openEQUELLA

Formerly EQUELLA

openEQUELLA is a digital repository that provides a single platform to house teaching/learning, research, media, and library content.

openEQUELLA has been deployed for copyright resource collections; research materials; managing and exposing materials through websites and portals; content authoring; workflow; institutional policy; and organizational resources. openEQUELLA is currently in use in a wide range of schools, universities, colleges, TAFEs, departments of education, government agencies, and corporations worldwide.

openEQUELLA features include:

• Collections with customized data entry wizards - Every collection has a data entry wizard that can be used to create and edit items in that collection. The wizard has a fair amount of control over how the item is displayed, and how the item is presented when in create / edit mode. The wizard also provides placeholders for scripts to test data and drive the data input flow, as well as scripts that are run when the item is saved or a new version is created.
• Flexible XML-based metadata schemas - openEQUELLA uses the concept of a schema to define the structure of a collection. In turn a collection is a template for an item. An item is the object that stores metadata and attachments (files, links, etc) together to create a logical grouping. The schema is XML based, and highly configurable. Nested XML nodes are allowed to enable repeaters / groups of metadata / attachments, and each node has the option to be indexable for Advanced Searching and Freetext searching. The schema can be associated to import and export transformations to migrate data from various sources to fit the needs of the institution.
• Basic or complex scripted workflows - openEQUELLA enables the concept of a moderated workflow against items. Workflow is customizable, and includes decision points, parallel steps, sequential steps, and of course, workflow tasks which can be assigned to one or more moderators. Workflow provides script handles as an item moves through the workflow, static or dynamic association of moderators, and reminder notifications if an item is aging in a workflow task.
• Full document versioning - openEQUELLA supports creating new versions of items, and management of the version lifecycle.
• Simple to full metadata-based searching - openEQUELLA utilizes the Lucene search engine and customizable indexed metadata fields for the basis of search. Any custom xml schema node can be searched, either as a freetext/keyword or targeted metadata nodes. Targeted metadata node searches can be presented to the user as a form to fill out or directly searched via the REST API.
• Storage of resources in a personal area - openEQUELLA provides a specialized collection that is presented as a personal sandbox to place a user's documents and authored web pages that are not yet ready for the openEQUELLA user base.
• On-the-fly creation of web pages - openEQUELLA provides a rich text editor (TinyMCE) for users to author web pages directly in openEQUELLA and then place them into openEQUELLA items as attachments.
• Copyright management of activated items - openEQUELLA can manage CLA (UK) and CAL (AU) copyright items, including 'activating' portions of an item's attachments for the end user to use/view, and then track the activation history.
• Attribution of digital rights to content - openEQUELLA offers a collection of items to be covered by a configurable DRM scheme. Configurations includes type (basic usage, use and adapt, custom permissions), acceptance of custom terms, access restriction to a particular set of users / groups / roles, and selecting the number of accepted licenses.
• Active user-based notifications - Users can be notified of various events inside of openEQUELLA including Items in workflow ready for to be moderated, items becoming live, and bad URLs.
• Attachment MIME type definition - Based on the MIME type of attachments; openEQUELLA can be configured to change the display, attachment viewer type, and HTML editor embedded templates.
• Automatic creation of thumbnails for uploaded images, PDFs, and videos - openEQUELLA utilizes the 3rd party tools of ImageMagick, Ghostscript, and LibAV to automatically generate thumbnails from a variety of image formats, PDFs, and video formats.
• Selection of taxonomy terms from openEQUELLA or an SQL data source - openEQUELLA item metadata can be configured to consist of term(s) from a taxonomy. Taxonomies can be either locally defined in openEQUELLA or pulled from an SQL database. Locally defined taxonomies can be configured to add new terms via on the fly.
• Searching of external data remote repositories - openEQUELLA enables users to search remote repositories from the native search UX. The search results can then be imported into the openEQUELLA institution based on a configured collection and transform.
• Editing of permissions for all facets of the application - Permissions are configured in openEQUELLA as Access Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs on application facets are configured for users, groups, roles, or globally. Examples of these facets include: Editing an item; Searching a collection; Accessing the admin settings for OAuth; Uploading a report
• Multi-language configuration and display customization - Besides the wizards that customize how the data is displayed, openEQUELLA also enables multi-language support for the broader web application, and customization of the Cascading Style Sheets / JavaScript theme files to allow a variety of different Look and Feels to the application.
• Support for many well-known standards - Supported standards include CLA, CAL, METS, IMS, OAI, LORAX, OAuth, and LTI.
• Integration with a variety of third-party systems - openEQUELLA has LMS integration via shared secrets, OAuth, and LTI. openEQUELLA content and search / selection can be integrated into Moodle and Blackboard with custom blocks. openEQUELLA supports a general LTI provider endpoint for other LMS / tools. openEQUELLA has configurable integration with CAS, Echo360, Google Analytics, and others.
• Harvesting of collections, individual items, third-party source, and Learning Federation content - openEQUELLA has the ability to pull in items from third-party sources, including other E instances, by using EQUELLA’s harvesting tool and upload them automatically to the openEQUELLA repository. Content can be obtained from The Learning Federation using the LORAX protocol, while content from other institutions can be gathered with the OAI (Open Archives Initiative) metadata harvesting protocol. Conversely, content contained in openEQUELLA can also be accessed by using the OAI protocol.
• Admin consoles for configuration and management of the openEQUELLA instance. - openEQUELLA offers three primary points of configurations - the Server Admin pages for global openEQUELLA settings, the Settings page for institution settings via a web page, and the Admin Console for institution settings via a Java Web Start application. The Admin Console provides a great deal of configuration and customization - from collection wizards and taxonomies, to reports and workflows.
• Flexible server configuration - openEQUELLA can run in a number of different server configurations. The application runs on an embedded Tomcat server, and can cluster with other openEQUELLA server nodes via Zookeeper. While not specifically openEQUELLA, Zookeeper can be run either in standalone or 'quorum' (clustered) mode to increase it's recovery abilities. openEQUELLA server configuration includes configuration handles for Tomcat to listen on AJP, HTTP, or HTTPS ports, the ability to run behind a reverse or forward proxy, and the ability to customize the names of openEQUELLA nodes in a cluster.
• APIs - openEQUELLA has a set of REST APIs to enable more customized control of openEQUELLA facets such as Collections, Files, Browse Hierarchies, Items, Search, Taxonomies, and User Management.