The developers of the upcoming version of DSpace 7, in the process of creating an updated and unified DSpace interface, have also updated the REST API for completeness. This redesigned API opens many opportunities for future institutional repository integrations. One such integration is a native iPad (and also iPhone) app that will allow repository browsers and administrators to interact with DSpace 7. In this non-technical lightning talk, I will demonstrate the app, and explain the differences in interacting with DSpace from a native mobile app versus a website that has been designed to adapt to the screen size of mobile devices.

The app is supplementary to the newly updated and complete web interface on DSpace 7; it does not replace the web interface, but will allow organizations to make their repositories available to researchers through the App Store, and will allow partial access to the repository even when a data connection is not available. It also serves as a demonstration of future possibilities based on repository APIs.

The release of the app will be timed to coincide with the release of DSpace 7 this summer, so I will also use the conference as an opportunity to look for DSpace institutions that have an interest in piloting the app with their repositories and to discover if there is interest in a similar project for Android.