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Using your existing repository

EThOS harvests your thesis metadata using OAI-PMH, which requires your repository to be set up to handle OAI-PMH requests.

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Most of the well known repository software, such as Dspace, Eprints and Fedora can readily handle the OAI-PMH request (see OAI website(external link) for more).

EThOS recommends the following list of metadata to be exposed for harvesting.
There are EThOS plug-ins available for two of the well known repository software: DSpace and EPrints. Installing the plug-in will allow these repositories to automatically expose the theses metadata in UKETD_DC format.

Plug-in for DSpace

NOTE: This section has not been updated since 2007 and may be out of date. If you would like to see the section updated, please contact us.

You can download the DSpace OAI Crosswalk plug-in together with full installation instruction by following the link below. You should also install the DSpace custom input submission form for theses, which allows you to enter the metadata into DSpace repository in the format required by EThOS.
  • DSpace OAI Crosswalk (for DSpace versions 1.2.2 - 1.4.2) (link to be added)
  • DSpace custom input submission form for theses (for DSpace version 1.2.2. or above) (link to be added)
As of DSpace version 1.5.2, the UKETD_DC crosswalk is already included in the distribution files and can can be activated by uncommenting the line:
Crosswalks.uketd_dc=org.dspace.app.oai.UKETDDCCrosswalk in oaicat.properties

Plug-in for EPrints

NOTE An upgrade to the EThOS OAI plugin was implemented in January 2014. To download the new version of the plugin and overwrite your current version, please follow these instructions. This operation requires a level of technical knowhow and should be carried out by a systems administrator as follows:

Prerequisites:
  • Can connect to server using a suitable terminal application (eg. ssh or PuTTY)
  • Know where EPrints is installed (usually /opt/eprints3/ or /usr/share/eprints3/)
  • Know which user EPrints is installed under (usually "eprints")
  • Has appropriate rights to restart Apache web server
Procedure:
1) Connect to server as the "eprints" user (or connect as a different user and then change to the "eprints" user)
2) Go to EPrints directory

eg. cd /opt/eprints3

2) Download new version of plugin

eg. wget
https://raw2.github.com/eprints/eprints/3.3/perl_lib/EPrints/Plugin/Export/OAI_UKETD_DC.pm(external link)

3) Copy new version over existing plugin

eg. cp OAI_UKETD_DC.pm perl_lib/EPrints/Plugin/Export/OAI_UKETD_DC.pm

4) Restart Apache.


If you are installing from scratch, you can download the EPrints OAI plugin together with full installation instruction by following the link below.
NB: Eprints 3 users - the OAI interface to expose UKETD_DC is already bundled with the Eprints 3 distribution. However, it is still necessary to configure your installation to allow entry of metadata conforming to EThOS requirements. To this end you may find the EPrints v3 Configuration Notes helpful.

If you have electronic theses that are not held in your institutional repository, or you do not have a repository, you can send your data and theses to EThOS in other ways.

See also:
Also in this section: