Migration from Bepress Digital Commons to DSpace 7
The migration from bepress Digital Commons to Open Repository on DSpace 7 included a set of practices. Below is some information on the 5 key practices that were accomplished:
- Migration of the Digital Commons structure to DSpace communities & collections
- Migration of publications (metadata & full-text)
- Migration of journals
- Migration of Expert Gallery Suite metadata (faculty, librarian, student, and staff profile pages) to Author Profiles (Person entities)
- Migration of Statistics
“The migration of our 18-year-old institutional repository from bepress’ Digital Commons to Atmire’s Open Repository was the culmination of almost four years of dedicated work – from collecting stakeholder feedback, conducting an environmental scan of repository platforms, interviewing DSpace repository administrators, developing a migration plan, and, finally tackling the migration itself. We had become increasingly uneasy with relying on a proprietary, publisher-owned platform that lacked any kind of interoperability or integration with other tools and resources. We have a lot of metadata cleanup, workflow testing, and learning how to use the platform ahead of us, but we are excited to be using an open-source platform which better aligns with our values as an organization. We look forward to all of the possibilities DSpace offers both our users and collection administrators”
Erin Jerome (Library Publishing and Institutional Repository Librarian at UMass Amherst)
Author Profiles
ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst showcases "Person Entities," highlighting the authors within the repository. Users can effortlessly find publications linked to a particular author and learn from their biographies. Besides the publications, each author's profile includes a profile image, name, job title, discipline, and a brief introduction.
Open-access content
ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst is a large repository containing 51,067 open-access materials. The repository hosts a diverse range of content such as faculty publications, doctoral dissertations, master theses, reports, journals (volumes, issues, and publications), books, educational materials, conference proceedings, data, and datasets.
Single Sign-On integration: Microsoft Entra ID
The project involved the integration of Microsoft Entra ID SSO (formerly Azure Active Directory) with the new DSpace repository through the SAML protocol. This means the users that are affiliated with UMass Amherst can now sign in to the repository using their existing Entra ID credentials, providing a seamless and secure authentication experience.
Request a copy for restricted items
UMass Amherst's DSpace repository uses the "Request a Copy" functionality for restricted items. This feature allows users to request access to materials that are not openly available, facilitating scholarly communication and ensuring that researchers can obtain necessary resources even when access is limited.
Statistics
Included in the project was the implementation of comprehensive statistical reporting for both end-users and the library team. Below is an example snapshot of a public statistical widget highlighting “the downloads per community for the last 6 months”:
Journal entities
Journals have also been included in this repository. The structure displays the types of items, and the relations between them in this Object Model. Each Journal consists of multiple volumes, and each volume contains multiple issues.
Conclusion
Overall, the UMass Amherst repository represents a valuable asset for the institution and the wider academic community. By providing a platform for disseminating, preserving, and discovering scholarly works, the repository supports the institution's mission of advancing knowledge and contributing to society.
Discover the repository here: scholarworks.umass.edu