish IR

Since the establishment of an IR requires the involvement of state of the art application of

technology, the researcher sought to find out from respondents whether the colleges had the

available infrastructure for the implementation of IRs.


83

It was discovered from Figure 4.5 that a total number of 207 (72.4%) responses agreed to the fact

that there was enough infrastructure for the establishment of an IR. On the other hand, 79 (27.6%)

responses represented inadequate infrastructure. This is a clear indication that there was enough

infrastructure for the establishment of the IR. Table 4.8 shows the specific responses of the selected

colleges for this study.

Table 4.8: Availability of required infrastructure

72.40%

27.60%

Figure 4.5: Required infrastructure to establish IR

Yes (207)

No (79)



84



Yes 33 11.5 36 12.6 42 14.7 30 10.5 27 9.4 39 13.6 207 72.4

No 7 2.4 17 6.0 9 3.1 12 4.2 20 7.0 14 4.9 79 27.6

Total 40 14 53 18.5 51 17.8 42 14.7 47 16.4 53 18.5 286 100


From Table 4.6, BECOLED provided a response of 42 (14.7%) as the highest confirmation of

available infrastructure. Responses from the other selected CoEs for the study, showing

availability of infrastructure were WESCO 39 (13.6%), BACE 36 (12.6%), ACCE 33 (11.5%),

HCCE 30 (10.5%), and JASICO 27 (9.4%). The responses from the CoEs have indicated that there

was enough infrastructure for the establishment of IRs.

The researcher specifically asked librarians and ICT officers about the required infrastructure to

establish institutional repositories and the general response was positive. Again, the researcher

asked librarians and ICT officers a specific question of technological infrastructure required for

the establishment of IR. All the head librarians interviewed were able to identify that DSpace and

Eprint are kinds of software that could support the development of an IR. An ICT officer also

identified DSpace as appropriate software that could be employed in the creation of an IR.

P2: “There is enough technological infrastructure for the establishment of IR such as

DSpace and Eprint, as well as other physical infrastructure…”


85

P12: “We have no problem with technological infrastructure, for example DSpace. Even

those that are not around, the college has the capacity of making them available when the

need arises…”

P13: “the college is ready for the establishment of institutional repository because even if

the required technology is not available, the experts we have in the college can quickly

assist in making them available…”

The researcher’s engagement with the interviewees demonstrated that the sampled CoEs had the

ability in the area of available technology and infrastructure to establish the IRs.

4.6.1 Personnel with the required technological skills for the establishment and maintenance

of IR

The researcher asked respondents to indicate whether they have the right personnel with the

requisite skills for the creation and maintenance of IR. The responses are displayed in Figure 4.6.


86

From Figure 4.6, the participants were asked to indicate whether the colleges had the personnel

with the required technological skills for the establishment and maintenance of institutional

repositories. The illustration from Figure 4.6 shows that 249 (87.1%) respondents indicated that

there were personnel with the required technological skills. On the other hand, 37 (12.9%)

respondents indicated that there were no personnel with the needed technological skills in the

sampled CoEs for the study. This is an appreciation by respondents that the colleges had the

required personnel with the required technological skills for the establishment of an IR.

4.6.2 Personnel required for the establishment of IR

The researcher further asked the respondents to provide information on the personnel that were

needed and the appropriate skills that were required for the establishment of an IR. Table 4.9

describes the various responses from the selected CoEs on the required skills of personnel that

would be needed for the creation of IRs. Multiple responses were allowed by the researcher.

87.10%

12.90%

Figure 4.6: The required personnel for the establishment of IR

Yes (249)

No (37)



87

Table 4.9: Skilled personnel needed for the establishment of IR


D


Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Fre

q

% Freq % Fre

q

%

Library/

ICT

systems

skills

22 5.3 21 5.1 29 7.0 24 5.8 27 6.6 25 6.1 148 35.9

System

and

networki

-ng skills

23 5.6 20 4.9 29 7.0 21 5.1 29 7.0 15 3.6 137 33.3

Research

skills

20 4.9 22 5.3 25 6.1 15 3.6 27 6.6 18 4.4 127 30.8

Total 65 15.8 63 15.3 83 20.1 60 14.6 83 20.1 58 14.1 412 100


From Table 4.9, a response of 148 (35.9%) shows that library/ICT systems skills was the highest.

The two other responses for system and networking skills on one hand, and research skills on the

other hand were 137 (33.3%), and 127 (30.8%) respectively. The responses for the skills required

as indicated by respondents showed that library/ICT skills was the most needed skill. It is also

clear from Table 4.9 that responses from BECOLED and JASICO were 83 (20.1%) each. The

other responses recorded for the 4 remaining CoEs for this study were ACCE 65 (15.8%), BACE

63 (15.3%), HCCE 60 (14.6%), whiles 58 (14.1%) responses were received from WESCO. There

is a clear demonstration of minor differences in the response rates of the last four (4) colleges. On

the other hand, the highest responses were the same from BECOLED and JASICO, whiles the

least recorded were from WESCO.


88

4.7 Challenges of establishing IR.

Respondents were asked to select from among varied likely challenges that have the potential of

preventing the establishment of an IR. Since multiple responses were allowed by the questionnaire,

the total responses was 706. The results are displayed in Table 4.10.

Table 4.10: Challenges to the establishment of IRs


D


Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Fre

q

%

Opposition

from staff

16 2.3 22 3.1 18 2.5 11 1.6 13 1.8 24 3.4 104 14.7

Opposition

from

manageme-

nt

13 1.8 23 3.3 20 2.8 11 1.6 15 2.1 17 2.4 99 14.0

Opposition

from

college

council

11 1.6 14 2.0 16 2.3 20 2.8 18 2.5 8 1.1 87 12.3

Opposition

from

quality

assurance

officers

14 2.0 8 1.1 4 0.6 11 1.6 9 1.3 6 0.8 52 7.4

Opposition

from

affiliate

universities

4 0.6 19 2.7 10 1.4 12 1.7 6 0.8 16 2.3 67 9.5

Funding 14 2.0 20 2.8 26 3.7 23 3.3 17 2.4 12 1.7 112 15.9

Infrastruct-

ure

19 2.7 17 2.4 14 2.0 24 3.4 21 3.0 12 1.7 107 15.2

Opposition

from the

principals

8 1.1 14 2.0 16 2.3 18 2.5 12 1.7 10 1.4 78 11.0

Total 99 14.

0

137 19.

4

124 17.

6

130 18.

4

111 15.7 105 14.9 706 100



89

Table 4.10 provides a clear picture of the responses from the selected CoEs regarding the likely

challenges the formation of IR can face. BACE provided a response of 137 (19.4%) as the highest.

The responses for the other sampled CoEs were HCCE 130 (18.4%), BECOLED 124 (17.6%),

JASICO 111 (15.7%), WESCO 105 (14.9%), and ACCE 99 (14.0%). The general response of 706

was an indication that any CoE that attempts to create an IR must prepare to deal with these

possible challenges. The highest of all the possible challenges was 112 (39.2%), a demonstration

that funding presents the greatest challenge. The responses for the remaining challenges were

infrastructure 107 (15.2%), opposition from staff 104 (14.7%), opposition from management 99

(14.0%), opposition from college council 87 (12.3%), opposition from the principals 78 (11.0%),

opposition from affiliate universities 67 (9.5%), and opposition from quality assurance officers 52

(7.4%).

Complementing the quantitative analysis with the data obtained from the interview, the researcher

asked respondents to provide some of the possible challenges the establishment of IR could face.

Some of the challenges identified ranged from human resource to funding.

P2: “Inadequate personnel, for instance, permanent library staff. This is because the

national service personnel who only come to spend one year cannot be used for the

implementation of an IR. There is a need to train personnel to stay permanently to manage

the IR…”

P3: “The corrupt nature of some ICT staff who capitalize on the ignorance of management

and buy data below the amount they took is a serious challenge. Again, the Ghana

Education Service (GES) mentality makes them think that issues like an IR need not be

given attention, therefore the need for promotion and awareness…”


90

P6: “The possibility of friction between the departments and units that will be involved in

its operation, since it will involve human beings…”

P7: “the main challenge is the attitude of management towards information resources.

They always feel reluctant to release funds to support anything about information

resources…”

4.8 Chapter Summary

This chapter covered the analysis of gathered data, and the presentation of findings that emerged.

The outcome was presented in accordance with the objectives of the study. The analysis revealed

that though some of the respondents had little knowledge about IR, the majority of them knew

what an IR is and had accessed from it. It was again revealed from the analysis that, the colleges

had the technology and infrastructure to support the establishment of IRs. What is needed is the

need to sensitize all stakeholders so that the possible challenges to the establishment of IR could

be surmounted.


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CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter covered the discussion of the analysis and findings obtained in the previous chapter.

The discussion was organized under the following themes in line with the objectives that guided

the study:

1. Level of awareness of IRs among staff.

2. The feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.

3. Benefits of IRs to the CoEs in Ghana.

4. Availability of technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of IRs in the

colleges.

5. Challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in

Ghana.

5.2 Level of Awareness

The awareness level of the respondents was a matter of concern in a study such as the one the

researcher conducted. The level of awareness of respondents was to determine how well the

respondents in the Colleges of Education (CoEs) know and understand the topic and how well they

were going to accept the establishment of the institutional repository (IR). This is in line with the

Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2003) adopted by the researcher for this study. The theory

states that Knowledge takes place when a prospective adopter becomes aware of the existence of

innovation and thinks of how it functions. The awareness of respondents determined the

appropriateness of the formation of IR in the CoEs because the information they had about it


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determined the benefits or the disadvantages of IR. The possible establishment of IR was,

therefore, dependent on the responses provided in this section of the questionnaire.

Again, the theory was appropriate because it helped in identifying the perception, support, denial,

or opposition, and interest of the members within the selected colleges and their stakeholders. The

theory further identified adopter categories. They were innovators, early adopters, the early

majority, the late majority, and the laggards. Innovators play a gatekeeping role in the flow of new

ideas into a system. Early adopters are individuals more integrated into the social system who

adopt innovation and become a reference point for prospective adopters. The early majority adopt

new ideas just before the average member of a system. The late majority adopt new ideas as a

result of increasing network pressures of peers. Laggards are the last to adopt an innovation

because they are suspicious of innovations and change agents. Since the adopter categories are

influenced by their awareness of a new idea, to either adopt or reject the possibility of establishing

IRs in the selected CoEs, the researcher found it appropriate to find the level of awareness of

respondents.

The awareness levels the researcher sought to find from respondents were: “aware”, “fairly aware”,

and “not aware”. From the findings of the analysis, the highest responses of 162 (56.5%) were

those who had fair awareness of IR. The respondents with full awareness of IR were 76 (26.4%).

The lowest level of awareness of those who had no awareness was 48 (16.6%). The findings for

objective one of the study revealed that the level of awareness was generally fair, followed by a

full awareness level. Respondents’ awareness for objective one of this study conforms to the study

done by Dhanavandan & Tamizhchelvan (2013) on the attitudes and awareness of institutional

repositories and open access publishing by 200 faculty members in Annamalai University in India.

The 160 respondents included assistant professors, associate professors, and professors, and results


93

showed that 150 (93.75%) indicated that they were aware. Again, Aghwotu & Ebiere (2016)

examined the awareness and attitude of lecturers towards establishing IR in Niger Delta

University, Bayelsa State Nigeria, and reported that 90% of the respondents stated that they were

aware of IR. The finding of the first objective of this study confirms other studies that revealed

that most scholars are aware and make use of IRs in Tanzania to address their academic needs

(Muneja, 2010), (Dulle, 2011), and (Lwoga and Questier 2014).

The researcher realized that, the fair awareness level was a significant factor to influence the

creation of an IR, especially among the tutors who are supposed to be the direct group of persons

who would be required to deposit their published works in the repository when it is established.

Again, global visibility would have a very positive impact on their career as academics.

There was, however, a generally low level of awareness of IR by those who were interviewed. An

example of the demonstration of the low level of awareness during the interview was a remark

made by a participant;

P4: “I just heard it…”

Again, the low level of awareness demonstrated by participants of this study supports the

investigation by Kim (2011) regarding the perception of faculty members from the Carnegie

granting universities regarding the awareness of their university’s IR. The results of Kim’s

investigation showed that about 60% of the respondents were not aware.

This is a clear indication that the participant had no awareness of IR. This agrees with a study by

Mgonzo and Yonah (2014) and Ofosu-Ampong (2016) that the level of awareness of institutional

repositories in Tanzania and Ghana was low. On the other hand, another participant held that;


94

P3:“I used the institutional repository to access journals and other resources during my


The response by P3 agreed with the level of awareness by most of the respondents to the

questionnaire for this study 162 (56.5%). Despite the responses from interviewees that portrayed

a low level of awareness, others responded that they had accessed information from IRs during

their post-graduate study.

The identified low level of awareness from the reviewed literature and the high awareness level

among respondents of this study could be as a result of the global visibility on the internet of

already established IRs in the developed world, and South Africa.

The researcher found it prudent to find out from the respondents about the process through which

they obtained the awareness and knowledge of IR. The various means the researcher provided for

the respondents to select from were during post-graduate study, university website, self-discovery,

word of mouth, orientation at the university, Google search, and workshop. Responses for the post-

graduate study were 112 (24.3%) as the highest. The rest of the responses were university websites

98 (21.3%), orientation 94 (20.4%), self-discovery or personal study 93 (20.2%), word of mouth

54 (11.7%), Google search 6 (1.3%), and workshops 3 (0.7%). The finding for this section of the

questionnaire was that most of the respondents got to know about IR during their post-graduate

study. This follows the findings that were revealed by Lwoga and Questier (2014), Muneja (2010),

and Dulle (2011) that most scholars are aware and make use of institutional repositories to address

their academic needs. Again, confirmation by a study conducted by Dhanavandan &

Tamizhchelvan (2013) on the attitudes and awareness of institutional repositories and open access.


95

Respondents for that study included assistant professors, associate professors, and professors with

response that showed 150 (93.75%). This was an indication that they had the opportunity of

knowing about IRs as professors during their period of post-graduate study. It is therefore not

strange for this study to record that most of the participants got to know about IRs during their

post-graduate study. It is also important to note that all the respondents of this study had gone

through the postgraduate study stage of their academic pursuit.

The researcher’s interview conducted revealed that those who had an awareness of IR and used it

for their study had the experience at their post-graduate study levels. The following were some of

the remarks by participants:



P2: “During my MBA study, I accessed various number of resources from institutional

repository…”

P3: “All the universities I know, I have accessed thesis from their repositories…”


universities…”

P11: “I have accessed materials from the institutional repository before at the University

of Ghana…”


96

These findings that emanated from the remarks of the participants support the studies by Martin-

Yeboah (2015), (Malekani & Kavishe, 2018), and Martin-Yeboah, Alemna, and Adjei (2018),

that most Ghanaian Universities have established IRs. It had become obvious throughout this

study that almost all the universities in Ghana had IRs, therefore participants claim that they

made use of IR was not strange.

Respondents were further asked to provide the various resources they had accessed from IRs of

their previous universities and other institutions of study where higher academic qualifications

were pursued. This question was important since it provided the researcher with the knowledge of

resources that will be most needed by the respondents in the future establishment of IRs in the

CoEs. The finding of this study indicated that 119 (35.2%) responses were received for scholarly

articles, whiles thesis/dissertation followed closely with the response rate of 96 (28.4%). This

finding supports the study by Uzuegbu (2012), in which the researcher identified that the materials

mostly accessed were journal articles, theses, and dissertations. The study continues that they are

the prime content in African repositories. Again, this finding agrees with studies done by Muneja

(2010), Dulle (2011), Lwoga and Questier (2014), which discovered that scholars make use of

institutional repositories to address their academic needs. The findings from the responses

provided 119 (35.2%) and 96 (28.4) for scholarly articles and thesis/dissertations respectively.

This is a confirmation that they form the major part of African repositories as identified by

Uzuegbu (2012). Again, studies by Muneja (2010), Dulle (2011), Lwoga and Questier (2014)

demonstrate that scholars use scholarly articles, thesis, and dissertation to address their scholastic

needs.

Among the interviewees, only one participant remarked that:


97


universities…”

Those contents are accessed by scholars during their period at the university, and at that level of

education students appreciate the need of those contents. It is not surprising for this objective of

the study to conclude that scholarly articles formed major part of the content scholars accessed

most from IRs. It is also worthy of note that individuals and groups who are into research are those

who use scholarly articles most for their various activities. A clear indication that the establishment

of IRs in the CoEs would provide a positive impact on the students at that level as well.

5.3 Feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana

The second objective was to find the possibility of creating IRs in the CoEs in Ghana. What the

researcher asked the respondents was to rate the possibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs. The

high possibility response rate was 194 (67.8%), whiles the low possibility response rate was 92

(32.2%). The outcome of the interview done by the researcher showed a general approval of the

establishment of IRs. The following reports from the interview provided a confirmation:

P10: “the possibility of establishing it is very high but it will take time. Some other

universities have those things but the colleges too, with time we are going to have that…”

P11: “possibility is very high due to facilities such as Wi-Fi, and the availability of staff

such as the librarian, ICT staff and the management...”


98

P12: “there are enough building and other project work ongoing to support the creation

of IR. Additionally, the college council and the management have the required competence

to pull resources together…”

P13: “The College now records tutors’ lecture notes, stores them and make them available

to students. Furthermore, the institution has ICT tools and equipment that will make such

an establishment possible. There are also material and human resources…”

The interviews conducted and the views expressed by most of the respondents showed that the

establishment of IRs in the CoEs could highly be a reality. The findings from the second objective

support the studies of Chilimo (2015), and Mostofa et al. (2015). These studies demonstrate the

enthusiasm with which South Africa is developing in the creation and maintenance of IRs. The

findings of this study also support the study of Martin-Yeboah (2015), in which an assessment of

how IRs were created and have been sustainably managed by the University of Ghana and the

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The finding from this study that the

possibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana is high also supports a study by Martin-

Yeboah, Alemna, and Adjei (2018) as well as Malekani and Kavishe (2018) that Kwame Nkrumah

University of Science and Technology, Ashesi University College, Central University College,

University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, University of Education, Winneba, Methodist

University College, University for Development Studies, and the Ghana Institute of Management

and Public Administration have established IRs through the efforts of the institutions concerned,

and also through the support of CARLIGH and INASP. The findings for the feasibility indicate

that the high possibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana depends heavily on the


99

determination and commitment of the colleges, as well as funding and technical support from other

bodies.

The CoEs started as Certificate awarding institutions, and then progressed to a Diploma awarding

institutions. It is therefore not surprising that once they have attained a Degree awarding status

now, that transformation can also be seen in the area of IR establishment. More importantly, it has

been clear from the responses of the questionnaire and the interview that the support of the staff

would be assured when the time is due for colleges to establish IRs.

The researcher asked respondents to indicate the resources that would be mostly needed for the

creation of an IR. The finding for this section of the objective demonstrated that infrastructure 117

(38.5%) was much needed. Since infrastructure is tied with technology, the finding of this section

support the studies done by Dicovitsky (2010), Giarlo (2005), and Canada (2009). These studies

severally discussed mobile technology and infrastructure, difficulty in achieving broadband

services, poor telecommunication, electricity supply, and high cost of Information and

Communication. It is very obvious that infrastructure has remained the bane of most of the projects

institutions embark upon.

The responses from the interview revealed that there were few challenges with regards to the

infrastructure, but the colleges were ready with the establishment of IRs regardless of the

infrastructural challenge.

P10: “Infrastructure and technology, yes. That is whenever we are ready for the formation

of institutional repository…”


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P13: “Infrastructure, for now, is inadequate, but with time those that need to be made

available when the time is due will be made available…”

This meant that infrastructure remains an integral part of the establishment of IRs, therefore

colleges would have to create room for more infrastructure for its creation. Infrastructure remains

the relevant structure and facilities for executing anything meaningful in the society and therefore

remains very relevant in the establishment of IRs, not relegating its accompanying software and

other technological accessories in our modern dispensation.

The involvement of staff in the creation of an IR is very important, hence the researcher asked

participants of the study to indicate whether every staff must be sensitized to create general

consciousness about the establishment of an IR, or the key officers of the colleges must be given

specific tasks of creating the awareness before the creation of an IR. The finding was 235 (82.2%)

for sensitizing every staff member. This meant that there would be the need to create consciousness

about the importance of establishing IR to every staff member. Sensitizing every staff member

would be very helpful since that supports the theory adopted for this study. The Diffusion of

Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2003) states that early adopters are individuals more integrated into

the social system who adopt innovation and become a reference point for prospective adopters.

This suggests that, if every member of staff is sensitized, they all become reference points for

prospective adopters, thereby making the acceptance of an innovation very simple. Again, there

are prior conditions such as felt needs or problems, previous practice, and norms of the social

system. A person is assisted to form a positive or negative attitude towards an innovation through

persuasion. Whenever individuals of the college communities with felt needs or problems,

previous practice, and norms of the social system are sensitized to accept the need to establish this


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innovation, and get involved fully at the early stages of the establishment of IRs, they would form

a positive attitude.

The interviews conducted by the researcher pointed out that there was the need to involve the

general staff in all the preparatory measures towards the establishment of the IR. In the words of

a participant, all staff members must be involved;

P6: “the involvement of staff is very key because that will push them to even do a good

work…”

Another participant (P6) remarked that, “Oh, every staff must be involved because using

myself as an example, if no one involves me I will be adamant…”

The findings support what Chan (2009) has noted that the benefits of IRs are not properly marketed

and, therefore, they are not well appreciated by all academic institutions and academic staff. Again,

the finding from this section support Agyen-Gyasi, Corletey, and Frempong (2010) that an

awareness creation strategy was done by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

Technology (KNUST) Library during a celebration of an “open access week” organized in October

2009. This implies that almost all staff members were involved, either directly or indirectly. A

study by Yang & Li (2015) expressed that, for the adoption of IR to be successful and serve its full

potential, its constituents must be aware of its existence. An awareness makes all stakeholders well

informed and that is what would ensure the full involvement of all relevant stakeholders.

Another inquiry made by the researcher was the measures that needed to be in place to ensure the

smooth establishment of IRs in the CoEs. These measures were; promotion and awareness

services, staffing and human resource development, resource support and provision, and pilot


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project. The results of the findings indicated that promotion and awareness service 187 (33.6%)

was the highest measure indicated by respondents. This confirms a study by Nunda & Elia (2019)

that, promoting awareness hinges on the availability of a vigorous information literacy program.

This emphasizes the education that must be given to promote awareness for the smooth take-off in

the creation of an IR. An individual or a group of persons become more aware of the existence of

a phenomenon when the needed education is provided for the transformation of the individuals’

mindset. This measure from the finding is therefore very essential.

It was also observed from the finding that no particular college dominated any of the measures

with their response rates. This indicates that all the four measures were needed for the smooth

establishment of IRs. The CoE with the highest response rate for promotion and awareness service

was BECOLED 38 (6.8%). Participants from JASICO provided the highest response rate of 28

(5.0%) for staff and human resource development. Again, the highest response rate for resource

support and provision was received from JASICO 36 (6.5%). Finally, respondents from ACCE

gave the highest response rate of 17 (3.1%) for the pilot project.

Participants furthermore agreed that promotion and awareness services, staffing and human

resource development, resource support and provision, and Pilot project should be adopted as part

of the preparatory measures for the formation of IR. This is, however, contrary to the assertion by

Pickton and Barwick (2006) that the kind of commitment and the support that is required of

stakeholders is rare.


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5.4 Benefits of IRs

The possible establishment of IRs and its acceptance depends heavily on the positive impact it

brings. The results of the analysis revealed that benefits to the staff was 98 (29.2%). This finding

corroborates a study by Canada which suggests that the potential benefits of open access IRs to

researchers, educators, and institutions in developing countries is very prominent (Canada, 2009)

the staff represent what Canada referred to as researchers and educators. The remaining findings

were benefits to the college 89 (26.5%), the academia 61 (18.2%), the individual respondents 56

(16.7%), and finally, benefits to the country 32 (9.5%). These general benefits identified by this

study support the assertion that open access electronic systems provide a lot of benefits to

academic institutions, researchers, publishers, funding agencies, and the entire nation (Nicholas

& Rowlands, 2005; Cullen & Chawner, 2008; Suber, 2010). Again, the finding of this objective

of the study that the staff stand the chance of benefiting so much from IR supports what Dulle

and Minishi-Majanja (2009), and Priti (2011) claimed, that authors benefit in enhanced visibility

of their research from online publishing which receives broader dissemination and increased use.

The interviews conducted by the researcher revealed participants’ acceptance of the fact that IR

has a lot of benefits. These are a few of participants’ responses that indicate the benefits of IR:

P1: “I remember I accessed from an IR during my MBA study but never knew it was an

IR. It is very good for research work…”

P3: “During my MSc. program, I accessed journals and other resources from which I

realized that studies done by people of different countries can be seen all over the world

through that medium. This means that IR makes the work of people or scholars to be seen

worldwide…”


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P7: “IR has a lot of benefits such as boosting the image of the institution as a tertiary

institution and also making resources owned by the college available electronically and

globally…”

5.5 Availability of required infrastructure to establish IR

The researcher sought to find out from respondents about the available infrastructure that was

required and the technical arrangement that was needed for the establishment of an IR. The

response for the availability of the required infrastructure was 207 (72.4%), whiles the response

rate for non-availability of the required infrastructure was 79 (27.6%). The need for infrastructure

for the creation of IR as the finding of this section portrays agrees with Dicovitsky (2010) that

developing countries have made certain significant improvements in access to mobile technology

and infrastructure. Again, Saffady (1995) and Amofah-Serwaa (2018) have noted that a number

of ICT requirements for effective implementation of technological innovation in libraries such as

large information repositories, various online databases, information products, computer storage

devices on which information repositories reside, computerized networked library systems, the

internet, database servers, collection of computers, adequate technical support, servers, operating

systems, good bandwidth, and all internet enabled devices were required infrastructure needed in

an academic library. Finding from this section of the study further depicted that individual college

responses were as follows: BECOLED provided a response of 42 (14.7%), WESCO 39 (13.6%),

BACE 36 (12.6%), ACCE 33 (11.5%), HCCE 30 (10.5%), and JASICO 27 (9.4%).

The researcher specifically interviewed the head librarians and an ICT officer about the required

technological infrastructure needed to establish institutional repositories and the general response

was that, there is the availability of the required infrastructure with regards to modern technology.


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Again, the researcher asked librarians, and an ICT officer a specific question of technological

infrastructure required for the establishment of IR. All the head librarians interviewed were able

to indicate that, DSpace and Eprint are kinds of software that could support the development of an

IR. An ICT officer also acknowledged DSpace as appropriate software that could be employed in

the creation of an IR. Some of the comments made by participants in connection with infrastructure

include:

P2: “There is enough technological infrastructure for the establishment of IR such as

DSpace and Eprint, as well as other physical infrastructure…”

P12: “We have no problem with technological infrastructure. DSpace for example, is a

software that could be depended on in the formation of an IR. Even those required

infrastructure that are not around, the college has the capacity of making them available

when the need arises…”

The other aspect of the finding on the exact software to adopt support a study by Sheeja, Mathew,

& Cherukodan (2015), that among the five major repository software that are open source, DSpace

is the world’s most widely used open-source software, and it is among the top five for building

digital repositories. Again, the findings of the librarians’ identification of DSpace and Eprint as

software of choice that are needed to support the creation of IRs was in tandem with the study by

Laxminarsaiah and Rajgoli (2007) that identified that open-source institutional repositories

software include ARNO, CDSware, DSpace, EPrints, FEDORA, Greenstone, Invenio, MyCoRe,

and SobekCM but DSpace and EPrints are the most widely used among them.


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The establishment of IR requires skillful staff and that made the researcher to find out from the

respondents about the availability of the appropriate personnel for the establishment of IR that

would enhance the output of research in CoEs. The researcher asked respondents to indicate

whether they had the required personnel for the smooth establishment and maintenance of IRs and

the finding from the analysis indicated 249 (87.1%) responses, confirming that the required

personnel is available for the establishment and maintenance of institutional repository. This

finding falls in line with a study by Zervas, Kounoudes, Artemi, and Giannoulakis (2019) on the

consideration of staff as very paramount in the integration of ORCiD in its systems. The confidence

to demand the establishment of an IR depends partly on the kind of personnel the colleges had.

Not just the personnel, but the right expertise to ensure the establishment and management of an

IR that would stand the test of time.

The right personnel for the creation and maintenance of IR should always be a priority in a project

such as the formation of an IR. The researcher found this appropriate as it supports the study by

Zervas, Kounoudes, Artemi, and Giannoulakis, (2019) that, it is very paramount to consider the

caliber of staff in the execution of an important innovation such as the IR. The analysis and the

finding revealed that all the sampled CoEs were in need of the Library/ICT systems skills. This

section of the study and its finding, therefore, supports what Corletey (2011) identified to be the

most challenging aspect of Ghanaian IRs, which is technical difficulties (poor connectivity, low

bandwidth), and a lack of skilled personnel.

The skilled personnel is very essential since that would sustain the initial trust people would have

for the establishment of IRs, and the subsequent reliance the beneficiaries of the IRs would have,

coupled with the support they would give for its sustenance. Again, skilled personnel would


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determine the kind of service an established IR would offer and the kind of standard it would create

for itself globally.

5.6 Challenges of establishing IR

The respondents were asked to select from several likely challenges that were considered by the

researcher to prevent the creation of IRs. They were opposition from the staff, the management,

the college council, opposition from quality assurance officers, affiliate universities, funding

challenge, infrastructural challenge, and opposition from principals. The responses from the

sampled colleges provided a finding that indicated that, funding 112 (39.2%) was the highest likely

challenge. This is in line with a study by Lamptey and Corletey (2011), who averred that funding

to start and sustain the institutional repository is an area of serious challenge. Robinson (2009) and

Chan (2009) have also claimed that initial costs are prohibitive for a poorly resourced organization.

Pickton and Barwick (2006) also asserted that funding is always a serious challenge due to

maintenance cost.

The data from the qualitative analysis and finding provided a range of challenges from human

resource to funding:

P2: “Inadequate personnel, for example, permanent library staff. This is because the

national service personnel who only come to spend one year cannot be used for the

implementation of an IR. There is the need to train personnel to stay permanently to

manage the IR...”

P3: “The corrupt nature of some ICT staff (they can capitalize on the ignorance of

management and buy data below the amount they took). Again, the Ghana Education


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Service (GES) mentality make them think that issues like an IR need not be given attention,

therefore the need for promotion and awareness…”

P6: “The possibility of friction between the departments and units that will be involved in

its operation, since it will involve human beings…”

P7: “the main challenge is the attitude of management towards information resources.

They always feel reluctant to release funds to support anything about information

resources…”

5.7 Chapter Summary

The respondents from the CoEs that were selected for the study have identified certain challenges

that have the potential of preventing the establishment of an IR, such as staff, management,

council, quality assurance officers, affiliate universities, funding, infrastructure, and principals.

The most profound challenge identified was funding. Regardless of these challenges, the study

found that participants were optimistic of the establishment of IR due to the benefits it offers,

especially to the staff.


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CHAPTER SIX

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

6.1 Introduction

The summary of the major findings, the conclusion, recommendations, and areas of further

research were captured in this chapter. The conclusion and recommendations were based on the

major findings of the study. Suggested areas for future research have been provided for other

researchers to explore and develop on the existing knowledge on the feasibility of establishing

institutional repositories (IRs).

6.2 Summary of Findings

The study was intended to look at establishing institutional repositories to enhance research

output at selected colleges of education in Ghana: a feasibility study. The study specifically

sought to:

1. Find out the level of awareness of Institutional Repositories among the staff of the

Colleges under study.

2. Examine the feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories in the Colleges of

Education in Ghana.

3. Identify the benefits of Institutional Repositories to the Colleges of Education in

Ghana.

4. Find out the availability of technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of

Institutional Repositories in the colleges, and


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5. Identify challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of Institutional


6.2.1 The level of awareness of IRs among the staff of the Colleges under study.

The first objective of the study sought to determine the level of awareness of IR among the staff

of the colleges under study. The findings of the study showed that individual responses

demonstrated a fair awareness level. Some of the respondents conversely expressed their low

level of awareness, especially most of the interviewees. Most of the respondents became aware

of the IRs during their post-graduate period of study, and resources that were largely accessed

included scholarly articles, thesis, and dissertations. Some of the participants and respondents

suggested the need to embark on awareness creation to sensitize all staff members on the benefits

of IR.

6.2.2 The feasibility of establishing IRs in the CoEs in Ghana

The outcome of the study made it clear that the possible establishment of the IR was high. Though

there were a few respondents who felt that the feasibility of establishing IRs in the colleges was

low, the interviews conducted by the researcher confirmed the high possibility. For instance, a

confirmation was made by an ICT officer and some librarians during the interview. It emerged

from the study that there was enough infrastructure to facilitate the creation of the IR, however,

the interview revealed few challenges. Additionally, the study discovered that sensitizing every

staff member about the importance of establishing IR was very necessary to create general

consciousness. Finally, promotion and awareness services became a key measure to precede the

formation of an IR, however, interviewees agreed that promotion and awareness services; staffing


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and human resource development; resource support and provision; and Pilot project should all be

adopted as part of the preparatory measures for the creation of an IR.

6.2.3 The benefits of IRs to the CoEs in Ghana.

Among the benefits the respondents were asked to select from, the benefits to the staff emerged

the highest, as the major findings of the study revealed. This revelation was corroborated by the

interview. The other benefits in order of response rates were benefits to the college, the academia,

the individual respondents, and finally benefits to the country.

6.2.4 The availability of technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of IRs in the

colleges.

The majority of the respondents were of the view that the essential infrastructure was available.

An interview the researcher had with the librarians and an ICT officer revealed that available

software that could be employed in the creation of an IR included DSpace and Eprint. The

interview also supported the availability of the required infrastructure. Again, the findings of the

study confirmed that the required personnel were available for the establishment and

maintenance of institutional repositories. Finally, data from the interview and questionnaire

revealed that the personnel with the Library/ICT systems skills were mostly needed.

6.2.5 Challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana.

The findings from both the questionnaire and interview was funding as a major challenge. Apart

from funding that was selected as the prime challenge to the establishment of IRs, opposition

from staff, management, council, quality assurance officers, affiliate universities, infrastructure,

and principals were also identified.


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6.3 Conclusion

The establishment of institutional repositories (IRs) for the Colleges of Education (CoEs) has

become a necessity. The literature on IR is replete with the benefits such as global visibility for

scholars and academic institutions. To benefit fully as academic institutions from IRs, and to obtain

global visibility in the world of academia, all stakeholders must ensure that the appropriate

measures are put in place to ensure its creation. The growth of IR has been tremendous globally

and Africa has not been left out, especially South Africa. South Africa remains a motivation for

all African countries due to the massive stride it has made in the growth of IR establishment. Ghana

has not relented on its desire to become a giant in the area of IRs since almost all the public

universities have well established IRs. A very strong and convincing motivation to the CoEs to

also make a positive step in the establishment of IRs. Once the CoEs are now tertiary institutions

with the required resources at their disposal, coupled with affiliate universities that are well

grounded in the area of IR, the feasibility of establishing it is very high.

Despite the identified challenges in this study and in the literature, there is some level of awareness

that will assist any effort of establishing an IR. CoEs and their stakeholders must adopt the relevant

measures to embrace this innovation. This has become necessary because there is the need to

establish an institutional repository to enhance research output.

6.4 Recommendations

The following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.

6.4.1 Awareness creation on IRs among stakeholders of the CoEs in Ghana

Though the study has identified that most respondents had an awareness of IR, it came out that

some participants of the study had no awareness of IR. It is therefore recommended that all key


113

stakeholders that will have the responsibility of championing the creation of IRs in the CoEs will

embark on massive awareness creation for a successful implementation of the IRs. There is the

need to create a special unit in the libraries to be solely responsible for IR and its awareness

creation in the CoEs. The Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF) needs

to be sensitized on the importance of IR so that they champion its implementation.

6.4.2 Making the establishment of IRs in the CoEs in Ghana a national policy.

The establishment of IRs must be a national policy since that will have far reaching benefits of

enabling individuals to be abreast with the required information across the globe. National

Accreditation Board (NAB) must make it mandatory for all CoEs, as well as a directive from the

National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to establish it. More importantly, when it

becomes a national policy, stakeholders would be forced to facilitate its establishment. It is also

paramount for teamwork to take the center stage so that all stakeholders will give the necessary

support for its establishment. The College Council and the staff must be informed well about the

benefits of creating an IR in a college. Besides, there should be a draft proposal by a committee

to be presented to the academic board for discussion, and then finally submitted to the College

Council.

6.4.3 Making the benefits of IRs known to the Colleges of Education in Ghana.

The college must consider IR as a laudable project and commit all staff to help in its creation

since it will help in the upgrade of all the staff in their respective fields of study. A massive

awareness creation must be embarked upon so that the full realization of the benefits of IR can

be achieved.


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6.4.4 Emphasis on expertise to manage IRs.

The IR must be managed by technocrats and not be left in the hands of ICT tutors who might not

have in-depth knowledge about the facility. Management must be seriously involved in the

promotion and the installation of appropriate infrastructure and technical systems. The expertise

to handle IR must be a concern so that the required personnel would be made to manage and

sustain it.

6.4.5 Provision of adequate funding

Funding remains the bedrock of all enterprises, since it is the basis upon which the success of all

organizations and their activities rest. Authorities must make funds available and seek the support

of the central government, corporate organizations, and all other available sources.

6.4.6 Commitment of scholars and non-scholars

The establishment of IR has become the responsibility of all manner of persons and institutions.

Inferring from this study and its findings, it is now clear that librarians, tutors, lecturers,

administrators, governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, business entities, and

all manner of persons must show concern for the establishment of IR since the benefits of IRs

impact directly or indirectly on every activity of man.

6.5 Future areas of research

Practically, it was impossible to capture all areas related to the study. Therefore, other areas of

study that are worth researching in the future include, but not limited to:

1. A comparative study of the creation of IRs in the public and private CoEs.

2. The effects of IRs on CoEs: Ranking of tertiary institutions in Ghana.


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3. Stakeholder engagement on the establishment of IRs: A case study of the CoEs in

Ghana.

4. Evaluation of publication standards in IRs of academic libraries: A comparative study.


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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS AT ACCRA, BAGABAGA,

BEREKUM, HOLY CHILD, JASIKAN AND WESLEY COLLEGES OF

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA



ESTABLISHING INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES TO ENHANCE

RESEARCH OUTPUT AT SELECTED COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN

GHANA: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

Dear Participant,

This instrument has been designed to obtain information from tutors on “Establishing

Institutional Repositories to enhance research output at selected Colleges of Education

in Ghana: a feasibility study” as part of a Master of Philosophy Degree Program.

Institutional Repository is the management and continuous sharing of intellectual creation

of an institution and its staff through the application of modern technologies. You have

been purposely selected to participate in this study because your college is one of the six

colleges that have been selected from each of the five main zones of the Colleges of

Education in Ghana for this study.

Kindly give your candid response to the questions. All information gathered will be treated

with extreme confidentiality and will be used for academic purposes only.

Thank you.

Agyemang Badu Boateng

0244480086 / 0208904963


131

Please tick (√) against the option you choose, and fill in where appropriate.

Section A: Background Information

1. Name of College of Education

2. Gender:

[ ] Male

[ ] Female

3. How long have you been on your present designation/rank?

[ ] 1 - 5 years

[ ] 6 - 10 years

[ ] 11 - 15 years

[ ] 15 years and above

Section B: Level of awareness of Institutional Repositories among staff of the Colleges

under study.

4. To what extent do you know of what an institutional repository is?

[ ] Aware

[ ] Fairly aware

[ ] Not aware

5. How did you get to know about it? Tick (√) and select all that apply and fill in where

appropriate.

[ ] University website

[ ] During post-graduate study

[ ] Word of mouth

[ ] Orientation at the university

[ ] Self-discovery/Personal study

6. What have you ever accessed from any institutional repository? Tick (√) all that apply.

[ ] Scholarly articles

[ ] Thesis/Dissertation

[ ] Conference proceedings


132

[ ] Books

Section C: Feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories in the Colleges of

Education in Ghana.

7. How do you rate the possibility of establishing an institutional repository in the college?

[ ] High

[ ] Low

8. What resources are needed in the establishment of IR? Tick (√) all that apply.

[ ] Infrastructure

[ ] Skilled personnel

[ ] Funding

9. What should be the specific involvement of staff and other officers in its establishment?

Tick (√) all that apply.

[ ] Sensitizing colleagues about its importance

[ ] Prioritizing its establishment at all official gatherings

[ ] Other………………………………………………...

10. What needs to be done to ensure that IRs are established in the CoEs in Ghana? Tick (√)

all that apply.

[ ] Promotion and awareness services

[ ] Staffing and human resource development

[ ] Resource support and provision

[ ] Pilot project

Section D: Benefits of IR to the CoEs Ghana.

11. What are some of the specific benefits that should warrant the establishment of IR?

(I) Benefits to the Staff……………………………………………………...........


133

(II) Benefit to the College………………………………………………………….

(III) Benefits to the Academia……………………………………………………..

(IV) Benefits to the Country……………………………………………………….

(V) Benefits to you as an individual…………………............................................

Section E: Technological infrastructure for the establishment of IR.

12. Does the college have the required technological infrastructure to establish IR?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

13. Does the College have the personnel with the required technological skill for the

establishment and maintenance of IR?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

14. What skill is required of the personnel? Tick (√) all that apply.

[ ] Professional librarian

[ ] Library/ICT systems skills

[ ] Computer proficiency

[ ] System and networking skills

[ ] Research skills

Section F: Challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of IR in the CoEs in

Ghana.

15. What are the challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of Institutional

Repositories? Tick (√) all that apply.

[ ] Opposition from staff

[ ] Opposition from college management

[ ] Opposition from college council


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[ ] Opposition from the quality assurance officers

[ ] Opposition from affiliate university

[ ] Funding

[ ] Infrastructure

[ ] Opposition from the Principal

16. What do you recommend or suggest to facilitate the establishment of Institutional

Repositories in Colleges of Education in Ghana?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………


135

APPENDIX 2

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA



AGREEMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH STUDY

TITLE OF STUDY: Establishing Institutional Repositories to enhance research output at

selected Colleges of Education in Ghana: a feasibility study.

RESEARCHER: Agyemang Badu Boateng

0244480086 / 0208904963

[email protected]

PURPOSE

You are kindly requested to participate in a research study. The purpose of this study is to

find out the feasibility of establishing institutional repositories (IRs) to enhance research

output at selected colleges of education in Ghana. IR is the management and continuous

sharing of intellectual creation of an institution and its staff through the application of

modern technologies. This study is being conducted in partial fulfillment for the award of

Master of Philosophy Degree in Information Studies.

INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. Preliminary conversation with commendations to build rapport.

Section A: Background Information

1. ……………………………………………… College of Education

Gender: A. Male B. Female

2. Designation/rank in the college?


mailto:[email protected]

136

a. Principal

b. Vice Principal

c. Librarian

d. Secretary

e. Finance officer

f. Internal auditor

3. How long have you been on the present designation /rank?

a. 1 - 5 years

b. 6 - 10 years

c. 11 - 15 years

d. 15 years and above

Section B: Level of awareness of Institutional Repositories among some members of

staff of the Colleges under study.

1. Kindly provide any knowledge of an IR?

2. Could you please tell me how you got to know about it?

3. Have you accessed from an institutional repository before?

4. If yes, what last thing did you access from an institutional repository?

.........................................................................................................................................

Section C: Feasibility of establishing Institutional Repositories in the Colleges of

Education in Ghana.

1. How do you rate the possibility of establishing an institutional repository in the college?

a. High

b. Low

2. Reason(s) for the response in question 1 above ……………………………………………

3. What do you think should be the specific involvement of staff and other officers in its

establishment?

4. What do you think needs to be done to ensure that Institutional Repositories are established

in the Colleges of Education in Ghana? ...............................................................................

(I) Promotion awareness services

(II) Staffing and human resource development


137

(III) Resource support and provision

(IV) Pilot project

Section D: Benefits of Institutional Repositories to the Colleges of Education in Ghana.

1. Do you think it is advisable to establish IRs in the CoEs.

2. If yes, why?

Section E: Available technologies and infrastructure for the establishment of

Institutional Repositories.

1. Do you think the college has the required infrastructure to establish an institutional

repository?

a. Yes

b. No

2. If yes, what technological infrastructure is required for the establishment of an IR?

a. MyCoRe

b. SobekCM

c. Invenio

d. Greenstone

e. CDSware

f. OPUS

g. Digital Commons

h. Eprint

i. DSpace

3. Does the College have the required personnel for the establishment of an institutional

repository?

(I) Yes

(II) No

4. What skill is required of the personnel?

Section F: Challenges that are likely to be faced in the establishment of Institutional



138

1. What are the possible challenges the establishment of an IR in the CoEs can face?

What do you recommend or suggest to facilitate the establishment of Institutional Repositories

in Colleges of Education in Ghana?


139

APPENDIX 3


UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND ...

Documents