The Zimbabwean Institutional Repositories: Facilitators and barriers to implementation

Abstract: It has been argued that the establishment of Institutional Repositories in academic and research institutions in Africa is a serious developmental issue that requires urgent attention (Christian, 2008). Furthermore, the Directory to the Open Access Repositories (2010) states that, while South Africa boasts of 24 institutional repositories their neighbour Zimbabwe has only one. This great discrepancy has prompted research into how issues such as the political and economic situation of a nation can impact greatly on the setting up of its Institutional Repositories. This paper reports research addressing some of the particular challenges that universities in Zimbabwe are facing in establishing Institutional Repositories (IRs).