DRS User Guide/Grouper
Access and Rights Management - This guide is in progress
Restricting DRS Materials
When DRS users create collections or deposit material in the DRS they have the option of making the collection or file public or restricting access to only certain users and dictating who can discover, view, or download (in the case of files). Most files and collections are “public” and are therefore discoverable through searching and browsing, and files can be viewed any downloaded by anyone. Some DRS collections and files are “private” and are viewable only by the individual who created the collection or uploaded the file to the DRS. Others are “private”, but specific people and groups have been granted access to discover, view, and download.
Public vs. Private
Public collections and files:
- can be found in DRS search and browse sessions
- will be indexed by Google
- can be shared with anyone
Private collections and files:
- will not be indexed by Google
- users who are authorized to view and download the files must sign in to the DRS before accessing the file
Read vs. Edit Permissions
The DRS maintains two different access states, read and edit.
Users who have Read access for a community, collection, or file can:
- find a file through keyword searches
- find a file through by browsing
- view the full metadata for a file
- download the file
Users who have Edit access can:
- find a file through keyword searches
- find a file through by browsing
- view the full metadata for a file
- download the file
- edit the file's metadata
Managing Private Files Using Groups
The Northeastern University community changes regularly as new members join and leave, which requires the DRS to be as flexible as possible when managing access rights. To accommodate our fluid community, the DRS assigns read and access permissions for files to designated groups, rather than to individuals. This ensures access to files is not dependent on any one Northeastern community member, and it also minimizes the number of changes made to the file that manages access rights.
About Grouper
Grouper is a team management tool supported by Information Technology Services that allows users to easily create and manage lists of people, and the DRS uses this tool to manage groups with access to DRS collections and files. Once a group is created in Grouper it can be used in the DRS to set viewing and metadata editing privileges for collections and for files. The advantage to using Grouper to define your group is that it only needs to be managed in Grouper, and as an administrator of your group, you, not DRS staff, have control over who can access your, or your community’s, files or collections.
Accessing Grouper
To start curating groups in Grouper, visit https://neuidmsso.neu.edu/grouper and sign in with your MyNEU credentials. Although all NU staff have access to Grouper, you must be granted specific access to the DRS group. Please contact [x] for access to the DRS Grouper group.
Grouper Elements
Grouper groups are organized into folders, groups, and entities.
- Folders
- A container used to organize groups and other folders
- Groups
- A collection of entities, which are considered members of the group
- Entities
- A member of a group. Entities can be individuals and groups.
The left navigation column contains two sections, "Quick Links" and "Browse Folders". Users may use the Quick Links section to navigate directly to the groups and folders they have access to.
Users may also use the Browse Folders section to browse Northeastern's full Grouper folder and group structure. To find the DRS folder, click the "+" to the left of the "Root" folder (the primary Northeastern folder), then click the "+" to the left of the "drs" folder. This will expand the "drs" folder and display all of the available DRS folders.
The DRS folders are loosely structured according to the Northeastern University community structure, with some exceptions for DRS administrative groups and a few older, migrated groups.
| DRS | https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/ | |
| Resources | http://dsg.neu.edu/resources/drs | |
| Contact | Library-Repository-Team[@]neu.edu |