Using DSpace for Digitized Collections

Abstract

As organizations adopt institutional repositories (IR) to store and make accessible scholarly materials, they are finding new and expanded uses for these powerful tools. Institutional repositories can archive not only “born-digital” assets such as pre-prints and dissertations, but also digitized materials such as books, photographs, and recordings. Such primary source materials serve as building blocks for research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Although DSpace, one of the leading IR systems, was originally designed for born-digital resources, Rice University has adopted it as a platform for digitized materials as well. Using a single IR for different kinds of scholarly assets provides unified access to diverse materials and can be more efficient than running multiple systems. Making DSpace work for complex collections of digitized materials can require developing new tools and processes. Rice is using DSpace for several digitization projects, including the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA), a collection of XML-encoded texts, images, and maps focused on Western interactions with the Middle East; the Shepherd School Archive of digital audio of performances at the music school; and the Rice Institute Pamphlets Archive, PDFs and XML-encoded text of a significant academic journal. Each of these projects poses unique challenges. This presentation will include a discussion of how Rice has confronted these challenges in employing DSpace for digitized assets.