Open-source digital repository software at Egyptian University libraries and Its Role in Support Economic Development: Reality and Expectations

Abstract

This study aims to identify the most prominent Open-source digital repository software, and monitor the reality of the use of this software at Egyptian university libraries and shed light on the challenges facing libraries in this regard, and to determine the level of awareness among information specialists with the importance of Open source software to build digital repositories in university libraries and economic returns, and to identify the skills needed by the information specialists at University Libraries to use open source software technologies, and provide a Proposed visualization to promote and support the use of Open-source repository software in the Egyptian university libraries and its role in achieving economic growth and development.
The study depended on the field survey method to achieve its goals using a set of tools to collect data. The tools include a questionnaire, observation, and personal interview. The study population consists of (21) Central Library at Egyptian Universities and the sample consisted of (10) central libraries are distributed geographically in seven Egyptian governorates; to ensure the representation of all central libraries' trends in Egyptian universities, and limited field study on the central libraries of the following universities: Cairo, Ain Shams, Helwan, Al-Azhar, Banha, Suez, Alexandria, Menoufia, Sadat city, El Minya.
The study reached several conclusions, including: lack of awareness of the central libraries under study the importance of the participation of the library in establishing the institutional repository for intellectual output of the university community, and more than half of the studied libraries (61.5%) do not have a digital repository, which shows the weakness of the institutional and managerial role in supporting open access, and lack of awareness of the importance of digital repositories as one of the global evaluation criteria for universities by the officials of the university, and One of the most prominent challenges for building and supporting digital repositories for libraries under study is "the lack of specialized in the field of open source technical staff" with mean (2.76).
The study also presented recommendations, including: establishment of an Arab indicative website on the Internet to disseminate the culture of open source software and is directed to all parties concerned with building an Open-source digital repository software, as well as University 1
leaders mandate to make decisions on the establishment of these repositories and this website can be followed by the Ministry of Higher Education or the Supreme Council of universities, and the adoption of the application of the proposed visualization during the study to promote the use of open source software to build digital repositories in the central libraries at Egyptian universities level.