Entre la propiedad privada y la titulación colectiva

As academics of the UKZN, respondents were required to state what they felt was necessary for them to do in order to improve use of the IR. A general view was that academics needed to upload their work. Below are some of the responses that were given:

 “Being more proactive about the use of the IR, both in terms of depositing and drawing therefrom”,

 “Contribute”,  “Participate”,  “Use the IR”,

 “Share their research”,

 “Use the IR to display their work”,  “Strive to put their work on the IR”,  “Treat IR as a mandated repository”,  “Find time to do this”,

 “To publish their work on the IR after clearing the copyright rights with the publishers and then refer students that are studying postgraduate studies to the IR”.

148 The results also revealed that some respondents felt they needed to work together and encourage each other, as well as their students, to use the IR. Responses pointing to this fact are presented below:

 “We probably need a stronger collaboration mind-set”,

 “Mentoring junior staff members and conducting informal discussions about IR”,  “Talking about it and sharing the pros and cons”,

 “Share with colleagues that they are using the IR”,  “Jointly working with students to have this realised”,

 “Academics and researchers must encourage their students to also publish through IR”.

The idea of referring students to the IR was upheld by some respondents who believed that, if academics could refer their students often to the IR, visibility would improve.

There were respondents who felt that input into the IR was only possible if academics published more. One respondent clearly mentioned that, “Let’s encourage each other to write because we have a place for our work”. Furthermore, the results revealed that academics were encouraged to exercise “academic rigour and produce quality instead of quantity”, respecting “each other’s niche research areas” and “following relevant procedures and behaving ethically”.

Some respondents highlighted the need for academics to develop a positive attitude towards the IR and learn how to use it. Academics were encouraged to develop a willingness to learn about the IR and create time to attend library training sessions. Exploring the IR, knowing its benefits and familiarising with the platform were recommended as ways that would help grow the IR. One respondent strongly felt that academics needed to be proactive and do their part in developing the IR and should “stop complaining and moaning and start using the excellent resource”. Another respondent advised academics to “Learn more about OA and embrace it, improve the quality of articles put in the IR (this will make the IR a go to area when in need of some research material)”.

149 A few respondents indicated they were unsure of strategies they could recommend to improve the IR. One respondent claimed not to be conversant with the IR, hence was not in a position to propose strategies for improvement.

Interview responses suggested that academics should develop an interest in OA and learn how they can benefit from it. One interview participant admitted that the library had done all it could to gain academics attention; it was up to each individual academic to make a choice either to participate or to remain ignorant.

5.10 Summary of the chapter

This chapter presented the analysis of data collected on IR use by academics at the UKZN. The questionnaire was the main source of data, substantiated by interviews, documents and bibliometric databases. Findings were presented based on the research questions of the study in the form of graphs, tables, frequencies and percentages. The results revealed that there was considerable progress in creating a conducive environment at UKZN to foster IR use by academics. Overall, academics’ awareness of the IR, appreciation of the importance of the IR, the availability of content for loading on the IR and usage of the IR were some of the positive attributes revealed by most respondents. There were mixed reactions on the role of the library, but many respondents showed some understanding on the functions of the library with regards to the IR. Further, interview responses disclosed some of the responsibilities assumed by the library, in addition to those specified in the questionnaire. Results on factors perceived to influence IR use showed that, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and attitude had a significant relationship with academics use of the repository. Most respondents felt that using the IR would improve their performance and ultimately their work output, and they would require minimal effort to use it. In addition, the findings revealed that social influence and the availability of adequate infrastructure would motivate them to deposit on the IR. The results also showed that academics had a positive attitude towards OA. Results on challenges revealed that problems encountered by the library gleaned more towards academics’ reluctance to adopt OA while academics stressed the need for the library to be more vigorous in educating and bringing awareness to OA. Findings on the strategies to be adopted to improve IR use included the development of an OA policy, addressing the issue of shortage of staff in the library and a call for academics to embrace OA and participate in the process. These findings will be systematically interpreted in Chapter Six.

150 CHAPTER SIX

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

6.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the meaning of the results presented in the previous chapter. Kothari (2004:344) highlighted that proper interpretation of results determines the usefulness and effectiveness of research findings. The discussion should “establish relationships within the collected data, partially overlapping analysis” (Kothari 2004:344), as well as relating study findings to those of other similar studies previously conducted to allow continuity in research (Hess 2004:1239). During this process, the researcher is cautioned to remain focused on the research problem and study results (Hess 2004:1240). In the light of this, the discussion of the findings was guided by the two research objectives of the study which were to examine the development of the IR at the UKZN, and to assess the extent of use of the IR by academics at the university. In this study, the term ‘use’ was largely used to refer to ‘depositing’ of content to the IR. The discussion themes were drawn from the following research questions of the study:

1. What developments have been made towards the growth of the university’s IR? 2. What are the roles of the library in the development of the university’s IR? 3. To what extent are the academics using the university’s IR?

4. What is the academic’s attitude towards self-archiving? 5. What challenges are hindering IR use at UKZN?

6. What strategies can be employed to improve acceptance and use of the IR at UKZN?