*Forwarding: apologies for cross-posting **

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 08:27:46 +1100
From: Arthur Sale <ahjs@ozemail.com.au>
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM@LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Comparison of EPrints, DSpace and Fedora

I am doing a comparison of functionality and adopter experiences for the two
most widely used institutional archive-creating software packages for
repositories: EPrints and DSpace, and also Fedora (a minor player globally
but possibly important in Australia).  I am seeking your help in collecting
information. Information about other packages would also be welcome.

(1) If you have used or compared any of this software, could you
please take the time to let me know what you consider the respective
advantages/disadvantages of each to be, and for what purposes? I am also
interested in features that you think are equivalent or readily achieved
in each.

(2) The two major software packages explain their orientation as
follows: EPrints puts a particular emphasis on OA content (preprints
and postprints of institutional research output, plus theses), DSpace
on digital curation in general. Fedora describes itself as repository
storage layer software requiring custom front-ends for any purpose. If
you have any specific comments on these overall orientations and
whether they are appropriate, they would be very helpful too.

(3) While all these packages are free and open source, I would also
be interested in any cost estimates in implementing the one you chose,
how many hours or dollars you spent on setup, how much maintenance you
have to expend, and how reliable the software is (crashes, downtime,
etc). Would you recommend it to someone else?

I will post a summary of the results (and maybe an interim report) on AmSci
OA Forum, and may get back to you if I reed a bit more detail. Thank you in
anticipation of a prompt response and a flood of emails. Email direct to me
at Arthur.Sale@utas.edu.au if you want.

Arthur Sale
Professor of Computing (Research)
University of Tasmania
http://leven.comp.utas.edu.au/AuseAccess/