Browsing collections
Step 1: the navigation menu
When you are logged in to the Radboud Data Repository (RDR), in the header's navigation menu select one of the following options:
- My collections: All the collections in which you have a role as manager, contributor, or viewer;
- OU collections: Only visible if the research administrator has made you 'metadata viewer' of your Organisational unit (OU). Then you can see the metadata of all the collections in your OU;
- Published collections: All the published Data Sharing Collections (DSCs) in the RDR.
Step 2: the search filters
To further refine your search, use the search bars and filters on the left of your screen. For example, if you are trying to find a specific collection, simply enter (part of) the title in the search bar. You can also search on persons, which encompass authors, managers, and contributors. Multiple names can be separated with a semicolon (';'). The filters allow you to filter your search output based on collection type (i.e. DAC, RDC, or DSC), state, access level, and more.
Step 3 (optional): obtain an overview of collection information
If you want to have an overview of the metadata of the collections selected in Step 2, you can download that information in an Excel or CSV file. This may be useful to manage your collections, for example if you are responsible for multiple collections as a collection manager and want to find out how many collections under your responsibility will soon reach their expiration date. Once you have your collections of interest selected in Step 2, click the Overview in CSV or Overview in Excel button at the top right of your screen.
Viewing user metrics
The RDR tracks user metrics of collections to help you gain insights into the reuse and value of your collections. The user metrics are displayed in the last columns of the CSV and Excel files described under step 3 of Browsing collections. Simply select the collection(s) of which you want to view the user metrics, and download the CSV or Excel file by clicking the Overview in CSV or Overview in Excel button at the top right of your screen. The following metrics are included:
- Views: a user (human or machine) visiting the collection detail page.
- Downloads: a user (human or machine) downloading a file from a collection.
- Data volume: the total data volume that has been downloaded for all files in a collection by users.
- Viewers: the number of unique users (human or machine) that have visited the collection detail page.
- Downloaders: the number of unique users (human or machine) that downloaded a file from a collection.
Removing collections
To maintain a tidy collections overview, save storage costs, and thus reduce environmental impact, you should remove any unused collections. You can only remove collections that have not been published or archived yet (i.e., they are still editable). To remove a collection, please follow these steps:
- Ensure your collection is in the editable state. The state of your collection is visible under the metadata tab of the collection. If it is in the internal review or external review state, click on the Switch to Editable button at the top of the collection's landing page.
- Remove all files from the collection, except the three automatically generated files (ABOUT.txt, LICENSE.txt, and MANIFEST.txt). Files in Data Sharing Collections that you have flagged as documentation files, must be 'unflagged' before you can remove them. This can be done via the edit metadata button.
- Contact your research administrator and ask them to remove the collection for you.