14 DAY TRIAL // HP and MIT Libraries are seriously considering taking their jointly developed software platform for digitally storing data (a.k.a. DSpace) to the next level. According to Linuxlookup, HP and MIT Libraries made public the set up of a non-profit organization, named DSpace Foundation, which should provide support to the institutions using DSpace.
The DSpace Foundation is said to become Michele Kimpton's responsibility, formerly with the Internet Archive. When it was first created, DSpace came as an open source software package to offer the necessary tools for management of digital assets. Afterwards, it also became platform for Digital preservation activities and has been installed and used by more than 200 institutions, such as small higher education colleges, cultural organizations, universities and even by research centers. As it was released under a BSD license, its users are able to change or extend the software according to their necessities.
Among the projects using DSpace, or which intend to do it soon, there are:
- The Texas Digital Library: a digital infrastructure addressing the Texas universities. The library takes in open access journals, departmental databases, digital archives, course management, theses and dissertations, faculty datasets, learning materials in electronic format, digital media and special collections addressing the universities students and professors. - The China Digital Museum: This project covers many areas such as geoscience, biology, anthropology, science and technology and it is maintained by 18 campus museums. - The 2008 Virtual Olympic Museum belonging to the Beihang University in Beijing is said to make use of DSpace to archive the 2008 China Summer Olympics. The main purpose of this project would be to create a collection of materials about the Beijing games that can be shared over the Internet quickly and easily.
"DSpace lets large institutions like libraries, research laboratories and universities preserve and share their valuable content online, creating a vast digital repository of information that allows for an unprecedented level of collaboration among the worldwide research community. DSpace was born from the long-standing relationship between HP and MIT, and it's a great example of what's possible when industry and academia collaborate." , stated Shane Robison, HP executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer.