January 9, 2025 — LA Referencia and Lyrasis collaborate to enhance the management of DSpace repositories in Latin America and Spain
LA Referencia and Lyrasis are proud to announce the launch of a joint project starting on January 1, 2025, focused on improving the capacity, accessibility and management of open-source platforms across Latin America and Spain. This initiative reflects a commitment to advancing open access to knowledge in these regions by addressing key challenges in repository maintenance, upgrades and user support. The project stems from a collaborative spirit solidified during a meeting held between the LA Referencia Council and the Lyrasis Board of Trustees in Rio de Janeiro held on March 18-19, 2024.
With DSpace as the predominant open-source repository platform in both Latin America and Spain, this initiative is designed to provide institutions with the tools and training they need to better manage their repositories and adopt newer versions of the platform. Challenges such as a lack of detailed documentation in Spanish and Portuguese, limited technical expertise, and insufficient collaboration across the regions have often left repositories struggling to maintain their effectiveness in providing open access to research.
Ideal outcomes will include not only a Latin American and Spanish community that is successful in its use of the open-source DSpace repository, but also a stronger, more resilient global DSpace community, and a model for other collaborations in the open-source infrastructure for research and scholarship.
Project goals and focus areas
The project focuses on four main areas, with improvements designed to benefit not only the regional community in Latin America and Spain but also the entire global community of DSpace users:
- Improved documentation: Translation and enhancement of resources in Spanish and Portuguese to make technical processes clearer and more accessible for all users. New documentation generated as part of the project will be contributed to the global DSpace documentation repository, ensuring it benefits the broader community.
- Training and support: Development of a federated support model and delivery of tailored training sessions to build institutional capacity, creating knowledge that can be shared globally.
- Software improvements: Simplification of DSpace installation and upgrade processes, along with creation and contribution of new tools to ease platform migration, ensuring usability for both regional and international users.
- Community engagement: Strengthening regional networks while increasing participation in global DSpace governance to represent local needs and contribute to the broader open-source ecosystem.
LA Referencia will begin the project with the recruitment of a support team and the creation of foundational materials, such as translated guides and training resources. As the initiative progresses, institutions will have access to tailored assistance, regular updates and opportunities to contribute to the global DSpace community. LA Referencia hopes to contribute this work back to the global DSpace community and plans work within the structures of the current DSpace contribution model to help ensure the work is aligned with the broader DSpace priorities.
Voices from the community
Leaders from around the open-source community shared their perspective on the initiative.
Lautaro Matas, Executive and Technical Director, LA Referencia, shared, “Repositories are a key component of the open science ecosystem in Latin America and Spain, yet they often face significant resource constraints. Through this initiative, we aim to empower the community with the tools, expertise and support necessary to maintain robust repositories and actively engage in the global open science ecosystem. This collaboration is a crucial step toward enabling our region to contribute meaningfully to the worldwide exchange of knowledge.”
Robinson Zapata, President, LA Referencia, said, “National science and technology institutions in Latin America and Spain are leading key advances in global open science progress. This collaboration strengthens their capacity to support repositories, ensuring that the scientific output they manage remains accessible, interoperable and aligned with global standards. By addressing key challenges such as technical support, availability of multilingual resources and building regional technical capacity, we are enabling these institutions to fully participate in the global open science movement, while strengthening a regional network that amplifies their collective impact.”
John Wilkin, Chief Executive Officer of Lyrasis, said, “As part of its mission, Lyrasis is committed to fostering community-supported software development and open repositories, as well as our belief that Latin American has much to offer the open source community. Our support for this initiative represents an important investment in both. We are excited about the ways that this collaborative effort with LA Referencia will advance DSpace, and especially its use in Latin America, and the lessons this initiative will offer to open source software development generally.”
Chair of the DSpace Leadership and Steering Groups, Maureen Walsh, added, “It is wonderful to see this collaboration between two DSpace community members, LA Referencia and Lyrasis — a collaboration that demonstrates the essential importance of DSpace in the global infrastructure of open science and open access. DSpace Governance is excited about the potential community contributions to the DSpace Program and the outreach in Latin America and Spain that this partnership between LA Referencia and Lyrasis represents.”
Erik Mitchell, Chair of the ArchivesSpace Governance Board, said, “The ArchivesSpace board is excited to hear about this new collaboration to expand support and engagement for open source library and archive tools. We are all better served when our products support multi-language use and global communities. The ArchivesSpace board looks forward to seeing how this collaboration sparks new thinking in this area.”
Fedora’s Governance Group provided a joint statement: “The Fedora Repository community is thrilled to see the collaboration between LA Referencia and Lyrasis, recognizing its immense potential to rethink open-source community approaches and embrace a more equitable global collaboration. This initiative represents a significant step forward in addressing critical challenges such as accessibility and capacity building and is a promising first step towards unleashing the power of global collaboration to advance open infrastructure. We are eager to learn from this partnership and apply its lessons to strengthen engagement within our international community in pursuit of a more inclusive and resilient open-source ecosystem.”
Kathleen Shearer, Executive Director of COAR, said, “Repositories play a critical role in advancing open access and open science in all regions, but to truly fulfill this role, they must be actively managed and also continuously update their technologies to remain relevant. This project will go a long way to strengthening repositories in the region and ensuring Latin American content is visible and recognized in the broader scientific ecosystem.”
The importance of DSpace in Latin America and Spain
A recent survey conducted by LA Referencia and partners revealed that 88% of repositories in Latin America use DSpace. Meanwhile, Spain has been a leader in repository adoption and open science practices, but institutions still face challenges in maintaining up-to-date systems and integrating with global open access infrastructure. This project directly addresses these issues by making documentation more accessible, simplifying technical processes and providing robust support systems for repository managers.
Long-term impact and sustainability
This project is designed with sustainability in mind. By building local and regional capacities, the initiative ensures that the benefits extend far beyond the initial phase. The establishment of a federated support model will allow institutions to share resources and expertise, creating a resilient network capable of adapting to future challenges.
Additionally, by actively participating in the established structures of the global DSpace community and contributing to its development, the project ensures that institutions in Latin America and Spain have a seat at the table in shaping the future of open access technology.
For more information about this project and how to get involved, please contact:
lareferencia@lareferencia.redclara.net.
You can find a Spanish-language version of this press release hosted at LA Referencia.