UQ digital repository software freely available

New digital file repository software developed by programmers at The University of Queensland Library is being made available for free to other organisations.

The open source software known as Fez would benefit any organisation with a large demand for digital file preservation, according to Andrew Bennett, Executive Manager of the Library`s Technology Service.

"Fez, can manage those digital objects for you, whether you run a business, a school or a university",” Mr Bennett said.

He said the software could be used to build and manage repositories of publications, images, or learning objects, and could also handle mixed-use repositories, which might contain databases, documents, spreadsheets, institutional records, and multimedia.

"In UQ`s case, we have digital copies of datasets and research output to store and preserve. Fez will manage all that – and do it sustainably,” Mrr Bennett said.”

"Information on how to keep items usable is built into the system."

The repository software addresses the growing need institutions have for a scalable, flexible, and robust digital object management system.

The Fez software is based on PHP and MySQL and works as a front-end to Fedora 2.1 (http://www.fedora.info/) and can run in both the Windows and Linux environments.

The digital repository can handle different content models which can be customised through a web-based administrative interface.

New content models can be added at any stage, and existing data repositories can be migrated to Fez.

The Fez software is available for download from http://sourceforge.net/projects/fez/.

It is still in beta, with further development planned, and is available under a GPL open source license.

Full documentation of the current Fez release is at http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/documentation/.

The software was developed as part of the UQ Library`s participation in the DEST-funded Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (http://www.apsr.edu.au/) project.

For further information, contact: Andrew Bennett : + 617 336 56722 or email a.bennett@library.uq.edu.au