Category: DSpace

"DSpace 7 Benefits: Is It Worth Upgrading?"


With the release of DSpace version 7, a natural question that arises is whether the new version offers enough new functionalities to motivate system administrators to upgrade. This paper briefly describes the most important changes, including new features and bug fixes, included in DSpace 7.4 and prior minor versions. The next parts of this paper explore our estimate that there are several thousand DSpace-based systems globally that will likely have to be upgraded in the near future. The main reason for this need is that older versions of DSpace (including 5.x) have reached the end of their developer support period or are reaching it in mid-2023. Based on our own upgrade experience, we propose suggestions and recommendations on migrating from the previous DSpace 6.3-based environment to the new one in a case study that concludes this article.

https://tinyurl.com/32t7ac9m

| Research Data Curation and Management Works |
| Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

"The Status of Open Access Repositories in the Field of Technology: Insights from OpenDOAR"


The study found that 125 nations contributed a total of 4,045 repositories in the field of research, with the USA leading the list with the most repositories. Maximum repositories were operated by institutions having multidisciplinary approaches. The DSpace and Eprints were the preferred software types for repositories. The preferred upload content by contributors was "research articles" and "electronic thesis and dissertations."

https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-11-2022-0119

| Research Data Curation and Management Works |
| Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

An Interactive Map for Showcasing Repository Impacts

Hui Zhang and Camden Lopez have published "An Interactive Map for Showcasing Repository Impacts>" in Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Digital repository managers rely on usage metrics such as the number of downloads to demonstrate research visibility and impacts of the repositories. Increasingly, they find that current tools such as spreadsheets and charts are ineffective for revealing important elements of usage, including reader locations, and for attracting the targeted audiences. This article describes the design and development of a readership map that provides an interactive, near-real-time visualization of actual visits to an institutional repository using data from Google Analytics. The readership map exhibits the global impacts of a repository by displaying the city of every view or download together with the title of the scholarship being read and a hyperlink to its page in the repository. We will discuss project motivation and development issues such as authentication with Google API, metadata integration, performance tuning, and data privacy.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Bridging Technologies to Efficiently Arrange and Describe Digital Archives: The Bentley Historical Library’s ArchivesSpace-Archivematica-DSpace Workflow Integration Project"

Max Eckard, Dallas Pillen and Mike Shallcross have published "Bridging Technologies to Efficiently Arrange and Describe Digital Archives: The Bentley Historical Library's ArchivesSpace-Archivematica-DSpace Workflow Integration Project" in the Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

In recent years, ArchivesSpace and Archivematica have emerged as two of the most exciting open source platforms for working with digital archives. The former manages accessions and collections and provides a framework for entering descriptive, administrative, rights, and other metadata. The latter ingests digital content and prepares information packages for long-term preservation and access. In October 2016, the Bentley Historical Library wrapped up a two-year, $355,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to partner with the University of Michigan Library on the integration of these two systems in an end-to-end workflow that will include the automated deposit of content into a DSpace repository. This article provides context of the project and offers an in-depth exploration of the project’s key development tasks, all of which were provided by Artefactual Systems, the developers of Archivematica (code available at https://github.com/artefactual-labs/appraisal-tab).

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"TRY IT OUT: DSpace 6.0 Release Candidate #3 Available"

DuraSpace has released "TRY IT OUT: DSpace 6.0 Release Candidate #3 Available."

Here's an excerpt:

The third release candidate of 6.0 is now available for download and testing. 6.0-RC3 (Release Candidate #3) is a pre-release of 6.0, and we hope that the 6.0 final release will follow closely in its footsteps. . . .

We believe the 6.0 release is nearly production-ready, but could use your help in verifying there's nothing we've overlooked.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

DSpace 5 Released

DuraSpace has released DSpace 5.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

With a new, modern look and feel for every device, the ability to auto-upgrade from older versions of DSpace, to batch import content and more, the release of DSpace 5 offers its far-flung global community of developers and stakeholders an even easier-to-use and more efficient institutional repository solution.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Debra Hanken Kurtz Named as DuraSpace CEO

Debra Hanken Kurtz has been named as DuraSpace's CEO.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

It brings us great pleasure to announce that the DuraSpace Board of Directors has chosen Debra Hanken Kurtz to serve as the new CEO for the Organization. Kurtz is currently the Executive Director of the Texas Digital Library. She will begin in her new role on February 16, 2015 and establish an office in Austin, Texas to manage DuraSpace business operations.

Kurtz brings key relevant experience and skills to DuraSpace. As Executive Director of the Texas Digital Library, she managed and grew membership, operations, and services. She participates in working and planning groups for DPN and SHARE. At both Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill Libraries, Kurtz provided leadership and direction for digital collections, public websites, and early planning efforts for both libraries' institutional repositories. She was an active partner within the Triangle Research Libraries Network and has been a voice for Kuali OLE, an open-source integrated library system built by and for academic and research libraries. Kurtz's complete background can be found on linkedin.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

DuraSpace Launches DSpaceDirect

DuraSpace has launched DSpaceDirect.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Today the DuraSpace organization is pleased to announce the public launch of DSpaceDirect—the only hosted repository solution for low-cost discovery, access, archiving, and preservation. DSpaceDirect is now available with convenient features that include fast start-up, you-pick customization, no-cost upgrades, content preservation options, anytime data access and all-the-time data control—all at a price that puts solutions for long-term access to digital scholarly assets within reach of institutions of any size. . . .

Built on DSpace, the most widely-used repository application in the world with more than 1,500 installed instances, DSpaceDirect was inspired by the idea that the past creates the future as each generation builds knowledge on the scholarship that came before. DSpaceDirect is a hosted DSpace repository service that allows institutions of any size to afford to keep their digital content safe and accessible over time. Small institutions are able to get a repository up and running right away that can be made available to patrons as well as to new users worldwide. Users say that the DSpaceDirect easy start-up accelerates discussions about digital content stewardship and preservation best practices at their institutions.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"A DSpace Mobile Theme for San Diego State University"

Mini Vamadevan Pillai has self-archived "A DSpace Mobile Theme for San Diego State University."

Here's an excerpt:

This thesis is an attempt to install and customize a DSpace mobile theme for San Diego State University. The work also includes development of additional features like adding navigational bars, adding administrative login capabilities, accessing administrative navigational panel via mobile theme. The mobile theme supports other features like search, advanced search, recent submissions, submissions and workflow. With the widespread use of mobile telephony, providing a mobile theme for SDSU DSpace will reach out to faculty and other interested parties.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"A Mobile Interface for DSpace"

Elías Tzoc has published "A Mobile Interface for DSpace" in the latest issue of D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic libraries were among the first adopters of mobile websites in universities, but much of the early development was focused exclusively on traditional library content such as the library's homepage, catalog, contact information, etc. As libraries continue to work on new technology developments, a mobile interface for their institutional repositories can be a good new way to reach out to faculty and other interested parties. Miami University's Scholarly Commons runs on DSpace as part of a shared infrastructure administered by OhioLINK. DSpace is used at academic institutions, research and resource centers, museums, national libraries, and government and commercial organizations. With over a thousand installations in more than 90 countries, DSpace is the most widely used open source repository platform by any measure. The steady popularity of DSpace suggests that a lot of institutions will benefit from an out-of-the-box mobile interface. This article describes the development and implementation of the first mobile interface developed for DSpace using the jQuery Mobile Framework.

Note: Includes links to software.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap |

"Evaluating Large Image Support for DSpace"

Marius Nel, Kyle Williams and Hussein Suleman have self-archived "Evaluating Large Image Support for DSpace" in the UCT CS Research Document Archive.

Here's an excerpt:

Access to large images in digital libraries is desirable from a preservation perspective and may even be a requirement in some domains, such as cartography. However, providing access to large images often poses a problem as a result of the size of the images as well as the limited screen real-estate for displaying the images. Even when these issues are addressed, there is a lack of evidence about how well large image related tasks can be performed in a digital library. In investigating this, a survey was conducted in order to identify well-performing large image support tools and the best of these tools was integrated into DSpace. A user study was conducted in order to evaluate how well large images could be supported in a digital library and it was found that users were able to successfully and easily perform tasks related to large images.

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Michele Kimpton Named Chief Executive Officer of DuraSpace

DuraSpace has named Michele Kimpton as its Chief Executive Officer.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

DuraSpace, a not-for-profit organization providing open source software and services, announced today that Michele Kimpton will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2011. Kimpton is currently the Chief Business Officer of DuraSpace, and formerly the Executive Director of the DSpace Foundation.

Kimpton will succeed current CEO, Sandy Payette, who will be entering a doctoral program at Cornell University to pursue a PhD and new research focused on the intersection of technology, society, and policy. Payette will continue to work with DuraSpace as strategic advisor to the Executive Team through June 2011. Brad McLean will continue in his current role on the Executive Team as Chief Technology Officer. . . .

Also effective March 1, 2011, Jonathan Markow will assume the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer for DuraSpace. Markow brings years of experience in open source software strategy and community leadership. Most recently, Markow was the Executive Director of JASIG, a not-for-profit organization devoted to sponsoring and supporting open source software for higher education.

Kimpton was recently featured by the Library of Congress as a "Digital Preservation Pioneer" for her work in developing entrepreneurial, community-driven and culturally sensitive approaches to creating tools and strategies in support of digital archiving (http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/pioneers/detail_kimpton.html). Kimpton’s ability to create nimble technologies and solutions that are "out of the gate" quickly were especially noted. Kimpton says, "Get a version out into the world as soon as possible and refine it as you go along." She has a strong background in technology development in Asia and Europe bringing innovative open source business practices and technologies to DuraSpace global communities.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

Over 1,000 DSpace Repositories in about 100 Countries Registered

There are now over 1,000 known DSpace repositories.

Here's an excerpt from the DuraSpace announcement

The DSpace user community has reached a major milestone. There are now over 1000 known instances of DSpace installed in almost 100 different countries worldwide. DSpace continues to be the most popular repository solution, with well over a third of the known institutional repositories using the DSpace software. Each month over the last year, the DSpace registry has added between 20-30 new repositories. Check out "Who's Using DSpace" to see the complete list. . . .

Over the last year, DSpace repositories were launched in 25 new countries, including: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malawi, Malta, Mozambique, Nepal, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tansania, Uruguay, Zambia.

The countries that had the largest increase in the number of DSpace repositories were: Japan +33, Taiwan +28, USA +16, Spain +13, Brazil +12, Ecuador +11, China +10, Portugal +10, Ukraine +10, South Africa +8, Thailand +7, Vietnam +7.

Also of interest is the number of highly ranked DSpace repositories listed in the January 2011 edition of the Ranking Web of World Repositories.

Here's an excerpt from the DuraSpace announcement

In overall, DSpace’s presence among the top 100 listed repositories has grown tremendously, with 51 repositories listed now, compared to 41 in July 2010, 45 in January 2010 and 43 in January 2009.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

DuraSpace Announces Registered Service Provider Program

DuraSpace has announced its new Registered Service Provider Program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Today, the DuraSpace not-for-profit organization announced its new Registered Service Provider Program to establish partnerships with companies that provide support services to institutions using the DSpace and Fedora digital repository software.

The new program will establish an network of service providers offering a range of services including customer support, technical consulting, software development, and systems integration. The program will benefit universities, libraries, museums, research institutions, and others that require support in building or maintaining repository-based systems built with DSpace, Fedora, and related open source and commercial technologies.

Registered Service Providers will be easily identified. They will be featured on the DuraSpace web site (duraspace.org) and relevant project websites, with contact information and a profile of their service offerings. Providers will also exhibit their affiliation with DuraSpace by displaying the special DuraSpace Service Provider Logo on their marketing materials and websites.

Registered Service Providers share the DuraSpace commitment to ensuring that current and future generations have access to our collective digital heritage. Service Providers are active participants in open source software communities and are committed to providing expertise and technical consulting to enable customers to achieve their goals with open technologies.

Digital Repository Software: DSpace 1.6.1 Released

DuraSpace has released DSpace 1.6.1.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

DSpace 1.6.1 is primarily a bug-fix release, which means it does not introduce any new features but improves existing features and fixes bugs discovered in earlier versions of DSpace. This is also the first [minor] version of DSpace to use a “time-driven” approach to release, rather than a “feature-driven” approach: we set a deadline and worked towards releasing on that date, instead of releasing when a certain number of issues were resolved. DSpace 1.7 will be the first major time-driven release.

DSpace 1.6.0 Demonstration Repositories

DSpace has released DSpace 1.6.0 demonstration repositories.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The DSpace team announced today that an updated DSpace Demonstration Repository running DSpace 1.6.0 is now available for the community to use. The DSpace Demonstration Repository is a good place to run demonstrations, or to use as a sandbox for testing DSpace software before installing it. . . .

This demonstration site provides a sample repository with new DSpace 1.6.0 features enabled. This demonstration site also includes all DSpace interfaces (JSPUI, XMLUI, SWORD, OAI-PMH, LNI), connected to the same underlying database (so items created via XMLUI will also appear under JSPUI).

Also of interest: "screencast showing DSpace 1.6 authority control for author names and publishers from @mire.

Digital Audio: What's New in Fedora 3.3 and DSpace 1.6

DuraSpace has released What's New in Fedora 3.3 and DSpace 1.6.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

On March 17, 2010 Chris Wilper and Stuart Lewis offered a one-hour overview of new features in Fedora 3.3 and DSpace 1.6. The session concluded with a lively question and answer period with some of the 55 participants from around the globe.

Preservation and Curation in Institutional Repositories

The Digital Curation Centre has released Preservation and Curation in Institutional Repositories.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The DCC has produced a report that provides a snapshot of the state of the art of preservation and curation in an institutional repository context in early 2010, noting areas of recent and current research and development. It should be of interest principally to institutional repository managers and others concerned with the strategic planning for these services. The report begins with a brief introduction to preservation and curation, followed in chapter 3 by a summary of the current provision for these activities in EPrints, DSpace and Fedora. Some repository models and architectures relevant to preservation and curation are presented in chapter 4 and chapter 5 respectively, while a selection of preservation planning tools of possible use in a repository context are described in chapter 6. Pertinent developments in metadata are reviewed in chapter 7, while tools for working with such metadata are presented in chapter 8. Technologies that assist in performing emulation, reverse engineering and migration are described in chapter 9. The issue of identifiers for repository materials is tackled in chapter 10. A selection of guidelines and tools for auditing curatorial aspects of institutional repositories is presented in chapter 11, and a selection of tools for calculating the costs and benefits of curation is presented in chapter 12. Finally, some conclusions are drawn in chapter 13.

DSpace 1.6 Released

DuraSpace has released DSpace 1.6.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Community-requested features in the new release include an enhanced statistics package which provides more information about how your repository is being used, an embargo facility so items can be kept dark for a period of time, and a batch metadata editing tool which can be used to change, add, find/replace metadata as well as facilitate mass moves, re-order values or add new items in bulk. And there’s more such as authority control which contains an integration with the Sherpa Romeo Service for publisher names, as well as the Library of Congress Nameservice. Other new features include:

  • Delegated administration
  • OpenSearch
  • Command launcher
  • OAI-PMH harvesting of items from remote repositories
  • Configurable OAI-PMH dublin core output
  • Move item functionality in XMLUI
  • If-Modified-Since / Last-Modified header support in XMLUI
  • Change to logging behaviour to ensure better log retention and management
  • Update to the latest handle server library
  • Ability to perform batch imports and exports from zip files of items
  • New test scripts to test database and email settings
  • Ability to set legal jurisdiction in creative commons licensing

"DSpace Manakin UI: Case Study of Value and Costs"

Eric Jansson has self-archived "DSpace Manakin UI: Case Study of Value and Costs" in the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education's repository.

Here's an excerpt from:

Our experience in this project pointed towards three main ideas:

  • Many smaller institutions are staffed sufficiently to use the Manakin technology for branding and interface tweaking, as they can leverage web development skills, providing that system administration support for maintaining a development DSpace is available.
  • Development of advanced Manakin themes (defined as development that significantly alters, removes, or rearranges interface components, or that integrates new functionality into the interfaces) is comparable to web-application development in terms of complexity. As such, more advanced development is only likely to succeed for institutions whose staffing includes a dedicated expert in web application development, and one who is familiar with XML technologies (i.e. XML, XPath, XSL), and possibly AJAX, and Javascript.
  • Smaller institutions with more advanced goals should consider working together and using outside expertise in theme development. Outside expertise could be supplied through partnering with other institutions pursuing Manakin development projects or through vendors.

Read more about it at "Using Manakin to Expand the Capabilities of DSpace Repositories."