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Scope

This guideline is primarily intended for users of TU Darmstadt. Partner universities that also use this system may have different rules. Find more about those here: Contact

Quick guide - First Steps TUdatalib

1. About this quick guide

The following quick guide provides an overview of how to register in TUdatalib and upload research data. It is aimed at users and administrators and provides a quick overview and an easy introduction, especially if you have not worked with TUdatalib before. If you cannot find an answer to your question here, please take a look at theuser guide. Alternatively, you can find more information in our FAQs or in the TUdatalib administrator guide von TUdatalib. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

2. Registration and login in TUdatalib

  • Open TUdatalib and select “Log In” at the top right corner of the screen.
  • Select Login via TU-ID if you are a member or affiliate of TU Darmstadt. The first time you log in this way, you will be automatically registered in the system.
    • In this case, you will automatically be assigned and receive access rights to the community of your work group
  • If you do not have a TU-ID, you can register with an external e-mail address. In that case you will be granted access by one of the communities' administrators.
    • To do this, enter "New user? Click here to register." Enter your e-mail address. You will receive a verification link by e-mail shortly.
    • Follow the verification link and enter your contact details and a secure password. You can now log in to TUdatalib.

In TUdatalib, all individual data and metadata are assigned to a collection, which in turn is assigned to a community. Administrators manage the communities and collections by community and administer the individual files if necessary. They assign roles and rights to users so that they can read unpublished collections, submit files and review submissions from other people. To upload files, you therefore usually need the required rights for a community or collection, which are assigned to you by the TUdatalib Admin appointed by your community. If you do not know who is responsible for you or your community, please contact us.

3. Terms: communities, collections, data sets

TUdatalib is organized hierarchically, with the levels consisting of one of the following three classes: - Communities form hierarchical levels in TUdatalib, which structure the repository. communities can contain further sub-communities, but also collections. communities do not directly contain any data records. - Collections are “containers” for data records. They are always part of a community and only contain data records. Sub-collections are not possible. - Items are the level at which data is stored in TUdatalib. They consist of at least one file (bitstream) and additional metadata describing the data. A data set always belongs to a collection. Sub-data sets are not possible.

4. Uploading files

  • Log in to TUdatalib.
  • Select the "Workspace" icon at the top right of your screen. Here you can see all the data records that you have already published.
  • To create a new data record, use the drag-and-drop menu, which is located above the search bar.
  • Here you have the option of either dragging and dropping a file into the field provided. Alternatively, you can access your file manager directly via “browse”.

  • As soon as you have selected a file, a pop-up appears with a list of collections to which you have access. Select the collection to which you want to upload the file.

  • Follow the individual steps of the upload form. You can save your entries at any time and continue the submission later and save it as a draft for the time being.

  • Enter the metadata for your file.
  • Specify the access for your submission.
  • Upload your data. If you want to upload large files, follow the instructions in the TUdatalib documentation.
  • Specify a license for your submission. We recommend CC licenses for data and open source licenses for software.
  • Check your entries.
  • After submission, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. The submission may still be checked by a responsible person in your community and then approved. You will also receive confirmation of this by e-mail.
  • If you do not yet have permissions for a collection or have not yet created a collection, you will see an error message instead of the drag-and-drop menu.
    • If you are the administrator of an community, you can find out how to create a collection here.
    • If you do not know who is responsible for you or your community, please contact us

5. For admins: administering communities and creating collections

Decentralized admins in TUdatalib manage the communities of individual research groups and administer collections and datasets in them. They can assign roles and rights to users so that they can read unpublished collections, submit files and review submissions from other people.

General

  • There is an “Administration” bar on the left-hand side of your screen
    • To create an community, a collection or an item, navigate to “New” and then select the desired option.
    • To edit or manage an community or collection, navigate to “Edit” and then select the desired option.
    • To edit an item, also navigate via the administration bar under “Edit”. There you can search for, edit and delete your publications, as well as edit the publications of other users if you have access to them.
    • If you want to manage the rights and roles of a collection or community, navigate to access control and select “Groups”. Here you can search for a group using the group ID.

Initial setup of a space

If you have been appointed admin of a space that has not yet been set up, the space will only contain the “Inbox” collection. This is configured so that members of your workgroup can submit records, but these are not archived; instead, the TUdata team is notified as the reviewer. You are free to structure this community according to your own ideas. You can either delete the inbox or configure it so that you or another person appointed by you is the reviewer.

Typical activities when setting up a community for the first time

  • Design a structure that allows you to divide your community into sub-communities and collections in a useful way
  • Create sub-communities and collections and assign additional authorizations for them
  • Decide how data records should be stored in your community
    • Directly in the individual collections or in a central inbox from which you then move the data records?
    • Should data records be checked before they are stored, or can authorized persons import data without further checking?

6. Reviewing datasets

If a dataset is submitted to a collection in which you have the role of the reviewer, you and any other reviewers will be notified by email. You can view a list of open submissions in your "Workspace" under "Workflow tasks". Individual tasks can be accepted by clicking on them and selecting "Claim". - You can now confirm the submission with "Approve", reject it or modify the metadata with "Edit" if necessary. If you reject the submission, it will be returned to the person who submitted it, who can then revise it and resubmit it for review.