K-STATE RESEARCH EXCHANGE HELP

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The K-State Research Exchange (K-REx) captures, distributes and preserves digital research products. At present, K-REx serves as the repository for theses, dissertations, and other reports submitted by K-State graduate students. In the future, K-REx will grow to include articles, working papers, preprints, technical reports, conference papers, data sets, and other materials submitted by K-State faculty and students.

K-REx uses open source software called DSpace. Developed by MIT and Hewlett-Packard, DSpace is in use at hundreds of instituions worldwide.

The K-REx content is organized around Communities which can correspond to administrative entities such as schools, departments, labs and research centers. Within each community there can be an unlimited number subcommunities and an unlimited number of collections. Each collection may contain an unlimited number of items.

Browse allows you to go through a list of items in some specified order:

Browse by Community/Collection takes you through the communities in alphabetical order and allows you to see the subcommunities and collections within each community.

Browse by Title allows you to move through an alphabetical list of all titles of items in K-REx.

Browse by Author allows you to move through an alphabetical list of all authors of items in K-REx.

Browse by Date allows you to move through a list of all items in K-REx in reverse chronological order.

You may sign on to the system if you:

• wish to subscribe to a collection and receive e-mail updates when new items are added
• wish to go to the "My K-REx" page that tracks your subscriptions and other interactions with K-REx requiring authorization (if you are a submitter for a collection, for instance.)
• wish to edit your profile

Submit is the K-REx function that enables users to add an item to K-REx. The process of submission includes filling out information about the item on a metadata form and uploading the file(s) comprising the digital item. Each community sets its own submission policy.

My K-REx is a personal page that is maintained for each member. This page can contain a list of items that are in the submission process for a particular member, or a task list of items that need attention such as editing, reviewing, or checking. In the future this page will also maintain information about personal services offered by K-REx, such as e-mail notification when new items are added to a collection. K-State graduate students should contact the Graduate School to obtain a K-REx account and authorization to submit their thesis, dissertation, or report.

Edit Profile allows you to change your password.

About takes you to information about the DSpace project and its development.

To search all of K-REx, use the yellow search box at the top of the navigation bar on the left (or the search box in the middle of the home page)

To limit your search to a specific community or collection, navigate to that community or collection and use the search bar on that page.

K-REx uses the Jakarta Lucene search engine. Here are some search hints:

What is searched in the general keyword search (yellow box)
The word(s) you enter in the search box will be searched against the title, author, subject abstract, series, sponsor and identifier fields of each item's record.

If your site is enabled for full-text searching, the text you entered will also be searched against the full text of all archived documents. For more information on full-text searching please contact your K-REx Administrator.

What is not searched - Stop Words
The search engine ignores certain words that occur frequently in English, but do not add value to the search. These are:

"a", "and" , "are" , "as" , "at" , "be" , "but" , "by" , "for" , "if" , "in" , "into",

"is" ,"it" ,"no" , "not" , "of" , "on" , "or" , "such", "the" , "to" , "was"

Truncation
Use an asterisk (*) after a word stem to get all hits having words starting with that root, for example:

    will retrieve selects, selector, selectman, selecting.

Stemming
The search engine automatically expands words with common endings to include plurals, past tenses ...etc.

Phrase Searching
To search using multiple words as a phrase, put quotation marks (") around the phrase.

Exact word match
Put a plus (+) sign before a word if it MUST appear in the search result. For instance, in the following search the word "training" is optional, but the word "dog" must be in the result.

Eliminate items with unwanted words
Put a minus (-) sign before a word if it should not appear in the search results. Alternatively, you can use NOT. This can limit your search to eliminate unwanted hits. For instance, in the search

  or  

you will get items containing the word "training", except those that also contain the word "cat".

Boolean searching

The following Boolean operators can be used to combine terms. Note that they must be CAPITALIZED !

AND - to limit searches to find items containing all words or phrases combined with this operator, e.g.

will retrieve all items that contain BOTH the words "cats" and "dogs".

OR - to enlarge searches to find items containing any of the words or phrases surrounding this operator

will retrieve all items that contain EITHER the words "cats" or "dogs".

NOT - to exclude items containing the word following this operator, e.g.

will retrieve all items that contain the word "training" EXCEPT those also containing the word "cat".

Parentheses can be used in the search query to group search terms into sets, and operators can then be applied to the whole set, e.g.

---

The advanced search page allows you to specify the fields you wish to search, and to combine these searches with the Boolean "and", "or" or "not".

You can restrict your search to a community by clicking on the arrow to the right of the top box. If you want your search to encompass all of K-REx, leave that box in the default position.

Then select the field to search in the left hand column and enter the word or phrase you are searching in the right hand column. You can select the Boolean operator to combine searches by clicking on the arrow to the right of the "AND" box.

Note: You must use the input boxes in order. If you leave the first one blank your search will not work.

The K-REx content is organized around Communities which can correspond to administrative entities such as schools, departments, labs and research centers. Within each community there can be an unlimited number subcommunities and an unlimited number of collections. Each collection may contain an unlimited number of items. This organization gives K-REx the flexibility to accommodate differing needs of communities by allowing them to

• Decide on policies such as:
  - - who contributes content
  - - whether there will be a review process
  - - who will have access
• Determine workflow - reviewing, editing, metadata
• Manage collections

Each community has its own entry page displaying information, news and links reflecting the interests of that community, as well as a descriptive list of collections within the community.

At present, K-REx has a single community for K-State Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports. New communities will be added as K-REx grows to include other research output from K-State faculty and students.

Communities can maintain an unlimited number of collections in K-REx. Collections can be organized around a topic, or by type of information (such as working papers or datasets) or by any other sorting method a community finds useful in organizing its digital items. Collections can have different policies and workflows.

Each K-REx collection has its own entry page displaying information, news and links reflecting the interests of users of that collection.

At present, K-REx has a single collection, All K-State Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports. As the Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports (ETDR) program grows, collections for ETDRs from individual academic departments will be created. Additional collections will be added as new communities are established within K-REx.

When you access an area of K-REx that requires authorization, the system will require you to log in. All users can register to become subscribers. Some restricted functions, such as content submission, require authorization from the community

Before you log in for the first time, you will need to click on "New user? Click here to register" and follow the instructions. After that, you will need to enter your e-mail address and password in the log-in form that appears. K-REx is not yet integrated with the K-State eID system, so use a password other than your eID password. Your e-mail address should include your username and domain name. It is not case sensitive.

Example: moniker@mycorp.com

Type your password exactly as you entered it originally. It is case sensitive. Be sure to click on the "log in" button to continue.

Stopping during the Submission Process:

At any point in the submission process you can stop and save your work for a later date by clicking on the "cancel/save" button at the bottom of the page. The data you have already entered will be stored until you come back to the submission, and you will be reminded on your "My K-REx" page that you have a submission in process. If somehow you accidentally exit from the submit process, you can always resume from your "My K-REx" page. You can also cancel your submission at any point.

Choose Collection

Progress Bar - Buttons at Top of Page:

At the top of the submit pages you will find 7 buttons representing each step in the submission process. As you move through the process these buttons will change color. Once you have started you can also use these buttons to move back and forth within the submission process by clicking on them. You will not lose data by moving back and forth.

Select Collection:

Click on the arrow at the right of the drop-down box to see a list of Collections. Move your mouse to the collection into which you wish to add your item and click.

(If you are denied permission to submit to the collection you choose, please contact your K-REx Administrator for more information.)

You must be authorized by a community to submit items to a collection. If you would like to submit an item to K-REx, but don't see an appropriate community, please contact your K-REx Administrator to find out how you can get your community set up in K-REx. K-State graduate students should contact the Graduate School to obtain authorization to submit their theses, dissertations, and reports.

Click on the "next" button to proceed, or "cancel/save" button to stop and save or cancel your submission.

If you respond "yes" to any of the questions on this page, you will be presented with a modified input form tailored to capture extra information. Otherwise you will get the "regular" input form.

* More than one title - Sometimes an item has more than one title, perhaps an abbreviation, acronym, or a title in another language. If this is the case, and you want this information captured, click in the "yes" box.

* Previously issued - New items that have NOT been previously published or distributed will be assigned an issue date by the system upon K-REx distribution. If you are entering older items that have already been distributed or published, click in the "yes" box. You will receive a form prompting you for several pieces of information relating to publication.

* Multiple files - An item can consist of more than one file in K-REx. A common example of this would be an HTML file with references to image files (such as JPG or GIF files). Another example of this would be an article supplemented with a video simulation and a data file. If you are submitting more than one file for this item, click in the "yes" box.

Click on the "next" button to proceed, or "cancel/save" button to stop and save or cancel your submission.

For step-by-step instructions on submitting an electronic thesis, dissertation, or report (ETDR), see Submit Your ETDR to KREx .

When your item becomes a part of the K-REx repository it is assigned a persistent URL. This means that, unlike most URLs, this identifier will not have to be changed when the system migrates to new hardware, or when changes are made to the system. K-REx is committed to maintaining the integrity of this identifier so that you can safely use it to refer to your item when citing it in publications or other communications. Our persistent urls are registered with the Handle System, a comprehensive system for assigning, managing, and resolving persistent identifiers, known as "handles," for digital objects and other resources on the Internet. The Handle System is administered by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), which undertakes, fosters, and promotes research in the public interest.

If you are an authorized K-REx submitter, or if you are a staff member responsible for K-REx collection or metadata maintenance, you will have a My K-REx page. Here you will find:

• a list of your in-progress submissions - from this list you can resume the submission process where you left off, or you can remove the submission and cancel the item.
• a list of submissions that are awaiting your action (if you have a collection workflow role).
• a link to a list of items that you have submitted and that have already been accepted into K-REx.

This page allows you to change the information we have for you. You must be authenticated with your log-in to change any of your personal information.

Users can subscribe to receive daily e-mail alerts of new items added to collections. Users may subscribe to as many collections as they wish. To subscribe:

• go to the K-REx registration page by clicking on the sign-on link in the navigation bar on the left of the home page
• fill out the registration form
• navigate to a collection for which you would like to receive e-mail alerts, and click on the "subscribe" button (repeat for other collections)
• to edit your subscriptions, go to the "Subscribe" page.

For help with using K-REx and questions about your specific site, please contact your K-REx Administrator.

For general information and news about DSpace, visit the DSpace Website.

Contents | Browse | Search | Communities | Collections | Submit | File Formats | My K-REx | Edit Profile | Subscribe to E-mail alerts