"Digital repositories are central to research development"

This week the UNISA, (University of South Africa), celebrates Research Week. During this week the university profiles its achievments in research, examines the role of research in scholarship and examines impact of researchon communities. At the opening ceremony Dr Peter Clayton highlighted the value of digital repositories in dissemination of research. Prof Clayton is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Rhodes University. This was indeed a high level advocacy for institutional repositories. Librarians and researchers in the hall uplauded! While institutional repositories(IR) have been around for a while, the role of IRs located in African Universities in the dissemination of African knowledge has been understated. African universities seeking to be world class, indeed need to highlight their unique contributions into the global arena. The IRs become a window thru which the diversity of knowledge, and the contributions of African thought enter the global arena.