Open Access Repositories with DSpace and Fedora

Published:

24 Aug 2011

DSpace is an open source software package that provides the tools for management of digital assets, and is commonly used as the basis for institutional repositories.

Fedora is a modular architecture built on the principle that interoperability and extensibility is best achieved by the integration of data, interfaces, and mechanisms as clearly defined modules.

Over 1100 organizations currently use the DSpace software in a production or project environment. The most common use is by research libraries as an institutional repository, however there are many organizations using the software to host and manage subject based repositories, dataset repositories or media based repositories. It is free and easy to install "out of the box" and completely customizable to fit the needs of any organization. For more information about DSpace, see our main DSpace page.

There are numerous examples of Fedora (Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture) being used for digital collections, e-research, digital libraries, archives, digital preservation, institutional repositories, open access publishing, document management, digital asset management, and more. For more information about Fedora, see our main Fedora page.

DSpace and Fedora are sustained and improved by DuraSpace.

Online Workshop

To address and explore issues in this area, EIFL-FOSS and EIFL-OA organised a Themed Week on DSpace and Fedora including a free online workshop: "Open Access Repositories with DSpace and Fedora".

The guest speakers at the workshop were:

Bram Luyten, @mire - Institutional Repository Solutions, Belgium
Hilton Gibson, Systems Administrator, JS Gericke Library, and Ina Smith, E-Research Repository Manager (SUNScholar), Library and Information Service, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
David Palmer, Scholarly Communications Team Leader, The University of Hong Kong Libraries, Hong Kong
Andrius Blažinskas, Senior programmer, Information Systems Department, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania
Paolo Budroni and Raman Ganguly, of the Computer Centre, University of Vienna
Africa Bwamkuu from KIT, the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands (Africa's presentation was delivered by Simon Ball)

The workshop was supported by an open access wiki for Questions and Answers about DSpace and Fedora. If you have any questions about DSpace and Fedora please add them to the wiki