[Dspace-general] Preview of next release of DSpace

[Richard Rodgers]

                An Early Look at DSpace 1.2

We would like to share our plans for the next release of DSpace in order
to open up the development process and let adopters and evaluators know
where we are putting our efforts.  Here is a 'short list' of major
features we propose to include in this release, reflecting our
assessment of the most desired and widely useful enhancements to the
system. These have been gathered from the SourceForge request list,
discussions on the 'dspace-tech' mailing list, and input from others
using the DSpace system. Given thousands of downloads and over a hundred
known deployments, it is difficult to come up with an optimal list of
enhancements that is both small and gives maximum benefit to the DSpace
community - if you feel strongly about a feature that
is not on this list, please let us know.

It is a 'short-list' in the sense that while we will concentrate our
efforts on the list items for the next release, we may not be able to
implement all of the items in the list.  It is also our short list -
DSpace 1.2 will also likely contain other contributed work from third
parties, which will be announced separately.

The item descriptions are rather brief, but we wanted to offer at least
a general picture of the release as early as we could. We will be
sending out calls for discussion on several of the features, and more
detailed descriptions of the others, to insure that the community has
good opportunity to offer input.


              DSpace 1.2 Enhancement Short List

(1) Support for sub-communities. The current simple and flat
implementation of communities is not powerful enough for users who would
like to express more complex organizational structures.

(2) Allow delegated administration of communities and collections.
It is time to offload administration tasks to the users.  A
'collection-editor' role will be able to edit item metadata within a
collection after items have been submitted, and
a'community-administrator' role will have the ability to manage a
community.

(3) Import/Export items with METS metadata.
 DSpace currently uses a custom XML schema to import and export
 item metadata and associated digital files (or 'bitstreams').
 With the emergence of the METS standard for digital object
 encoding http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/, and in particular its
 application as an Open Archival Information Systems Archival
 Information Package, we are in the process of defining a METS
 profile for DSpace items. Once that profile is complete, we will
 add support in the batch import and export routines for METS
 encoding of DSpace items, as well as storing METS packages
 internally as AIPs. When the METS profile is ready, we will
 distribute it (in advance of the release).

(4) Tools for adding and managing items in multiple collections.

(5) Analyze need for persistent identifiers (e.g. Handles) for
bitstreams in addition to item metadata records. Implement if
appropriate.

(6) Support for thumbnails of bitstreams in the item display
    (for appropriate content).

(7) Several enhancements to the administration UI centered around
ease-of-use and robustness.

(8) Support for indexing and search of the full-text of item documents.

(9) Better support for web page (HTML document) item display.


               MIT and HP's role in future DSpace development

The DSpace developers at MIT and HP would also like to take this
opportunity to share with the community of DSpace adopters
what we feel our role should be in the continuing development
and support of the DSpace system.

DSpace was released as open source system in the hope that
our work at HP and MIT would benefit other institutions with
similar problems. We are delighted by the interest in and
adoption of the DSpace system so far, but we have very
limited resources to enhance and maintain the system...
Remember that as an open source system DSpace does
not generate any revenue, and we are maintaining the system
for non-MIT use gratis, because we need it too.

Today we see the HP/MIT team as having two main roles, to:

-- make changes that are needed by MIT to meet its service goals
-- coordinate changes made by other institutions or individuals
   back into the main codebase

We will focus our energy on changes required by MIT.  We acknowledge
that some changes (e.g. digital publishing tools, or support for
non-Roman character sets), while not at the top of MIT's list, are
priorities elsewhere.  We welcome contributions to the system from
those for whom these changes are a priority.

We have posted guidelines for those who wish to contribute code
at the new dspace.org website (Choose the 'DSpace Technology' link,
and look for 'Development Guidelines'), and encourage participation
in advancing the DSpace platform.