Good-looking and reliable digital repository is the flagship of every university. It brings together all of a university’s research in a single platform to present academic achievements to the world and improve the international visibility. It’s important to keep the repository up to date with current trends, easy to use and secure. DSpace 7 will help you with that.

How DSpace can be of benefit to your institution was the subject of our webinar. Event was hosted by Leszek Lewoc, International Business Advisor at PCG Academia. DSpace was presented by Piotr Masalski, Business Line Director at PCG Academia. Prof. Łukasz Sułkowski, President of PCG Polska, introduced the participants to the PCG’s services and initiatives in supporting higher education and science sector in Poland and abroad.

Our special guest was Ahmed El-Sobky – Managing Director, Owner and Founder of Acacia Integration, a new partner of PCG Academia. Ahmed El-Sobky is also a Board Member for Chamber of Information and Communication Technology Industry and works at Faculty of Computer Science of Fayoum University. He presented the services of Acacia Integration.

DSPACE 7 – the newest version of the most popular repository software in the world

DSpace is a repository system based on an open source license. The software was designed in 2002 by MIT and Hewlett-Packard. It is now developed and maintained by an international community of companies and experts, and that community is coordinated by LYRASIS, a non-profit organization.

DSpace is free, easy to install “out of the box”, and completely customizable to fit the needs of any university. With almost 40% of the global market share and 3,000 installations, DSpace is by far the most widely used institutional repository in the world.

Unfortunately, a lot of these repositories are based on older versions of DSpace that are no longer supported. Even the previous version DSpace 6 will reach its end of life by June this year. This is due to the last year’s release of DSpace 7 which was developed in new, modern technologies, resulting in better security, more features and improved, attractive user interface (UI).

One of the biggest changes introduced in DSpace 7 is REST API, which allows easy integration with external databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, ORCID, PubMed, Crossref and many more. Integration helps with depositing process, allowing users to simply import metadata instead of manually entering it. It also streamlines the process of retrieving data from the repository, for example for national evaluation systems.

By integrating DSpace with global systems such as Scopus or WoS, it is possible to display standard bibliometric indicators for publications, as well as additional alternative metrics (altmetrics). DSpace alone also provides statistics and metrics that can be used, among others, for science management and for comparing research performance across different organizational units.

DSpace 7 also makes the repository fully compatible with research data, not just publications. As with publications, you can publish data in Open Access or manage the access to make certain data or collections available only to selected users. DSpace also allows versioning of datasets.

DSpace can be used to store various types of data, including publications, patents, research datasets, dissertations and more. Each record can be linked with relations to other entities, such as authors, affiliated institutions, research projects and more. All elements in the repository are interconnected and easy to switch between, helping users to comfortably navigate the resources.

To make research more visible and accessible to the public, university needs to make sure it is findable in search engines. Fortunately, DSpace is indexable, i.e. ready for harvesting by external search engines, such as Google Scholar. This means that every record put in your repository will be easily visible to anyone on the web.

On the webinar we presented demo of repository based on DSpace CRIS with custom widgets developed by PCG Academia. Take a look how new technologies used in DSpace 7 provide instant feedback and smooth experience in a visually pleasing interface: https://youtu.be/bXeX6ntr_Vw?t=1290

What’s the difference between DSpace 7 and DSpace 7 CRIS, you might ask? As Piotr Masalski explained, the difference lies in the data model. DSpace 7 is based on a flat data structure, which corresponds to the DublinCore data model – it’s all individual, separated objects such as books or articles, which can only be organised in collections. DSpace CRIS, in turn, is compatible with CERIF – the Common European Research Information Format. With CRIS (Current Research Information System) you can step one level up and have relations between objects so that everything is connected and therefore easier to browse and work with. This also allows to create scientists’ profiles or project pages.

DSPACE 7 CASE STUDIES OF TOP POLISH UNIVERSITIES

As a Gold Service Provider registered with LYRASIS, PCG Academia has undertaken three projects related to DSpace 7 at Polish universities. Our first and the longest running project is for the Jagiellonian University, the oldest and one of the best Polish universities. Our cooperation lasts for over 4 years now. It began when the University commissioned us to migrate its repository to the DSpace 7. The repository now contains over 250 000 publications and the Jagiellonian University also uses it for the national evaluation process. We also provide maintenance services and we’re proud to say that there have been no system breakdowns during the time we’ve worked together. In addition, we have done a lot of integrations of DSpace with Open Journals and Open Conference Systems, as well as internal IT infrastructure (ERP, SAP etc.).

Another project was commissioned by SWPS University, the number 1 non-public university in Poland.  We are building the university’s repository based on DSpace 7 with a very customised look to match other university websites. We have also done a number of integrations, the most important of which is with the Salesforce system. The repository will store publications, research data and artistic achievements. The system is meant to fulfill university’s open access policy.

We also cooperate with the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, top 1 art school in Poland. For the Academy, we developed a highly customised solution based on DSpace 7 that focuses on artistic achievements and graphic collections. For this purpose we implemented a custom image viewer to provide the best possible online experience with art. The repository will also collect publications.

UNIQUE IMPLEMENTATION MODEL – How do we work?

The installation/implementation of DSpace 7 lasts only 3 months. We deliver the standard box solution customized and enhanced by us. We also give the repository a premium look and feel based on visual guidelines given by the university. After the implementation is done we step into recurring support for one year. The university receives the helpdesk and technical support of course, but we also keep the repository up to date with the newest versions.

Whether you want to start with a fresh installation of DSpace, move to the newest version of DSpace 7, or you are simply looking for some technical assistance – PCG is here to help. Learn more about our services here: https://pcgacademia.pl/en/sciencecloud/dspace/

Contact: Leszek Lewoc, e-mail: leszek.lewoc@pcgacademia.pl

Acacia Integration services

PCG Academia and Acacia Integration are now partners in area of DSpace. Acacia Integration is a German based company that offers consulting and system integration services. They provide consultancy in the field of e-learning, HR development and smart communities. Acacia also have experience in distribution of educational products such as VR and AR solutions, languages’ skill development online courses and higher education digital transformation tools, including DSpace. They also offer technical support for HEIs in Middle East and Northern Africa.

We wholeheartedly recommend cooperation with Acacia Integration. Learn more about the company on the website https://acaciaintegration.com/

Contact: Ahmead El-Sobky, e-mail: asobky@acaciaintegration.com