Challenges Faced by Institutional Repositories in Managing Indian Language Content

Authors

Keywords:

Metadata and Retrieval, Setting Service Quality Standards

Abstract

Institutional Repositories (IRs) play a critical role in preserving and disseminating scholarly output generated within academic institutions. In India’s multilingual environment, managing content in Indian languages presents significant technical and institutional challenges. This paper examines issues related to Optical Character Recognition (OCR), font encoding, metadata creation, user access, and standardization in languages such as Hindi, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Bengali. Using the Institutional Repository of the University of Calicut as a case study, the paper analyzes practical difficulties encountered in archiving theses and scholarly documents in Indic scripts. Many born-digital theses in regional languages rely on non-Unicode fonts, limiting discoverability, indexing, and retrieval. The study outlines strategies adopted to address these problems, including scanning, OCR processing, document cleaning, rasterization, and conversion into Unicode-compliant formats using open-source tools. It also highlights best practices in metadata standardization, copyright management, and repository workflows to improve long-term accessibility and discoverability of Indian language scholarly resources.

Author Biographies

  • Mohanan A, University of Calicut, Thenjippalam, Malappuram District, Kerala

    Mohanan A. is presently working as an Information Scientist at the C. H. Mohammed Koya Library, University of Calicut. He began his career at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, and has over 26 years of professional experience in library and information services, having worked with institutions such as the Institute for Human Resources Development for Electronics, Mahatma Gandhi University, and the University of Calicut. He is widely recognized for his expertise in information retrieval processes and methods, as well as in metadata management. During his career, he has successfully completed several projects for the University. His areas of interest include library automation, full-text digitization, and the development of bibliographical databases and information retrieval facilities for regional collections, particularly those containing texts in local scripts.

  • Sreelatha K, University of Calicut, Thenjippalam, Malappuram District, Kerala

    Sreelatha K is a Professional Assistant at the C. H. Mohammed Koya Library, University of Calicut. Earlier, she taught in the Department of Library and Information Science at Kannur University. She also serves as an Academic Counsellor for courses offered by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and acts as a resource person in areas such as open-source software and reference management.Before pursuing her degree in Library and Information Science, she worked as an Internal Auditor. She has authored a book and contributed several book chapters and research papers, and has presented papers at both national and international seminars. She has also coordinated three international conferences in Library and Information Science (2021, 2022, and 2023) in collaboration with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

References

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Language Technology

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Published

2026-03-22

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2026): Language Technology

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Articles

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