What's going on, What's coming up?

Migration Projects and Status

A new ScholarWorks website!

As part of the rebranding of ScholarWorks, we have been working on a new splash page site as a more informative landing page for the project. The (mostly) complete site can be previewed at http://scholarworks.dev.calstate.edu and will eventually replace the standard DSpace landing page that is currently available at http://scholarworks.calstate.edu. Any questions, comments, or requests related to the new site should be done through GitHub issues here: https://github.com/csuscholarworks/scholarworks

Controlled Vocabularies and Linked Data Authorities

A controlled vocabulary manager that provides a clean user interface for updating and managing linked data triple stores has been tested (http://csuvocab.tipj95gksd.us-east-1.elasticbeanstalk.com) and will provide a very robust mechanism for managing controlled vocabularies and linked data authority records across all ScholarWorks instances and projects. This system was developed by Oregon State and the University of Oregon for the Oregon Digital project (http://opaquenamespace.org) and has been used with great success.

Faculty Profiles

The above vocabulary system is being utilized in the design of a centrally managed faculty profile system built on top of Hyrax: http://hydra-demo.dev.calstate.edu/catalog?utf8=✓&search_field=all_fields&q=. Note, the current state of this system has been developed around the needs of the COAST (https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast) program for cross-campus utilization, and will begin more campus focused features shortly.

Data Modeling

As reported previously, normalization of the data model throughout the ScholarWorks instances has been a significant focus of design during the migration process. The implementation of the above vocabulary manager is a critical step in this design as it will be replacing the server side configuration requirements for ingestion select lists used in DSpace with a user facing interface for managing controlled vocabularies. The next step is to normalize both the existing controlled vocabularies from DSpace and the metadata values and fields that will benefit from this structure. That work should be completed in the next few days. This is one of the last steps in the initial design of the ScholarWorks data model that will enable the data complete migrations. Expect migration information on a campus by campus basis over the next 7-10 days.

CONTENTdm Migration Planning

A formal CONTENTdm to Hydra migration working group is being formed (https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/CONTENTdm+Migration+Working+Group) much like was formed for DSpace (https://wiki.duraspace.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=77440234). Notice that the CSU is represented on this working group as a large set of institutions that are very interested in this migration. The ScholarWorks related CONTENTdm migrations are not contingent on this working group, rather our experience will help to guide this group. With that, as we approach completion of the data model for the DSpace migration, we will begin the same work for data modeling and planning the CONTENTdm migration.

Hyrax Related Projects

Workflows in Hyrax

The workflow development group, of which the CSU has been a core contributor, is wrapping up it's work and has added robust workflow functionality into the Hyrax project. This workflow functionality will in large part replace the roles assigned in DSpace for the depositor and editor workflow level submission access. Documentation and training materials are in progress for ScholarWorks to ensure that this adaption is clearly outlined. This set of features represents a core requirement for migration out of DSpace and I'm pleased to see how critical the role of the CSU being involved in this development was to it's successful implementation.

ScholarWorks in the World

Hydra Partners Meeting - March 2017

I have just returned from the Spring 2017 Hydra Partners Meeting (https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/March+2017+Hydra+Partner+Meeting+Agenda). This was an intense 2 days of Hydra governance discussion and planning, and all of the hydra partners were excited and welcoming to have the voice of the CSU at the table as a non-partner institution. The presence of our institution during these meetings was very successful in representing the needs of a large set of repositories like ours as well as the needs of long established repositories that look to migrate into the Hydra application(s). 

Open Repositories 2017

Open Repositories in Brisbane, Australia https://or2017.net/ is the most important international conference for people working in repositories and scholarly communication. It brings together users and developers of open digital repository platforms from higher education, government, galleries, libraries, archives and museums. The Conference provides an interactive forum for delegates from around the world to come together and explore the global challenges and opportunities facing libraries and the broader scholarly information landscape.

Having CSU representation at Open Repositories is important for our continued participation in the ever-evolving world of next-gen repositories. In addition to two (2) presentations accepted where Carmen Mitchell (CSU San Marcos) and Steven Van Tuyl (Oregon State University) will be presenting with Aaron Collier (CSU Office of the Chancellor), there will be opportunities to compare workflows, documentation, and best practices. There is an impressive program of panels and presentations that will provide confirmation and guidance on the proposed migration and implementation strategy for ScholarWorks.