1. DSPACE for Digital Repositories:
One Platform,
Two Stories
Sue introduces presentation. In keeping with the theme of the 2009 OLA Conference -- One State, Many Stories – we’ve named our presentation, DSpace for Digital Repositories….

2. Once upon a time…
Once upon a time

3. …there were two libraries…
Oregon State University
Willamette University

4. …with two digital repositories.
Here you see Academic Commons, housed at Willamette, and which of course, is part of the OSU Libraries. While these sites have different looks and feels, they both use DSpace, an open-source digital repository platform developed jointly, in 2002, by MIT and HP Labs and is currently used by more than 250 organizations worldwide.
Academic Commons

5. Institutional Repositories: A Definition
Broadly defined, an Institutional
Repository is a service that …
Collects digital content produced
by an institution
Provides a variety of access levels
to content
Preserves content over time
Supports stable, reliable Web access over time
Enables discovery of content by various audiences
Integrates with other services (external repositories, authoring tools, web sites)
Michael talks about what an institutional repository is and what it’s used for

6. Should we go with XMLUI or JSPUI?
Let’s see…
Should we go with XMLUI or JSPUI?
At OSU we started working with DSpace in 2004 when we installed a basic out-of-the box 1.3 version. We hired a programmer for this initial installation who also customized the software to provide LDAP authentication which would recognize and automatically register OSU users when they logged in and provided tech support.
The OSU Library is now completely responsible for maintaining our DSpace installation and we have two technical staff who spend varying amounts of time troubleshooting, maintaining, and upgrading the servers, databases, and software – along with all the other duties.
I’m primarily responsible for administering the user interface side of DSpace, setting up communities, collections, user groups, templates, and other protocols. We have three additional Digital Access Services staff and 4 student workers who regularly work in the user side of DSpace, either submitting items, creating metadata for those items, or uploading those items. So we have a number of people with varying responsibilities working with ScholarsArchive, but none of us works solely on or in the digital repository.

7. OSUL's First Collections
Originally, it was our intent to use DSpace as a vehicle for collecting and managing OSU faculty publications so the first items to be submitted were library faculty publications (we have a habit of practicing on ourselves before we go out to the faculty). The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science was one of the first academic units interested in using the digital repository so they began requiring their students to deposit their theses and dissertations into ScholarsArchive. Because that went so well we worked with the Graduate School to set up an Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection and as of January, 2007 all OSU graduate students are required to submit their theses and dissertations to ScholarsArchive. We now have almost 2500 items in that collection.
Unfortunately, the faculty hasn’t been as quick on the uptake, so we also started filling our instance of DSpace with digitized campus and library collections. The first of those was the Water and Watersheds Initiative, followed quickly by a digitization project of more than 1000 Forest Product Laboratory documents.We’ve also digitized more than 1500 Extension and Experiment Station publications, 600 Western Dry Kiln Association articles, and several hundred College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences technical reports. It’s because of digitization projects like these that we need all those Digital Access Services staff and student workers I mentioned before.
Another early user of ScholarsArchive was the library’s natural resources digital library, Oregon Explorer. This website provides information to local citizens and policymakers to help make better decisions regarding the use of Oregon’s natural resources and many of their documents are housed in ScholarsArchive.

8. WU First Collections Undergraduate theses (currently 1500 and growing)
Moveable Type ( )
Undergraduate theses
(currently 1500 and growing)

9. Technical Considerations
More complex to install and support than some options; easier than others
Easier: CONTENTdm
More complicated: Fedora
Out-of –the-box interface that is modestly customizable and XML user interface that is highly customizable given the right skill set (css, xslt)
Michael talks about technical stuff 
Support for a growing number of protocols (OAI-PMH, SWORD, Dublin Core, METS, MODS, SRW/U)

10. Technical Considerations (continued)
Handle service provides stable URLs that do not change if the resource is renamed or relocated
Monitoring of file integrity, item provenance, repository history
File format registry
Robust authorization system and support for external authentication protocols
Regular software releases (current release 1.5.1, a 2.0 development branch is underway)
And more…

11. Customizations Front-end Web Server (2) Application Server (2)
OSU Libraries
Customizations
Front-end Web Server (2)
Application Server (2)
Database Server (1)
As I mentioned before, our earliest installation of DSpace was customized to allow for LDAP authentication. We also have a more distributed system than most as the various components of DSpace are separated out onto 5 different servers. We have our web front-end on our 2 web cluster servers, the application servers on two different servers, and the database on another server. Having 2 web front-end servers and 2 application servers allows us to bring down one server to fix problems without bringing the whole digital repository offline. We can then bring that server back online and recreate the fix on the second server. Having two servers for the web front-end and application servers also allows us to survive system failures.

12. Linking from Catalog to ScholarsArchive
Another neat thing we’re doing with DSpace is linking to and from our catalog and WorldCat using various tools. We use Marc Edit to crosswalk the Dublin Core Metadata in DSpace into the Marc records in our catalog and WorldCat and we link from the catalog record and WorldCat to the electronic version of the item in ScholarsArchive.
Linking from Catalog to ScholarsArchive

13. Oregon Explorer Template
At a less technical level we’ve made some customizations to our submission process, which are specific to ScholarsArchive. For our Electronic Theses and Dissertations submission template we added metadata elements such as Advisor, Committee Members, Degree Name, and Graduation Date.
Because Oregon Explorer, the natural resources digital library I mentioned earlier, uses ScholarsArchive to archive many of their documents, we’ve added a template filled with a wide variety of georeferencing metadata. We can tag documents with the appropriate watersheds, basins, ecosystems, counties, and place names – among others.
As we migrate to 1.5 and the Manakin interface there will be a number of other customizations. We’ve added a metadata field for disclaimers, something we’ve relied heavily on with our Extension and Experiment Station communications. We use this to warn users that the information may be obsolete – many of these are historical records – and to refer to more current information when appropriate.
We’re highlighting required fields and moving library-added metadata to the end of the submission process to make the submission process easier for users and we’re lengthening text boxes and including more dropdown boxes for library staff to streamline their procedures.
ETD Template
Oregon Explorer Template

14. Willamette University Customizations
Front-end Web Server (1)
Application Server (1)
Database Server (1)

15. XMLUI Design
LDAP Authorization
by employee_type 15

16. DSpace Advantages
Submission process that can be customized and used by departments outside the library
Handle server provides stable URL
Fine-grained authorization for item access and collection maintenance roles
Standards-based development and an active international developer community
DSpace Foundation facilitates forward-thinking, collaborative development work
SWORD supports integration with other systems (e.g.: Open Journal Systems e-journal publishing software)
Can be used to archive a wide variety of digital object types
User interface can be used out-of-the-box or customized and shared (e.g.: improved support for image browsing)
Application code can be modified and shared
Commercial support is available if you need it
Michael talks about DSpace Advantages

17. COAS Home Page ScholarsArchive Community Page
To me, DSpace, just like many other digital repository platforms, has two main advantages. One, it provides a permanent place for OSU’s digital content – theses and dissertations, faculty publications, supplementary materials, and working papers, and OSU gray literature and two, its contents are exposed to Google and other search engines. This ensures anything deposited into ScholarsArchive has a permanent URL and is accessible to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
Other than this overarching advantage of digital repositories, Dspace has a number of benefits to its users. Any group of people can set up a community with their own policies and standards for ingesting items. The workflow allows for various members of the community to review items, add metadata, and do the final upload. Each community has its own home page. The home page and any collections can be customized with descriptive text and logos in order to provide branding for the organization or unit.
ScholarsArchive Community Page

18. Ability to Save Submission
Progress Buttons
Verify Screen
Ability to Save Submission
One nice feature of the submission process are the page buttons at the top of the submission screens. These buttons allow you to move between pages quickly and easily. The verify screen gives an unencumbered view of the record as it stands and allows the user to quickly return to any page which needs correcting.
The library can restrict access to specific items, which we’ve done for a small number of theses where the author or the author’s advisor intended to publish the material. We then set up a tickler to remind us to remove the restrictions after a certain period (usually no more than a year). DSpace also allows authors to apply a variety of Creative Commons licenses to their work.
Ability to Restrict Access

19. DSpace Disadvantages
Many customizations are not possible without the appropriate technical skills
Relatively complex to install and administer
Native support for image browsing is poor, but the XMLUI can help with this
DSpace 2.0 will introduce more modularity, but modifying the current code base can add significant complexity to upgrades
The authorization system is powerful but relatively difficult to use in its current incarnation
Contracting for hosted DSpace from a vendor solves support issues but may limit how DSpace is used at your institution
Not easy to integrate with external tools and Web sites
Michael talks about DSpace Disadvantages

20. Employers/Institutions Customizations Can Wreak Havoc
No Technical Support
Disconnect Between
Developers and Users
Developers Answer to
Employers/Institutions
Customizations Can
Wreak Havoc
Although DSpace does have its advantages, it also has a number of disadvantages. From my point of view, its biggest drawback is also one of its greatest advantages – the fact that it’s Open Source. Because development comes from users, rather than a single development team, upgrades and functionalities can come in fits and starts. New versions and functionalities are not automatically rolled out to the entire user community – someone has to continually monitor the usergroup listserv – and when upgrades are released we have to wait until a library programmer has the time to update our installation.

21. For example, DSpace badly needs a statistics package
For example, DSpace badly needs a statistics package. When trying to interest faculty members and other campus groups in depositing their publications in ScholarsArchive often one of the first things they ask about are statistics. DSpace provides general statistics for the entire site so we know how many items we have, what the top downloaded items are, what search terms people are using (within the site), and the average views per item, but we can’t get statistics for individual publications – a must-have in the academic world.
Dspace’s hierarchical structure of communities and collections can be confusing for users, and they often don’t understand the difference. And if you use it for library collections, as we do at OSU, it’s difficult to reconcile the highly structured cataloging rules with the less formal structure of DSpace.
Another drawback is DSpace doesn’t allow hyperlinking from the metadata record. Most publishers require authors to put a link back to the journal when depositing an article in a digital repository. The best we can do is put the URL in the record that a patron can then use to cut and paste into a browser window.
Setting up communities and collections, with associated authorizations, is unwieldy and time-consuming. Authority control would be nice.
DSpace Statistics

22. What Excites Us About the Future?
As the digital production librarian it’s my job to oversee the digitization of library and campus collections, most of which now reside in ScholarsArchive. I enjoy seeing ScholarsArchive grow – we’re now one of the highest ranked university-based digital repositories in the US – but what’s even more exciting to me is how the OSU campus is starting to wake up to the possibilities of a digital repository.
The Graduate School has been a great partner in growing our Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection and we’re now digitizing and adding theses, as they’re requested through ILL and other lending consortia, rather than sending out the physical copy. The OSU Extension and Experiment Station office is thrilled with our digitization efforts and now wants to start placing all their publications there. We digitized our course catalogs back to 1889 and the Registrar’s Office is now depositing the new ones along with the schedule of classes and registration handbooks.
Oregon Explorer also continues to make use of DSpace’s services.

23. The End Michael Spalti, Head of Library Systems Division
Willamette University
Sue Kunda, Digital Production Librarian
Oregon State University