AUSpace >

AUSpace is Athabasca University Library Institutional Repository. It is a digital library system that uses open source DSpace software to

• Capture digital research material in any format directly from creators;
• Describe descriptive, technical, and rights metadata and assign persistent identifiers;
• Distribute searches metadata and deliver it via the Web, with necessary access controls; and
• Preserve large-scale, stable, and managed long-term storage archives.

About Dspace Software

DSpace was jointly developed by the MIT Libraries and Hewlett-Packard Company, and was funded by HP through invent@MIT--the HP-MIT Alliance. It is used by more than 150 education institutions world wide.

What is in (or could be in) AUSpace?

AUSpace content consists of original AU research in digital form, including learning objects, articles, technical reports, working papers, conference papers, research centre archives, e-portfolios, academic research, student projects, e-theses, and more.

Benefits to Athabasca University

• AUSpace provides access to all the research, cumulative and perpetual, of the institution through one interface and provides stewardship of scholarly output

• AUSpace offers the opportunity of wider distribution of AU research, and also offers a way to showcase and safekeep that research.

• AUSpace provides a proactive response to the scholarly communication crisis/open access movement

DSpace manages digital material in a professionally maintained archive, giving this material increased visibility and accessibility over time.
http://www.dspace.org

Benefits of Participation

• AUSpace is organized by small and large communities, some of which correspond with AU’s Academic Units and Centres, making it easy to participate.

• The organization of AUSpace allows communities to decide who contributes content, if there is a review process, and who will have access. Communities also determine reviewing, editing, and metadata workflow, and manage policies at the community, collection, or item level.

• There can be an unlimited number of entries belonging to a collection within each community.

AU Communities in the Institutional Repository (as of March 2006)

• AU Business Research Community
• Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research
• Centre for Innovative Management
• Faculty Members
• Gateways
• Research Centre

For the User

AU’s research and scholarly material can easily be accessed from anywhere through one interface.

Contact Information

To participate in the AUSpace Institutional Repository, please contact the following individuals for further information:

Steve Schafer

Director, Library Services
E-mail: Steves@athabascau.ca
Phone: (780) 675-6259

Tony Tin

AUSpace Project Co-ordinator
E-mail: tonyt@athabascau.ca
Phone: (780) 675-6486

For AUSPace technical support and assistance, e-mail auspace@athabascau.ca.