Promotional Strategies for Open Access Resources Discovery and Access

The research was designed to determine the promotional strategies adopted by Nigerianuniversity libraries to enhance open access resources discovery and access, as well as theirsupport and perception on use of the resources. Data for the research were collected with asurvey questionnaire using 50 university librarians in Nigeria through electronic mail and socialmedia platforms. A follow up interview was used to elicit qualitative data from the universitylibrarian. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative datawere extracted to confirm and consolidate the data as collected. The results were presented assimple percentages, tables and charts. Nigerian universities are supporting the green and goldmodels of open access initiatives, though emphasis is more on the green model-the institutionalrepository majority of which were yet to be listed in the OpenDOAR. There was perceived highuse of open access resources by faculty members in spite of very few who could not use theresources due to unawareness, lack of skill and institutional reservations on open accessresources quality. Promotional strategies adopted include advocacy and infrastructuraldevelopment with limited user survey initiatives. The ingenuity of the university library isimportant for Open Access Resources (OAR) promotion. Nigerian universities have madeincursions into the support of OAR (www.nusoer.org) especially the green model whichdiscovery and access are promoted through advocacy, infrastructural development and surveyinitiatives. Librarians and continuing professional development stakeholders could deploy theresults to assess their status in OAR support and promotion.