DSpace at Stony Brook University
Digital Institutional Repository

DSpace is an open source, institutional repository system created to publish and store digital and electronic scholarship created by an academic institution. DSpace at Stony Brook University is part of a cooperative initiative established by the State University of New York to provide access to electronic publications and research produced by its campuses. Originally designed at MIT, this software allows faculty and staff to disseminate and preserve original works in electronic format. DSpace at Stony Brook is administered by the University Libraries.

SUNY DSpace Repository: https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu

Mission Statement
DSpace at Stony Brook University is an active participant in the SUNY Cooperative Institutional Repository Program. It is the official archival repository for electronic files created by Stony Brook University . The University Libraries manages the implementation process which includes the acquisition, distribution, and preservation of digital content.

Current Initiatives
Stony Brook University Libraries has populated the SUNY DSpace database with digital content that supports research and teaching and with items that document the history of the university. Examples of material already added are:

  • administrative documents (reports from the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and United University Professionals)
  • campus publications (Long Island Historical Journal, The Brook, Stony Brook University Medical Center News)
  • records of university governance (University Senate, Arts and Sciences Senate)
  • meeting minutes from student clubs and organizations
  • photographs of the university (1957 – present)
  • multi-media collections (videos of campus events and audio files of faculty/staff interviews)
  • archival collections
  • technical reports (produced by the College of Engineering )
  • specialty publications (faculty memoirs and anniversary brochures)
  • library and teaching material.

The collections can be accessed from http://www.stonybrook.edu/libspecial/digitized.shtml#digitizedua.

Future Goals
The next phase of the University Libraries' DSpace initiative is to acquire scholarship and research in electronic form produced by the faculty and staff of Stony Brook University. Additional personnel and resources are necessary to embark on this important project. If these requirements are met, the Libraries will actively solicit digital content from the campus community including: unpublished and published manuscripts; research and data sets; technical reports; and multi-media presentations.

DSpace Organization
SUNY DSpace is hierarchically organized by “Communities.” Each participating campus is a “community” and can include of an infinite number of “sub-communities” or “collections” depending upon the administrative needs of a campus. Additionally, each collection can contain an unlimited number of digital objects or files. SBU DSpace is divided into “Sub-Communities.” Each sub-community represents specific units at Stony Brook University; they include official colleges, schools, centers, academic departments, and administrative departments.

Example: The sub-community titled Campus Newspapers and Journals contains university-produced publications, including:

  • Blackworld (student publication)
  • The Brook (magazine produced by the Office of the President)
  • Long Island Historical Journal (academic journal)
  • Stony Brook Shelanu (student publication)
  • Stony Brook Press (student publication)
  • The Stony Brook Statesman (student publication).

Administration
The University Libraries is responsible for the management, preservation, cataloging, and distribution of the electronic content.
These tasks include:

  • acquiring and capturing digital content
  • determining the organizational structure of the repository
  • cataloging content, including amending metadata
  • distributing content, in concert with the SUNY protocol
  • preserving content using accepted preservation techniques
  • maintaining joint copyright, which allows for the preservation and publication of materials.