DSpace and DSpace-CRIS Merger: 4Science Leads the Evolution of the DSpace Community
After years of collaborative work, open discussion, and in-depth technical analysis, the DSpace Governance, hearing the community, has officially approved the merger between DSpace and DSpace-CRIS (Announcement: DSpace & DSpace-CRIS Merger Approved by DSpace Governance – DSpace). 4Science celebrates this milestone with great enthusiasm. It marks a decisive step toward a more integrated, powerful, and flexible DSpace platform ready to meet the evolving needs of institutions worldwide.
What Does the Merger Mean for the DSpace Community?
A Single, Unified Codebase
DSpace and DSpace-CRIS Merger: 4Science Leads the Evolution of the DSpace Community. The merger brings together two historically parallel development paths into a single DSpace platform. This merger eliminates fragmentation and ensures that future innovation, maintenance, and enhancements benefit the entire community.
A Configurable and Modular Feature Set
The merged platform is designed to remain flexible and adaptable, allowing institutions to choose the approach that best fits their long-term strategy:
- A traditional DSpace-style repository
- A CRIS-enabled research information system
- Or a hybrid configurationcombining both models
Moreover, the advanced features, data model flexibility, and effective entity management enable the implementation of other use cases (EDT, RDM, etc.).
4Science’s commitment to increasingly accessible DSpace ecosystems
4Science solutions based on DSpace align with the community accessibility roadmap and aim to conform to the current WCAG Level AA standards.
The user interfaces of these applications strive to meet WCAG AA criteria and, in some cases, also support WCAG AAA requirements. However, the path toward full accessibility is a continuous, ever‑evolving process that requires ongoing updates, regular testing, and active collaboration across the community. 4Science also works side by side with its clients and partners to accelerate improvements to its solutions through shared projects that directly contribute to the products’ evolutionary roadmap.
Impronte Digitali: Double Launch Event for the University of Florence’s Digital Library
At the close of the year, the University of Florence unveiled Impronte Digitali, the new digital library of the University’s library system. The Tuscan capital hosted a two-part event for the official presentation of the new digital library, built on the open-source DSpace-GLAM software and developed in collaboration with 4Science.
On the morning of January 13, 2026, a conference was held to present Impronte Digitali. Various speakers took part focusing on the key aspects of the journey that led to the new forms of Impronte Digitali.
Among the contributions was a presentation by Claudio Cortese (Chief Solutions Officer at 4Science), entitled DSpace-GLAM: At the Heart of Digital Ecosystems for Cultural Heritage. Vision, Challenges, and Perspectives.
On the same day, an exhibition was inaugurated and will remain open until February 10, 2026. Eight library locations were set up to display the original works that had been digitized and made accessible through Impronte Digitali.
The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to appreciate in person the physical originals whose digitized versions are preserved online.