Bingham University held a one-day workshop for its staff on the benefits of the institutional repository.

Declaring the workshop open, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Haruna Kuje Ayuba, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Musa Dankyau stated that the workshop on harnessing the power of institutional repositories for academic value addition will explore the benefits of institutional repositories and the essential steps of uploading personal academic publications onto these platforms. He added that in an era where knowledge dissemination is a critical currency, institutional repositories serve as invaluable assets, facilitating seamless access to scholarly works while fostering collaboration and innovation. 

Prof Dankyau emphasized that Bingham University’s commitment to academic excellence is unwavering, and the university’s strategic thrust is centered on enhancing value across all academic spheres. He added that the workshop will uncover how institutional repositories can catalyse personal academic advancement, and provide a hub for storing, preserving, and disseminating scholarly output which will ensure improved visibility and impact academic contributions by propelling Bingham University towards higher rankings.

While introducing the guest speaker, the University Librarian, Associate Prof. Dan Ajibili, articulated that the primary aim of the workshop on the benefits of the institutional repository is to empower staff members to seamlessly upload their academic research onto the platform independently, obviating the need for assistance from library personnel. He underscored the significance of the workshop, highlighting how it would enhance the University's visibility within academic circles and beyond.

In his presentation, the guest speaker Dr. Aliyu Abdulkadir who is the University Librarian at Nasarawa State University, stated that a university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members.

Dr. Abdulkadir’s presentation also delved into the benefits of institutional repositories such as offer enhanced exposure to academic institutions, facilitating subject-wise maintenance for better results and fame, analyzing stored information, measuring research and teaching activities through usage reports, enabling interdisciplinary research, supporting students in their endeavors, and elevate the findings of research amongst others.

He stated that Institutional repositories face challenges in garnering administrative and faculty support, convincing researchers to contribute materials, addressing issues of intellectual property rights, copyrights, and permissions, and managing content while creating comprehensive metadata.

The highlight of the workshop was a practical guide to uploading publications onto the  Bingham University Digital Repository.