On September 4, the Vireo Development Team concluded active development of Vireo 1.8, a new version the Vireo Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Management System, and began deployment and testing of staging instances of the software for TDL members. Additionally, the Vireo Users Group has begun the process of prioritizing feature enhancements for the next version of Vireo.
Development on Vireo 1.8 was a collaborative effort among TDL members (led by staff from Texas A&M University) and TDL staff, with key contributions coming from developers at the University of Illinois and MIT. The TDL thanks sincerely everyone who has participated in this process and looks forward to continuing and expanding the collaboration on future efforts.
The source code for Vireo 1.8 will be made available under an open-source license.
What’s New in Vireo 1.8
As promised, Vireo 1.8 is a feature clone of the existing Vireo, meaning that it looks and behaves like the previous version. However, the Vireo development group has made a number of improvements to the software that make it more intuitive, flexible, and powerful. The list below is a partial list of these enhancements.
- New publishing & deposit features. Vireo 1.8 gives administrators the capability to batch deposit and publish ETDs to one or more repositories. (Note: The ability to publish ETDs individually is preserved.)
- Easier configuration of repository destination(s). Administrators can configure one or more repositories as destinations for published ETDs from within the SETTINGS tab.
- Customizing the LIST tab. Administrators can customize their list of ETDs (i.e. which columns are displayed or hidden) from the LIST tab, rather than having to go the SETTINGS tab.
- Editing email templates. Administrators can edit system-generated email templates.
- Deleting embargo types. The new version gives administrators the ability to delete embargo types.
- General interface improvements. The admin interface in Vireo 1.8 includes several interface enhancements, including “drag and drop” functionality in the SETTINGS tab and visual cues for editable fields and certain state transitions.
Currently, the TDL is staging Vireo 1.8 for each of its member institutions that use Vireo for ETD management. Following testing of these staging instances, the TDL will begin implementing production instances of the software. The TDL will work with member institutions on a case-by-case basis to schedule the setup and testing of production instances, depending on the needs of each institution.
Feature Enhancements for Vireo 2.0
The Vireo Users Group (VUG) has begun the process of prioritizing feature enhancements for the next release of Vireo – Vireo 2.0. VUG members have until September 21 to submit their votes on preferred new features.
For more information about the VUG feature enhancement vote for Fall 2012, visit the Vireo Users Group website at http://blogs.tdl.org/vireo/.