Usability of the installation and configuration of digital repository software is a key factor for the implementation of digital repositories. Many universities, laboratories and companies want to place their collections online but the installation and configuration processes of digital repositories are sometimes time-consuming and unnecessarily complicated.
This research attempts to make it easier to adopt, configure and use open source digital repository software. Usability issues while setting up and configuring DSpace will be highlighted and a system tool to improve on the usability is being developed. The focus of user studies is not end-user usability but usability of the administrative functionality. Exploratory studies have been performed on a recent version of DSpace, followed by participatory design of a tool to increase usability by abstracting away the lower-level details. Focused interventions are currently being applied to one or more tools to improve on the usability, for example by creating a generalisable cross-platform installation and configuration procedure. These interventions will ultimately be evaluated and assessed by typical users of the tools
