Coursing through (D)Space

The RSP have released a modular, downloadable course for DSpace developers and administrators: The DSpace Course. It has been written by Stuart Lewis (DSpace committer, developer and trainer), Chris Yates (DSpace developer, support provider and trainer) with input by Claudia Jürgen (DSpace committer, developer and trainer).

There are 20 modules in the course, with more modules due to be added soon. The modules include:

- An Introduction to DSpace
- How to Get Help
- Repository Structure
- Identifiers
- DSpace Configuration
- User management and authentication options
- Metadata Input Customisation
- Look and Feel Customisation
- Language Customisation
- Item Submission Workflows
- Import and Export
- Configuring LDAP
- Upgrading from 1.4. to 1.5

The course materials can be downloaded from:

- http://hdl.handle.net/2160/615

The Live CD can be downloaded from:

- http://hdl.handle.net/2160/563

RSP can also help in finding a trainer to deliver the course, contact support@rsp.ac.uk for assistance.

DSpace training materials (with wider applicability)

Pete Cliff, a research officer at UKOLN who is also working on SUETr, has drawn my attention to the availability of a number of DSpace training materials on the DSpace website

There's a useful selection of PDF-based tutorials, including:

• DSpace How To Guide: Tips and Tricks for Managing Common Dspace Chores
• Basic DSpace Tutorial
• Advanced DSpace Tutorial - plugins, configurable submission, core API

There's also a workbook on creating an institutional repository, a worksheet on creating a service model definition, and a concise project planning worksheet. These aren't always specific to DSpace - for example, the project planning and service model definition worksheets are fairly generic and applicable in a number of other software scenarios.

Case studies, add-ons and other useful training-type materials are available from a secondary training materials page

If you use any of these materials, please do let us know how you get on!

RSP DSpace training events

Chris Yates, an RSP staff member based at Aber, is organising some DSpace training days in Birmingham. The first of these is aimed at repository managers and will take place on June 2nd. There are still some places left, so if you'd like to get some practical and hands on experience with DSpace in a tailored and targeted workshop, please do register as soon as you can!

Programme:
2. Introduction to DSpace
- What it is.
- Basic architectural overview.
3. Configuration & Customisation (By the repository administrator)
- Communities & Collections
- Workflows & Metadata Implementation
- Licenses
- User Management
4. Running DSpace as an Administrator
- Submitting Items
- Harvesting
- Persistent Identifiers (The handle)
5. Other Configuration & Customisation that you may require (By the technical staff)
- Multilingualism
- RSS Feeds/Emails/Notifications/Subscriptions.
- Submission Interfaces
- Populating other resources using the repository.
- Alternative deposit mechanisms (SWORD etc).
6. Statistics
- DSpace Stats
- Google Analytics

Chris and the team at Aber are very experienced with DSpace and great at explaining technical issues to a non-technical audience, as well as techies. Previous DSpace sessions have been a resounding success and this one should be no different.

Register for DSpace Repository Administrators Training Day

(I hear the venue is pretty good too)