SloanSpace- DSpace file transfer component

Abstract

This thesis demonstrates how to use Web services to integrate course management systems with digital repositories. We present a component that provides interoperation between SloanSpace, a course management system, and DSpace, a digital repository, both developed at MIT. In particular, a file transfer component was created that enables SloanSpace users to search and retrieve DSpace documents while in SloanSpace, and submit SloanSpace documents into DSpace. DSpace's web services provided the means for interaction between the systems. The architecture of the component was designed to handle not only the metadata mappings between SloanSpace and DSpace metadata, but mappings between file metadata of SloanSpace and other systems as well. Two scenarios were then created to test the effectiveness of the component. The test results demonstrate the ability of the component to decrease the amount of time spent in performing file transfers between the two systems. Most importantly, however, the component demonstrates more generally interoperation with digital repositories. It not only integrates SloanSpace with DSpace, but also allows for a more a general integration with any other system.