For just over two weeks, DSpace has been unavailable due to several software issues that unexpectedly emerged while the college was in the process of switching the platform’s service provider.

DSpace — Allegheny’s online repository for items such as meeting minutes and senior comprehensive projects — has been a feature of the college since at least 2009, when Director of Resource Management Brian Kern started at Allegheny. It plays a key role on campus both in and out of the classroom, with particular importance for students in junior seminar classes who look to previous students’ comps as they develop their own proposals.

But the platform faced many limitations. The search feature was subpar, it was not visually appealing and it was difficult for the library staff to manage on the back-end, said Dean of the Library Tressa Snyder.

These hindrances, Kern added, were due to the fact that the software had not been significantly updated since 2009. Snyder described the system as being at the “end of life.”

So, in March 2025, the college began the search process for a new service provider. Snyder described the decision to switch providers as Allegheny “catching up with the times,” particularly in regards to offering a system that allows students to opt into making their papers and research publicly available on Google.

“We’re super excited about this,” Snyder said. “When we can finally launch it, it’s going to be so much better.”

In September 2025, after evaluating five companies, the college signed a three-year contract with 4Science, a company established in 2015 and based in Italy that supports “universities, research and cultural institutions all around the world in managing and realizing digital projects,” according to its website. The company describes itself as the lead contributor of DSpace worldwide.

DSpace is an open-source software, but Allegheny and other higher education institutions that use it often work with companies who act as service providers, helping the institutions program and manage the software to meet the needs of their users. Allegheny previously worked with Atmire, a Belgium-based company, to manage DSpace. Now, with the help of 4Science, Allegheny will transition away from the standard DSpace software to adopt DSpace-CRIS, an expanded version of the software created and maintained by 4Science that allows more features to be integrated into the platform. 4Science works with eight of the top 20 higher education institutions globally, including Harvard University, Cornell University and Princeton University, according to the company’s website.

Kern said that DSpace-CRIS — which stands for Current Research Information System — will bring multiple upgrades to the DSpace system, like a user-friendly interface, an improved search feature and protection and preservation of data. For example, the new DSpace will have a PDF viewer and video streaming capability embedded on the page instead of forcing users to download those documents to view them. It will also be easier for library staff to make students’ comps available to the public, and it will be easier to adapt the platform to serve the community’s needs.

“It’s helping us actually, Brian and I, to really speak with faculty in terms of what they’re doing now and how we — what we (can do to) support their needs in the future,” Snyder said.

Initially, Kern said, the plan was to make the transition to the new DSpace software during the first week of classes this semester. However, when 4Science launched the new platform, it quickly ran into several technical issues that required temporarily closing down the entire DSpace page. One of the bugs that still needs to be fixed is that the DSpace software is not communicating properly with Allegheny’s Google single sign-on system.

“The data is transferred, all of the things exist,” Snyder said. “We just didn’t want to show users a new system that they couldn’t sign into.

Kern said the college and 4Science teams are working to solve the problem and that he expects students and faculty to regain access to DSpace by the end of February. Snyder said that the team has remained in contact with students via GatorHub, as well as department chairs and faculty, about the status of the situation. In the meantime anyone who needs to access materials on DSpace can contact Kern. So far this semester, he has been able to respond to most of those requests within 24 hours.

Going forward, Kern expects the rest of the year to be dedicated to making improvements to DSpace on the back-end, which will not impede users’ access to the system. Once those tasks are completed, there will be more rollouts of additional features, such as profile pages where faculty can highlight their publications alongside a profile photo and short biography.

But for now, students and faculty will have to wait to access the new system.

“We would like to thank students and faculty,” Snyder said, “for their continued patience as this upgrade is completed.”