OpenAccess and Institutional Repositories in Agricultural Sciences: The Case of Botswana College ofAgriculture (BCA)

Abstract: The Internet has made it easy to create digital collections and make them readily accessible. Academic and research institutions in developing countries generate an enormous amount of information. Most of the information exists as grey literature and is often difficult to collect, store, preserve and make accessible to users. In addition, developing countries are facing barriers in access to scholarly information due to financial constraints. One way of overcoming these problems is to promote open access (OA) and institutional repositories (IR). OA and IRs are indispensable for academic and research institutions in developing countries because access to adequate, timely and relevant information is imperative to improve research and development in the agricultural sector. This paper explores OA and IRs from practical perspectives. It describes the Botswana College of Agriculture Library’s IR as a case study, including lessons learned in establishing and running the IR.