Submitting Content to DSpace

Adding content to DSpace is very easy to do. This demo illustrates the basic steps:

• Choose a collection
• Describe your content item by adding metadata and keywords
• Upload the file(s)
• Verify the submitted item
• Accept the DSpace license
• Find your submitted items in a workflow

Submitting a Content Item

To perform the following procedures at your own site, you’ll need a DSpace login for your site and privileges to submit content. Contact the DSpace user support manager at your site if you have trouble getting set up.

This demo uses a sample DSpace collection called Demo Working Papers.

1. Log in to DSpace or click the My DSpace link in the left hand column of your DSpace site. Click the Start a New Submission button.

You must be authorized by a community to submit items to one of its collections.

Note that you can also submit content from each Collection page.

2. Choose a collection and click Next.

3. You can halt the submission process at any time by clicking Cancel/Save.

4. Describe the item – if it has more than one title, has been published before, consists of more than one file, or is a thesis. Then click Next.

As you enter information for an item, the status line at the top of the window shows where you are in the submission process. You can change your entries and return to a previous step to make changes by clicking on that step in the status bar. You do not lose data by moving back and forth using the progress bar.

5. In the next page, describe the item. This sample article has multiple authors. Click the Add More button if you need additional text boxes for additional authors.

Because we chose several checkboxes in step 4, additional fields appear in this page, such as additional titles, publication date, citation, etc.

6. Enter the title and date of issue. The title field is required; the date of issue is required if the item was published previously.

7. Choose a language, for example English (US). The language field is required.

8. Enter the remaining description fields, as applicable: series/report number, identifiers, type, and language. Use the dropdown menus to choose the item’s identifier, for example. Then click Next.

9. Describe the item: subject keywords, abstract, sponsors, and description. Then click Next.

You can add additional keywords by clicking the Add More button. Enter as many keywords as are appropriate, from general to specific.

You can cut and paste or type an abstract for the benefit of end-users and to enhance search and retrieval capabilities.

10. To upload a file, choose the file to upload by clicking the Browse button and navigating through your file structure to select a file from your system.

11. When you finish uploading files, add file descriptions if necessary.

12. Click Next to upload the file.

13. If you chose the multiple files check box in step 4, you can also click the Add Another File button to add additional files.

14. Click the filename to verify its contents.

15. Click Show checksums to show the file’s checksum.

DSpace generates an MD5 checksum for every file it stores. DSpace uses them to verify the integrity of files over time (a file's checksum shouldn't change). You can use this checksum to be sure what DSpace receives is the file you've uploaded.

The data you’ve already submitted are stored until you come back to the submission. If you ever accidentally exit from the submit process, you can always resume it from your My DSpace page.

As you submit content, you can use the Cancel/Save button at anytime to save your current submission or cancel it and start over.

16. Verify the information you submitted. You can correct information here, add or remove files, etc. When you choose to correct an entry, the system takes you back to the corresponding step in the submission process.

You can get back to this page directly using the status bar.

17. Grant the distribution license to DSpace. Read the license carefully and click I Grant the License to complete the submission. Note that this license varies by institution.

If you click I Do Not Grant the License, you can return to this step later. You might choose not to grant the license at this time in order to gather information or permissions for adding items to DSpace. This preserves all your input information and lets you return to the submission process at the very last step, granting the license.

If you choose not to grant the license, your submission does not enter the content workflow. You can choose to continue the submission when you later choose to grant the DSpace distribution license, or stop the submission.

Note that to add an item to DSpace, you must have the copyright or permission to do so.

After you grant the license, your submission is complete.

Items Enter a Workflow

Once you submit a content item, it enters the collection’s workflow process for approval.

Each community sets the rules and permissions for its own collection workflows. When an item completes the workflow’s circuit, it enters the collection. The system sends an email notification to the submitter.

For More Information

If you need help using DSpace, click Help in the left hand navigation column. Browse the help contents to learn about browsing, searching, and submitting content in DSpace.