Academic libraries in the digital era: An assessment of the Institutional Repository role in supporting research as a digital service

Abstract

Digital transformation is a reality that has been happening in our daily lives and covers almost all the human activities. In this framework academic libraries worldwide have been adopting new technologies and ICT applications in order from the one hand to keep up with the developments and from the other to remain their patrons strongly connected with them. For these reasons, they have developed infrastructures and software systems with ultimate target to store and preserve the knowledge that is produced in the universities, the Institutional Repositories. So far, the IRs have managed to collect the research output in satisfied level, but many things need to be done in order the IRs to be a real safekeeper for the Universities. In this paper we attempt an assessment of the IRs’ role in supporting academic research as a digital service by studying the literature and conducting open interviews with dedicated librarians. The findings from our research not only confirmed our initial essence but revealed new roles for the IRs that can guide the universities beyond their traditional mission.