March 2022; Updated November 2022 to reflect features added and additional anticipated features

DSpace is pleased to announce the launch of the DSpace Development Fund (DDF)!

Two years ago, DSpace started a successful fundraising campaign to accelerate development for version 7.0, a major milestone in the history of DSpace.  Largely through generous contributions from member institutions, we were able to invest more than $300,000 in targeted development to enable the accelerated release of DSpace 7 in August 2021 and several subsequent point releases. We gratefully recognize the institutions who generously contributed financially to support the DSpace 7 staged release program, and individuals who devoted time to fundraising.   

We want to keep the momentum going for DSpace development.

For nearly 20 years, we relied exclusively on volunteers to contribute code for DSpace.  To ensure our ambitious 7.0  goals could be met, DSpace governance approved a plan to directly fund development work for DSpace 7. By funding the development work, DSpace Governance could more predictably stage releases, and better maintain community oversight of the development outcomes. While contributions from volunteers are very welcome and help tremendously with the development of DSpace, the funded development work brought DSpace to a completely new level.

To build on the success of previous fundraising efforts, we are establishing the DSpace Development Fund to offer members, users, and any other interested parties the opportunity to participate in supporting the future of the DSpace software and its essential role in the global open science and open access infrastructure.

Here’s what the DSpace Development Fund will enable:

Contributions to the DSpace Development Fund will help support features prioritized by DSpace Leadership. Upcoming features and functionality we are seeking to fund include the following:

• ORCID integration - Added
  
• Signposting and other interoperability technologies recommended by COAR's Next Generation Repositories project
• Tools for importing metadata from arXiv, CiNii, Crossref, PubMed, Scopus, OpenAIRE, etc - Added
  
• Sherpa Romeo integration - Added
  
• Full support of configurable workflows 

Anticipated for 7.5

• Search support for hierarchical controlled vocabularies
• Supervision orders (like JSPUI)
• Disabling self-registration of users
• Full support for custom workflow steps
• Managing email subscriptions (to collections)
• Context-specific help (like JSPUI)
• Starting Curation Tasks during submission process
• Item counts for Communities/Collections
• Signposting and other interoperability technologies recommended by COAR's Next Generation Repositories project

And these are just some of the features we planned to include into DSpace. For more details, you can also see our development priorities and track progress via the GitHub boards where you can see all tiers and release boards. 

Are you interested in supporting the DSpace Development Fund? 

Here are some ways you or your institution can support DDF:

• The best way to support DSpace is still through membership. A large portion of membership fees go directly into the development of DSpace. If your organization is not a member yet, please join us!
• If your organization is already a member, increase your membership fee one time only or on a recurring basis. We'll count the increase toward the DDF.
• If your organization can't commit to membership but would like to support DSpace development, you can make a one-time contribution of any size to the DDF.
• If you would like to make an individual contribution (outside of your organization), you can make a one-time contribution to the DDF. 

Contact us at DSpaceDonations@lyrasis.org if you would like to know more and contribute.

DSpace continues to grow and evolve to support open repositories because of generous contributions of time and resources by the global DSpace community. Please consider contributing to help us maintain this critical development work and to enhance the software you use.

Thank you to our Funding Institutions

DSpace is excited to share that since we launched the DSpace Development Fund, members of the worldwide DSpace community have contributed to supporting continued funded development for DSpace, the software of choice for academic, non-profit, and commercial organizations building open digital repositories.

These contributions directly support software development of key features prioritized by the DSpace community.

DSpace gratefully acknowledges the following organizations for their contributions to the DSpace Development Fund:

• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin - Medical Library
• Freie Universität Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek
• Georgia Tech Library
• Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
• Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI)
• National Library of Finland
• Technische Universität Berlin
• Technische Universität Hamburg
• Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt
• Universitätsbibliothek Kassel
• Universität Konstanz
• Universität des Saarlandes
• University of Arizona Libraries
• University of Cambridge
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Kansas 
• Virginia Tech University Libraries