DSpace Federation: 2nd User Group Meeting July 7, 2005

Abstract

One of the most used tools world wide for Institutional Repositories is the DSpace software. It is today believed to be the most used platform for IR in the US, while EPrints still is the commonest platform in Europe. DSpace was developed by MIT and Hewlett-Packard and version 1.0 was released in November 2002 under an open source-license. While the initial development of the system was funded by MIT and HP, the subsequent development has depended on the efforts of the user community. The R&D section of Hewlett-Packard – HP Labs – still keeps a close engagement in the project and the system architect for DSpace, Robert Tansley, holds a position there. HP looks at this investment as a way to be leading in the area of digital preservation, and says that they will stay involved as long as the community shows a keen interest for the platform. MIT, as a user of DSpace, obviously has an interest in the progress of the system and the staff that works with DSpace at MIT has been very important to the whole user community by their efforts to coordinate websites, administer mailing lists and arranging user meetings.