Dataverse: Guide for Researchers: Migration to Borealis

We are now live on Borealis! Our existing URL will now direct you to our Collection within Borealis, or you can use the new link: https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/manitoba

TO DO: please log in on the new space and check that your data looks as you expect

When you log in, if you are using a UM email account, you will be asked if you would like to convert your account to use the single sign on process. This is optional and not required, but can be handy and provides multi-factor authentication protections. A walk-through of the process is available at: https://learn.scholarsportal.info/all-guides/borealis/user-accounts/#Switching-from-a-Standard-to-an-Institutional-Account

Jan 23, 2024

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The University of Manitoba is joining Borealis: The Canadian Dataverse Repository. Borealis is a well-established national data repository service with a cohort of more than 50 participating Canadian post-secondary institutions. We will be migrating our locally hosted Dataverse and all of its data to Borealis, which is operated by the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL).  

This change will enable the University of Manitoba Library to continue to deliver essential data deposit services and support to the University of Manitoba community while realizing significant gains in the sustainability and development of commonly used infrastructure.  

We have worked hard to ensure that our Dataverse users encounter only minimal changes to key features and functions. However, the migration will result in some minor changes and a brief service outage. We will follow up with additional communications regarding these as work progresses. 

General FAQs: 

When is the UM Dataverse migration happening? 

• We plan to carry out the migration in the month of January, 2024. We will provide users with 48 hours of notice of the downtime period for UM Dataverse due to the migration.  

Do I need to do anything? 

• No, the migration itself does not require any action on the part of UM Dataverse users, and both published and unpublished datasets will be migrated to the new Borealis-hosted University of Manitoba Dataverse repository. 
• If users have unpublished datasets with DOIs attached, we will be contacting them directly. 

What are the benefits of this change? 

• Joining the Borealis Dataverse community of participating institutions brings us into a shared service environment that will enable us, as data deposit service providers, to leverage the data curation expertise of all the participating institutions. We expect this to help us develop and refine service models and answer your questions more expediently, working together with a strongly informed group of our peers from across the country in our ranks. 
• Since we will not need to worry about executing technical upgrades or any other application hosting concerns, we will be able to focus all of our attention on improving our service interactions with our Dataverse users. We will also be better positioned to note and develop emergent service trends for policy and consideration. It also helps us to contribute to the development of best practices for deposit for different kinds of data at a national level.  

What happens to the Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) associated with datasets in UM Dataverse? 

• DOIs for published datasets will be retained. The DOI will resolve to the new location of the dataset.  
• DOIs for unpublished datasets will not be retained. When the dataset is published on the new platform, it will receive a different DOI. 

What can I expect during the migration? 

• During the active phase of the migration the UM Dataverse will not be accessible for data deposits or downloads, and it will take time to complete the migration of all the user accounts and datasets to the new location. While we will strive to keep this interim period to a minimum, the migration could take up to five (5) working days. Should there be a need to extend this period, we will provide further communication.  
• Some users may receive system-generated notifications or service communications relating to specific changes resulting from the migration. 

What can I expect after the migration? 

• We will notify users when the migration is complete. 
• There will be a change to the way datasets in the general collection are organized in the new environment, and we will provide more details in our completion notice.  
• We will be ready to answer any questions about the new Dataverse environment.  

We thank you in advance for your support and patience while we work hard to complete this important migration. If at any time you should have any questions please feel free to contact Libraries Research Services and Digital Strategies and we will be more than happy to address them.