Deep Integration of GND with DSpace's External Sources Framework: A Case Study of Authority Data Utilization

Authority files are essential for organizing and enhancing metadata discoverability in repositories. The German National Authority File (GND), a cornerstone of metadata management in the German-speaking world and part of the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), encompasses nearly 10 million entries, including persons, corporate bodies, subject headings, conferences, works, and geographics. This presentation showcases a comprehensive integration of GND into DSpace using the External Sources Framework. The integration enables seamless searching and linking of GND content within DSpace, with a configurable submission interface allowing users to filter results by type and display enriched information, including images from Wikimedia Commons. Geolocations stored in GND are leveraged alongside GeoNames to power features like map-based search results, item views with OpenStreetMap, and a browse-by-map functionality. This extension is highly customizable, supporting flexible metadata field configurations and linking or importing entries via DSpace's authority or custom entities frameworks. Additionally, we developed external data providers for lobid.org, Wikimedia Commons, and GeoNames, with the source code planned for open release. A live demonstration will highlight the functionality, technical challenges, and design principles, inviting repository managers, librarians, and developers to explore the potential of this integration for their institutions.