DASH, Harvard’s open-access institutional repository, furthers Harvard Library’s goals of equitable and sustainable service models for scholarly communication and open knowledge. Last updated in 2018, DASH now needs a refresh, providing the library an opportunity to make the repository more efficient, interoperable, secure, accessible, and user focused. On behalf of Harvard Library Open Scholarship and Research Data Services (OSRDS) and Library Technical Services (LTS), we are pleased to announce that OSRDS and LTS, in collaboration with the vendor 4Science, have begun phase two of the DASH migration project.
Phase one of this project sought to define a near-term path forward for the repository’s underlying technology (DSpace) and determine the most appropriate technical partner for accomplishing our goals. This phase evaluated an updated DSpace version against DASH’s current requirements, assessment of DSpace service providers, creation of a test instance of an updated DSpace platform, and some initial stakeholder user testing.
Phase two will migrate DASH to the most up-to-date version of DSpace (DASH’s open-source, community-driven software application). Beginning this month, OSRDS and LTS will oversee development of an upgraded DSpace instance for DASH, with foundational elements and only necessary enhancements, further user testing, and the release of an updated DASH repository. Migration efforts will be performed and led by our chosen development partner 4Science and will continue through the summer of 2024.
DASH provides more than 59,000+ works of Harvard-based scholarship open-access to readers worldwide and sees an average of 8 million downloads of its content annually. This service is managed by OSRDS and is currently hosted and supported by LTS.