Towards research data cataloguing at Southampton using Microsoft SharePoint and EPrints: a progress report

Abstract

Researchers are increasingly required to manage research data effectively in terms of cataloguing and storage for visibility and access, and longer-term preservation. The JISC DataPool Project at the University of Southampton has been developing a data cataloguing facility based on Microsoft SharePoint, which provides a number of IT services at the university, and on EPrints repository software. We report progress along both repository routes, notably collaboration with the JISC Research Data @Essex project on ReCollect, a standards-based data deposit application for EPrints. The ReCollect plugin provides an EPrints repository with an expanded metadata profile for describing research data based on DataCite, INSPIRE and DDI standards. Repositories can customise the data deposit workflow, the ordering and paging of fields from the profile, without affecting standards compliance. An example of customising the workflow for the ePrints Soton institutional repository is compared with the ReCollect original. In the case of SharePoint, user interface forms for creating data records have been piloted and tested. The approach is distinctive in creating two linked forms, one to describe a project, the other to record a dataset, rather than a single workflow as in the case of EPrints. This development of SharePoint for description and storage of research data is part of a longer-term extension and integration of services provided on the platform at Southampton.

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ORCID for Wendy White: orcid.org/0000-0002-4509-5600

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