DAIS - Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Item lifecycle

This public wiki is about the DAIS – Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Workspace item

While submission is still in progress, the item is visible only to the submitter and the system administrators. Repository managers cannot find or browse such items. It is only after the submission process is completed that repository managers can see and access submitted items.

Submitted item

After depositing, a submission will be added into a pool of submitted items, to wait for a repository manager to approve, edit or reject it. At this stage, it will not be available to any users except repository managers.

Submission under review

It is the task of repository managers to verify whether submissions meet the required metadata quality and whether the deposited data files meet the basic technical requirements. A repository manager can return a submission to depositor describing the necessary changes. This step may be repeated, if necessary. Repository managers can also correct and add metadata and set up access restrictions, if required. They can also convert data files to a preferred format suitable for long-term preservation. Once approved, the submitted item becomes a published item. In other words, the Submission Information Package (SIP) is transformed into the Archival information Package (AIP). In DSpace, AIPs are only generated for objects which are currently in the "in archive" state. Uncompleted submissions are not described in AIPs, which means that they cannot be restored after a disaster.

Archived/Published item

Every item is assigned a permanent URL and a Handle (as a persistent identifier), which should be used for referencing and citing. Published items may be searched and browsed. Metadata of all items are submitted to search engines and are available through the OAI-PMH protocol. Data files of public submissions are also available through the OAI-ORE protocol.

Modifying a Published item

It is possible to correct and add the metadata in published items. Data files can be edited or replaced only exceptionally, most commonly if it is necessary to replace a scanned no-OCRed text with an OCRed file. Conversion to preferred formats aimed at ensuring the continuity of access may also be performed. In this case, the original file will be preserved along with the new file, but it will not be visible to users. Only repository managers can make changes to the metadata and data files of the published items, but users are free to submit suggestions. All suggestions are also evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Withdrawing a published item

If necessary, a repository manager may withdraw an Item from the archive. A withdrawn item will still be available to users with administrative privileges (repository managers) and may optionally be restored to the archive. In other words, withdrawn objects will still be available as AIPs. A withdrawn item will not be discoverable using the browse and search functionalities. Its URL and PID will be permanently retained.

Inthe Repository, and item may be withdrawn in the following cases:

Proven copyright violation;
Plagiarism;
Falsified research;
Research containing major errors;
Threat to national security.

Deleting a Published item

Anybody can request deletion of published data (bitstreams) through the feedback form or by sending an e-mail to a repository manager. Such requests will be evaluated on case-by-case basis. However, content may be permanently removed from the repository only in exceptional circumstances (see Preservation plan).

Submitting multiple versions of an item

In case a resource has multiple versions, each of them should be submitted as a separate item. The old and new versions are connected by the repository manager through persistent identifiers (dc.relation.isversionof) and descriptive metadata (dc.description.other). If they do not want to create a new version manually, contributors may send the necessary information and files to repository managers, who can clone and modify an existing record to create a new submission.

Restricted and Embargoed items

Although it is technically possible to restrict access to metadata, in DAIS, this option is used only exceptionally. On the other hand, access to some data files must remain restricted due to copyright and other legal limitations. For the same reason, some items will be publicly available only after the expiration of an embargo period.