University of Zurich leads successful migration of ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive) to DSpace CRIS with support from PCG Academia

The University of Zurich (UZH) has taken an ambitious modernization of its repository ZORA that provides open and worldwide access to the university’s research and scholarly output. Driven by UZH’s strategic vision for Open Science and coordinated by its in-house teams, the project moved ZORA from a legacy EPrints platform to a full DSpace CRIS environment. This change created a single, authoritative research information backbone for the university.

UZH steered the project from start to finish by defining requirements, curating and validating metadata, coordinating stakeholders across faculties and running the rigorous acceptance testing that ensured continuity of service for researchers and administrators. The university’s subject experts and repository curators were central to mapping complex, multilingual records and to shaping the new data model that now powers ZORA.

PCG Academia served as the university’s chosen technical partner and provided implementation and delivery. The company managed the migration stages, including data transfer, metadata remapping, system hardening and integrations with bibliometric services. PCG Academia also delivered localized UI customizations, training, and admin tooling to support UZH’s teams. The partnership therefore combined UZH’s domain knowledge with PCG’s technical execution to produce a stable, scalable and interoperable repository.

The new ZORA strengthens UZH’s research management by linking publications, researchers, and organizational units and by supporting richer metadata together with integrations to major bibliographic and citation databases. These improvements enhance reporting, attribution and discoverability for UZH researchers and provide the university with a modern platform that is ready for future open-science services and protocols. In addition, UZH’s Journal Database containing journals, publishers and their open access policies was completely integrated into ZORA, guiding UZH researchers in choosing the appropriate version of their full text for upload.

The collaborative success was recognised at the “Digital Transformation Leaders” Gala at LUMEN 2025 conference where the University of Zurich, represented by Dr Martin Brändle and Margit Dellatorre, received an award for its leadership in building a central research infrastructure. This accolade celebrates UZH’s strategic direction and the joint effort that delivered ZORA’s transformation.

By combining strong institutional leadership, careful data stewardship and targeted technical support, the University of Zurich has positioned ZORA to better serve researchers, to increase international visibility and to accelerate its open-science strategy, while ensuring the new platform reflects UZH’s needs and institutional identity.

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On January 15, 2026, DSpace hosted a forward-looking webinar, DSpace Reimagined: The Next Generation of AI-Powered Repositories, presented by PCG Academia. The hour-long session offered a concise but rich walkthrough of how modern AI techniques can convert traditional DSpace collections into interactive, knowledge-aware infrastructures – the kind of practical, repository-level transformation many institutions are now planning.

Speakers demonstrated two compelling, hands-on workflows. First, a semantic retrieval demo showed how vector embeddings and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) techniques let repositories link user queries to repository-controlled sources, dramatically improving relevance and discoverability for end users. Second, an AI-driven PDF conversion demo illustrated how static documents can be turned into accessible, WCAG-friendly objects that support richer interaction and broader reuse – a clear win for accessibility and user engagement. The organizers also walked attendees through practical preparatory steps: what to audit, which data to prepare, and low-effort/high-impact pilots institutions can run first.

For repository teams and technical leads, the webinar delivered immediate, actionable benefits. Attendees left with concrete next steps for prototyping search and accessibility improvements, a better understanding of the risks and governance considerations around AI tooling, and clear criteria for choosing pilot priorities. The mix of demos, practical checklists and suggested follow-ups made the session especially valuable for organizations that want to move from planning to doing without getting bogged down in theory.

If you missed the live event, the recording is available. You can watch the full session on YouTube – https://youtu.be/yoMeN01vhsI?si=TchgJ7SUpjOhgSwn. Whether you’re responsible for a migration, improving discovery, or piloting AI features in your repository, the webinar is a compact, high-value resource that will help you identify quick wins and plan practical pilots.

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PCG Academia and the University of Warsaw warmly invite all of repository experts to join The Big Migration – On the Road to the Next Generation of Scientific Repositories, a focused, highly practical and technical gathering taking place in Warsaw on May 12–13, 2026.

This two-day conference is built for repository managers, librarians, research administrators and developers who are planning or executing large-scale migrations – especially to modern DSpace platforms – or who are integrating CRIS workflows and AI-augmented discovery into their services. The program blends rigorous case studies, hands-on workshops and expert panels, so every session delivers immediate usable guidance on metadata mapping, migration pipelines, governance and sustainability.

Attendees will benefit from direct access to international infrastructure voices: leaders from CORE and CoreTrustSeal are on the program, and the conference includes a speaker with a strong ORCID role – highlighting the practical PID and affiliation workflows you’ll need when modernizing institutional systems. There is also a planned meeting of national DSpace groups so local communities can compare approaches and coordinate follow-up work across the region.

Beyond the formal talks, The Big Migration is deliberately set up to accelerate real collaboration: curated networking, regionally focused working groups and limited-capacity workshops give you time to dig into migration roadmaps, test ideas with peers and leave with a concrete to-do list for your repository. If you’re seeking guidance on improving repository trust/quality, the conference sessions on certification and analytics (including the CORE dashboard) are designed to translate policy into practical steps for better discovery and long-term sustainability.

Best of all – participation is free of charge. Places and workshop seats are limited, so if your team is responsible for a migration, CRIS integration or building next-generation repository services, this is an exceptional, low-risk chance to learn from the people who run and certify the systems you rely on.

Register now, there is no participation fee! – https://pcgacademia.pl/en/events/conferences/big-migration/

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4Science is pleased to announce that the INST-DSpace project, led by euroCRIS, has been awarded funding by the Vietsch Foundation.

The project
The project will involve a collaboration between euroCRIS and 4Science to model the equipment entity in CERIF so that instruments and facilities can be added to the snapshot for the institutional research activity. Once implemented, the expanded data model will be tested with real data by the Technical University of Hamburg via their DSpace-CRIS-based institutional CRIS TORE.

The longstanding partnership

This project further reinforces the longstanding partnership between euroCRIS and 4Science, built over many years of close collaboration on DSpace and DSpace-CRIS-related projects. Together, euroCRIS and 4Science have consistently worked to align open-source repository and CRIS solutions with international standards, supporting institutions worldwide in managing and showcasing their research outputs.

4Science is proud to contribute its expertise to the INST-DSpace project and looks forward to continuing its collaboration with euroCRIS in advancing open, standards-based research information management.

Learn more: https://eurocris.org/news/inst-dspace-project-awarded-vietsch-foundation

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Griffith Research Online (GRO) is Griffith University’s institutional repository, continuing a long-standing partnership with Atmire through a Custom DSpace implementation. GRO showcases the university’s rich body of research and academic work from Brisbane, Australia, and, where permissions allow, provides free online access to full-text journal articles, conference papers, and other scholarly outputs. By making research more visible and discoverable through search engines like Google and platforms such as the National Library’s Trove, GRO significantly amplifies the reach and impact of Griffith’s research contributions. Griffith University, a leading public research university in South East Queensland, Australia, enrolls around 50,000 students from over 130 countries and is recognized globally for its innovation and social impact.

Integration with Symplectic Elements – DSpace
We’ve integrated Symplectic Elements with GRO’s DSpace repository, streamlining the process of managing research outputs. This integration enables seamless data synchronization

Abstract: Collapsable/expandable & Math Symbols
We made the abstracts collapsible and expandable, adding a custom design to create a full-width fade effect on the item display page. This fade was necessary to prevent the abstract from being cut off halfway. Additionally, we enabled math symbol support in the dc.description.abstract metadata field to display mathematical symbols properly.

Materials in GRO
Materials included in GRO is of a research or scholarly nature and may include:

• Peer-reviewed research articles
  
• Books and book chapters
  
• Conference papers and posters
  
• Higher degree by research (HDR) theses awarded by Griffith University
  
• Technical and commissioned reports and working papers
  
• Creative works with a research component from groups outside of CW’s approved disciplines (e.g. original creative works, recorded/rendered creative works and curated public exhibitions and events).
• Final state research data outputs associated with grant-funded research and with manuscripts and journals that have a data policy.

Information about the individual processing of items in the workflow
A new system was developed for Griffith to track all workflow actions performed on items. It includes an interface that allows users to search for items based on these actions and the users who performed them. Workflow actions are stored as metadata on the item, with a human-readable log and the raw JSON data. The raw log is only visible to administrators.

Admin-only versioning
In the repository, the option to create a new version of an item is restricted to users with administrative privileges. Only members of the “Administrator” group have the ability to generate new versions. When a new version is created, the handle from the original item is transferred to the updated version, while the previous version is assigned a newly generated handle. This process ensures a clear versioning structure while maintaining persistent access to the most up-to-date content.

Discover the repository here: https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au

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The Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has successfully migrated its digital publications repository, edeposit Ireland, to Atmire’s Open Repository platform.

About the Library of Trinity College Dublin
The Library’s history dates back to the establishment of the College in 1592 and is the largest library in Ireland. Ithas been a legal deposit library for publications from the UK and Ireland since1801. The repository will collect Irish born-digital publications.

Migration project from TARA to standalone repository
The edeposit Ireland service was setup in 2014 as a community within the Trinity College DSpace institutional repository TARA. After reaching a critical mass of over 21,000 documents, it became important to migrate the community to a stand-alone repository.

Key requirements included

• a global change of the handle prefix whilst retaining the suffix to ensure ease of redirects from the former repository
  
• integration of DOI minting for specific collections
  
• the ability for external publishers to login and upload their publications easily.

The migration process was carried out collaboratively between Trinity College Dublin and Atmire’s implementation team, ensuring that all collections, metadata, and access configurations transferred accurately.

“The staff at Atmire have been lovely and professional to work with, courteous and calm. It is a joy to see our content and collections transfer over perfectly and looking elegant in the new repository.”
Niamh Harte (Assistant Librarian, Acquisitions and Metadata at Trinity College Dublin)

📖 Explore the new repository: https://www.edepositireland.ie/

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LEUVEN (BELGIUM), OVIEDO (SPAIN) – Atmire, a leading provider of DSpace repository services, has acquired Arvo Consultores, the Spanish market leader in DSpace consultancy and hosting. Effective December 31st, 2025, Arvo becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Atmire.

The acquisition significantly strengthens Atmire’s position within the global DSpace community and establishes a strong operational presence in Spain, one of the most mature and widely adopted DSpace markets worldwide. Arvo brings an experienced local team and a large client base of Spanish-speaking institutions, complementing Atmire’s existing European and international operations.

Both companies share a strong focus on the DSpace open source platform. Atmire is a long-standing and active contributor to the DSpace project, with teams operating across Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, and New Zealand. Arvo has built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality DSpace implementations and for successfully deploying recent DSpace releases for its clients.

Following the acquisition, Arvo will continue operating with its team fully integrated into Atmire. Existing client relationships, contracts, and service models will remain unchanged in the short term. Clients will benefit from access to a broader pool of expertise, expanded hosting and infrastructure capabilities, and deeper involvement in future DSpace roadmap developments.

Emilio Lorenzo, Managing Director of Arvo Consultores, commented:
“Joining Atmire is a natural next step for Arvo. Over the years, both companies have built strong reputations within the DSpace community, and we share the same values around quality, openness, and long-term client relationships. This combination ensures continuity for our clients while opening up new opportunities through a larger, international organization.”

Lieven Droogmans, CEO and co-founder of Atmire, added:
“Arvo has been a respected peer in the DSpace ecosystem for many years, particularly in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries. Their technical expertise and deep understanding of local institutions make them an excellent fit for Atmire. We are very pleased to welcome the Arvo team and clients into our organization.”

Bram Luyten, co-founder of Atmire, said:
“Throughout the years, the relationship between Atmire and Arvo has always been one of mutual respect and professional collaboration, even while competing on the same projects. This acquisition allows us to better support Spanish-speaking institutions, a market where Arvo has set a very high standard. Spain has one of the highest adoption rates of DSpace, and we are excited to combine our experiences, integrate our teams, and continue delivering strong, future-proof services to Arvo’s clients.”

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If we missed any news, please email us with your news to add to the DSpace News area of the website and our social accounts.

This issue contains DSpace governance updates, membership updates, RSP news, and more.

Access the full newsletter at: https://conta.cc/4gJdSKC

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The European University Institute (EUI) chose Atmire to lead the transformation of Cadmus, its institutional research repository. More than a technical upgrade, this collaboration represented a shared vision: to empower researchers, streamline workflows, and align Cadmus with the highest standards of global research visibility. Winning the EUI tender was a moment of pride for Atmire, a recognition of our expertise in DSpace and our ability to deliver excellence through collaboration, transparency, and innovation.

Challenge
EUI’s Cadmus repository had grown into one of Europe’s leading academic resources. Yet, with technology evolving rapidly, it was time to modernise. The challenge was clear: upgrade to DSpace 7.6, migrate years of valuable research data, and create a platform that not only preserved the past but unlocked new possibilities for the future.

The upgrade needed to bring: 

• An enhanced researcher experience
• Seamless integration with institutional systems
• Improved discoverability and global connectivity.

Solution
Atmire’s approach combined meticulous planning with deep DSpace expertise. Together with EUI, we designed a solution that strengthened the repository’s technical foundation and introduced new capabilities tailored to EUI’s scholarly mission.

Connecting people and publications
The introduction of Person entities transformed how Cadmus represents researchers. Authors are now connected to their works through rich metadata relationships and linked profiles. Each Person entity integrates with EUI’s Central Person Registry, allowing administrators to update records efficiently while maintaining data accuracy across the repository.

To make affiliation instantly clear, an EUI icon appears next to authors who are EUI-affiliated, so users can quickly identify EUI researchers across item pages and search results.

Research project entities
A Research Project entity brings together everything connected to a project in one place: the project title with links to all related publications, clearly displays the funder (e.g., European Commission), the funded under (e.g., Standard European Fellowships, HORIZON) and the specific grant agreement ID. It also lists the project team (person entities if applicable), so readers can see who is involved and navigate to each person’s profile and outputs. This structure lets users move seamlessly from project → people → outputs in a single, coherent view.

Integrating ORCID seamlessly
To strengthen international research visibility, Atmire developed a custom ORCID integration. Authors can now connect their ORCID in just a few clicks, with automated publication pushes, nightly updates, and gentle reminders that help maintain compliance. Existing ORCID connections were preserved during migration, ensuring a smooth transition for more than a thousand users.

Enhancing researcher workflows
The new CSL Citation Generator allows users to export citations in a wide variety of styles instantly, supporting both researchers and librarians.
For administrative users, the enhanced Listings & Reports feature enables flexible, configurable exports, perfect for institutional reporting and editorial workflows.

Enriching the user experience
The integration with Syndetics brings visual appeal and accessibility to Cadmus. Book covers and thumbnails now appear automatically where available, adding polish and engagement to each publication page.

Delivering richer insights
To help EUI better understand how its research is being accessed and used, Atmire introduced enhanced usage statistics and reporting tools.
These new dashboards provide detailed analytics on views and downloads, giving administrators meaningful insight into repository performance and helping guide future strategic decisions.
‍
Integrations as a discovery engine
Cadmus is tightly integrated with the wider scholarly ecosystem. designed to maximize reach by plugging into the services researchers and librarians already use. Cadmus integrates author IDs via ORCID, ensures funder and OA compliance through OpenAIRE, and feeds full-text and metadata to discovery aggregators like CORE, Jisc services, RePEc, and WorldCat. Metadata is structured for seamless indexing by Google and Google Scholar, improving visibility and citation pathways. Together, these connections turn Cadmus into a hub where EUI outputs are captured once and distributed widely, reducing manual work for librarians while boosting discovery for scholars and the public.

Results
The upgraded Cadmus repository launched successfully and now provides EUI’s academic community with a platform that’s as robust as it is intuitive.

• Modern, connected, and researcher-centric. A clean interface, deeper author linkages, and ORCID connectivity elevate discoverability
• Reliable and future-ready. The new system architecture ensures scalability and alignment with evolving standards such as OpenAIRE and Plan S
• Empowering collaboration. Administrators can manage, report, and update records more efficiently than ever before

Cadmus today stands as a showcase of how an institutional repository can evolve, combining trusted technology with thoughtful customization to serve a global research community.

A shared vision for the future
For Atmire, the EUI collaboration highlights what makes great partnerships thrive: mutual trust, transparency, and a shared commitment to excellence.
With Cadmus now redesigned, EUI is well-positioned for the future, and Atmire remains a dedicated partner, ready to support its continued growth and innovation.

Read more at https://www.atmire.com/news-case-studies/the-european-university-institute-atmire-a-trusted-partnership-elevating-cadmus

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The Gender Research Center chooses DSpace-CRIS. The European Researchers’ Night on September 26th was the stage for the presentation of the new digital library of the genderm⊛re Documentation Center of the University Library System (SBA) of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, developed using the open-source solution DSpace-CRIS.

The new portal
The Gender Research Center chooses DSpace-CRIS. The new portal dedicated to gender disparities – The platform is dedicated to the collection and dissemination of studies on gender disparities in the world of scientific research and technological innovation, and it organizes a vast collection of digital scientific resources focused on the topic of gender bias in academia. The content is classified both by type and across various thematic areas, with the aim of providing study and reflection tools for the academic community and the public. Integration with the LibKey service facilitates access to articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings, making them available through the resources provided by the University Library System. Thanks to integration with Sebina, the digital library can also interface with the bibliographic catalog of the Unimore Libraries, providing a single access point even for monographic resources.

The operations
The Genderm⊛re Center operates in three main areas of intervention:

• Selection and provision of sector-specific scientific publications.
• Bibliometric analyses and qualitative surveys on production and careers within the Unimore context.
• Development of public engagement and outreach initiatives to promote and raise awareness of inclusivity, not limited to gender, aimed at the entire community.

The choice of DSpace-CRIS – with technical support from 4Science, the digital library was the first to complete the transition to DSpace-CRIS 8, an open-source platform for research information management developed by 4Science. The choice of DSpace-CRIS represents a strategic step to ensure more structured, interoperable, and sustainable management of research results, offering an integrated and dynamic view of scientific and outreach activities.

The digital library of the genderm⊛re Center represents a virtuous example of how technology can support research and the dissemination of knowledge in interdisciplinary and socially relevant fields.

Visit the new genderm⊛re portal: https://gendermore.unimore.it/home

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