AgriOcean DSpace 1.0 is now available in source code at Google Code with the option to customize the lay-out and to adapt the configuration file to local requirements. For partners with limited IT support an easy-to-install version( Windows-based) is available under Downloads on the same page. To install the software, please first register to the AgriOcean DSpace Community to make sure you receive all messages related to bugs and new developments.

AgriOcean DSpace is a joint initiative of the United Nations agencies of FAO and UNESCO-IOC/IODE to provide a customized version of DSpace, using high standards for metadata, thesauri and other controlled vocabularies in oceanography, marine science, food, agriculture, development, fisheries, forestry, natural resources and other related sciences.

AgriOcean DSpace is based on a a type-based submission module and includes the possibility to enter more refined metadata, to define the language on field level and to use the DSpace authority control system for journals and the ASFA and AGROVOC ontologies. AgriOcean DSpace focuses on Agris AP and MODS which are the most relevant formats for the communities and are OAI-PMH compliant.

The Hasselt University Library (Belgium) and the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (Ukraine) were responsable for the customization and the easy-to-install version. An update is planned in the autumn of this year and will include: a thesaurus plug-in, an authority system for authors and their aliases, an embargo system on the document/files instead of the record with access management, new OAI metadata formats: VOA3R-AP and MLR, and implementing OAI-ORE.

An AgriOcean DSpace community was created on AIMS to exchange information on new developments and bugs and assist the involved institutions with issues that come up while installing and/or using AgriOcean DSpace.