[Dspace-general] [Dspace-tech] Week 5: Submission process

[Shane Beers]

We are running on 1.4.2.

Starting with pros:
- It works!
- It's configurable on a collection by collection basis, although the  
way different input forms get assigned to collections is abominable.

Cons:
- When one begins a submission from "My DSpace" instead of the  
collections page, the list of collections is completely flat and in  
alphabetical order. This does not reflect the organization of the  
collections and makes it difficult to locate the collection you wish  
to deposit into.

- The first page with the checkboxes is essentially useless. The  
number of items that have translated titles or more than one file are  
so few that it's just another step to avoid.

- I don't really understand why the metadata entry needs to be split  
into two screens. It should be organized into REQUIRED and OPTIONAL  
areas and allow users to easily see what they have to do. Perhaps I am  
able to do this and simply haven't dug in that deeply?

- The file uploaded successfully screen, while informative to IR  
managers, is just another step no one else really cares about and just  
has to hit another "Next >" button.

- Additionally, the Verify Submission page is something even I never  
check, as I assume I deposited it just fine. Just another step for  
people to click through and not actually read.

- We continue to have issues with the creative commons function for  
some users. It works perfectly fine for me on my mac and other PCs  
I've used, but one user on a perfectly normal PC has issues. I have  
not been able to diagnose this.

- Upon completion of submission, the left navigation bar disappears  
and could confuse users.

----

I feel that the submission process in 1.4.2 is far too clumsy for  
anyone who isn't truly interested in the IR, and would turn off most  
casual users. I'm trying to move us to a 1-page submission form that  
will allow faculty here to quickly enter in what I consider the  
essential metadata elements and upload their document. Additionally, a  
selection pull-down allows the user to say what part of the University  
they are a part of, which corresponds to a directory on the server.  
Their document, dublin_core.xml (which gets generated by the form  
through some php - thanks goes out to our web guru), contents file,  
and license all get filed into a new subdirectory within the correct  
root directory. This will allow me to more easily run the batch  
importer, since you can only run it for items going into a single  
collection. This process will also not require users to actually sign  
up for access to the IR, which is an obstacle as well.

I'll be testing this this week and will share it as soon as I know  
it's working.

Shane Beers
Digital Repository Services Librarian
George Mason University
sbeers at gmu.edu
http://mars.gmu.edu
703-993-3742



On Sep 15, 2008, at 9:19 AM, Dorothea Salo wrote:

> This week's question is about the DSpace submission and workflow
> process. What works? What doesn't? What do you do at your institution
> that the DSpace workflow doesn't account for? What would an ideal set
> of processes (because there's rarely just one) look like?
>
> Because the submission process changed considerably in 1.5 owing to
> the Configurable Submission patch, please mention which version of
> DSpace you are running on.
>
> I apologize for not running a chat last week -- I'm under the gun as
> regards our 1.5 rollout. I will run a chat on this week's question,
> Wednesday 17 September at 10 am CT, 11 am ET, 4 pm GMT. I will not be
> able to run a chat on the 24th owing to a must-attend meeting; if
> anyone's willing to facilitate in my place, please let me know -- feel
> free to suggest a question as well!
>
> Dorothea
>
> -- 
> Dorothea Salo dsalo at library.wisc.edu
> Digital Repository Librarian AIM: mindsatuw
> University of Wisconsin
> Rm 218, Memorial Library
> (608) 262-5493
>
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