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January 21, 2015

Read it online: http://bit.ly/1C3kg7E
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar5UxDK74bM

From Mark Wood, on behalf of the DSpace 5.0 Release Team and all the DSpace developers

DSpace 5–a leap forward for new/current DSpace users

On behalf of the DSpace developers, we would like to formally announce that DSpace 5.0 is now available!

DSpace 5.0 can be downloaded immediately at either of the following locations:

• SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dspace/files/
• GitHub: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/  (see the "dspace-5.0" tag)

In addition, you are welcome to try out DSpace 5.0 on http://demo.dspace.org/ and continue to provide any early feedback you may have.

With a new, modern look and feel for every device, the ability to auto-upgrade from older versions of DSpace, to batch import content and more, the release of DSpace 5 offers its far-flung global community of developers and stakeholders an even easier-to-use and more efficient institutional repository solution.

And it's yet another example of successful community-driven open source software development. All DSpace 5 features were selected and built in partnership with a "virtual team" of developers, the DuraSpace organization and the global DSpace community at-large.  The power of distributed development has resulted in a release that delivers several highly sought after and innovative features.

MIRAGE 2 RESPONSIVE THEME

Responsive web design is all about being able to easily adapt as users everywhere take advantage of all-the-time Internet access. The Mirage 2 User Interface for DSpace, developed by @mire, enables any device—computer, smart phone, tablet—to display repository information. The Mirage 2 theme makes it easy to display DSpace repository content wherever your users are, at any time and on any device. 

This theme for the DSpace XML User Interface (XMLUI) was built on Bootstrap. Mirage 2 adds support for devices in all shapes and sizes, an updated look and feel and an entire range of optimizations behind the scenes.

AUTO DATA UPGRADE FEATURE

Software updates–especially for a repository that holds a lot of content–are time consuming and often present multiple challenges. With DSpace 5, moving from earlier versions of DSpace just got easier.

In the past, the typical upgrade process involved manually running database upgrade scripts. If you were several versions behind, this meant manually running a series of scripts in sequence, and potentially having to test intermediate versions of DSpace to perform a successful upgrade. Both of these manual processes are now a thing of the past!

When you first run DSpace 5, it will upgrade your database from any previous DSpace version (1.x, 3 or 4) automatically, ensuring that your data is safely migrated to the latest version, and removing one of the more tedious parts of the upgrade process.

BATCH IMPORT FEATURE

Need to import lots of files all at once–and which repository manager does not face this challenge? The “Batch Import from the UI” feature in DSpace 5 has added the ability to batch import content through the XMLUI or JSPUI web interface.

In DSpace 5 DSpace administrators create a batch import package on their desktop, and simply upload the ZIP file into DSpace through the web interface–no technical support needed!

OVERVIEW OF NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN 5.0

General:

• Automatic data upgrades to 5.x from any previous DSpace version. Your
underlying DSpace database now upgrades itself automatically when you
first run a newer version of DSpace. Solr/Lucene indexes upgrade
automatically during the "ant update" step.
• Perform Batch Imports from Administrative UI (XMLUI or JSPUI)
• REST API now supports CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete)
• Linked (Open) Data support via a new RDF interface
• OAI-PMH improvements, including OpenAIRE v3 compliance
• Enhanced Image and PDF Thumbnails using ImageMagick / Ghostscript
• File downloads now tracked in Google Analytics (when enabled)
• Enhancements to DOI support (EZID IdentifierProvider Metadata Mapping)
• A place for third-party plugins/JARs to be discovered by DSpace
• All DSpaceObjects now have underlying metadata support

XMLUI-specific (each feature must be individually enabled):

• Mirage 2 responsive theme, based on Bootstrap
• ORCID integration and new authority index
• Report Google Analytics statistics in Admin UI
• Autogenerate PDF citation cover pages during download
• SHERPA/RoMEO lookup during item submission
• Rendering MathML code in abstracts using MathJax

JSPUI-specific (each feature must be individually enabled):

• Drag and drop file upload (using HTML5) in Submission Process
• Item visual indicators in browse and search results

For much more information on each of these features, please visit our
5.0 Release Notes:https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSDOC5x/Release+Notes

5.0 DOCUMENTATION

The DSpace 5.0 documentation is available online at: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSDOC5x/

A PDF copy of the documentation is still distributed with the software at SourceForge. In addition, it can also be downloaded from:
http://www.dspace.org/latest-release/

5.0 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The DSpace application would not exist without the hard work and support of the community. Thank you to the many developers who have worked very hard to deliver all the new features and improvements. Also thanks to the users who provided input and feedback on the development, as well those who participated in the testathons. Additionally we would like to thank Tim Donohue of DuraSpace for ensuring that DSpace 5.0 went off without a hitch.

A detailed listing of all known people/institutions who contributed directly to DSpace 5.0 is available in the Release Notes. If you contributed and were accidentally not listed, please let us know so that we can correct it!

For DSpace 5.0, we had a total of 56 individuals contribute code, bug reports, and bug fixes. A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated. We hope you'll continue to be a valuable addition to the DSpace community for the next release and beyond!

MORE INFORMATION

More information on this release is also available in the DSpace 5.0 Release Notes at: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSDOC5x/Release+Notes

As always, we are happy to hear back from the community about DSpace. Please let us know what you think of 5.0!
Michele Kimpton
Chief Executive Officer
DuraSpace organization
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