Status of Institutional Repositories in SAARC Countries: An Analytical Study

Abstract

This paper examines the usage of institutional repositories in SAARC countries. The data for the study has been collected from the website of respective institutions in each SAARC country. The study analyzed the Communities and Sub Communities, Contribution of authors of the institutional repositories in SAARC Countries. This study adopted an analytical method where the data are readily available in the website. At first, the institutions that are using Dspace software for building Institutional repository in each of the eight SAARC countries were identified and sorted out separately. Then data regarding the collections, communities etc were separately collected from the website the respective institutions. The study also further analysed the number of institutions using Dspace ,their collections, number of Communities and Sub Communities available, number of authors etc.,. All these data were subsequently tabulated for making observations. This paper analyzes the usage of institutional repositories in SAARC countries. In India, Jadavpur University and Osmania University has the maximum number of collections. In Sri Lanka, University of Colombo and University of Peradeniya has the maximum number of collections. In Bangladesh, BRAC University Institutional Repository and Daffodil International University Institutional Digital Repository has the maximum number ofcollections. In Afghanistan, ACKU Library Catalogue has the highest number of collections. In Nepal, Madan PuraskarPustakalayahyas the maximum number of collections.