Academic libraries have special responsibilities and challenges to face in preparing for and
participating in the transition. It is an accepted fact that information technology has the potential
to bring substantial improvements to higher education and scholarly communication. To achieve
such improvements, the willingness and zeal of the library professionals to take new responsibilities
is crucial. Over the past several decades, the economic, market and technological foundations that
sustained the symbiotic publisher-library market relationship have begun to shift. The paper discusses
the concept of Institutional Repository (IR), its benefits, various types of software, trends with
special reference to the initiatives of Mizoram University.