Scholarly Communication in a Digital Environment: Populating the Institutional Repository of the University of Botswana.

This paper examines the numerous benefits of digital scholarly communication made visible through institutional repositories (IRs) that have become trendy in institutions of higher learning in developed countries of the world. In line with its vision to be a leading centre of academic excellence in Africa and the world, the University of Botswana (UB) established its own IR known as the UB Research, Innovation and Scholarship Archive (UBRISA). This paper discusses the challenges of profiling digital scholarly communication on UBRISA, a technology brimming with potential but which UB staff has largely ignored. The consequences of this neglect are seen in the paltry submissions to it during its four years of existence. The paper explains the implementation policy, and the involvement and functions of a tripartite team that drives UBRISA. The paper notes that the problem of tardiness experienced in populating the digital repositories of other institutions is also deeply rooted in UB. It shares some failed efforts made to populate UBRISA through the instrument of the performance management system - an annual contract which the academic staff members sign at the beginning of the year. The paper then analyses the efforts of the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme (SCAP) that worked with UB in training its staff regarding the operation of the IR, and also established a workflow process for vetting, describing and uploading content to the IR so that UB scholarship could become more visible to the world. Some recommendations are also offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]