Getting Started with MacSphere

Who's Using MacSphere?

Who's Using MacSphere?

MacSphere's content is organized by communities and collections highlighting departments, faculties, institutes and events associated with McMaster University. There are currently over 16,500 materials available through MacSphere.

  • Statistical information can be viewed for individual materials at the bottom of each record.

Contribute to MacSphere

Contribute to MacSphere

To contribute to McMaster's Institutional Repository, please sign on to MacSphere with your MAC ID. Click "Start a New Submission" and select the collection in which you would like to make your submission. If you do not see the appropriate collection, or if you have any other questions about the submission process, please contact the Office of Scholarly Communication.

Students wishing to deposit their PhD or Masters thesis, please follow the instructions outlined by the School of Graduate Studies.

What is MacSphere?

What is MacSphere?

MacSphere is McMaster University’s Institutional Repository (IR). The purpose of an IR is to bring together all of a University's research under one umbrella, with an aim to preserve and provide access to that research. The research and scholarly output included in MacSphere has been selected and deposited by the individual university departments and centres on campus.

What can I find in MacSphere?

Through MacSphere you can find articles, conference proceedings, theses & dissertations, archival materials and much more. MacSphere is a portal to interdisciplinary research at McMaster.

How is MacSphere connected to McMaster Library?

MacSphere is a service provided by McMaster Library and the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship and is an important initiative in the "Research Acceleration" strategic direction of the Library's Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

What software does MacSphere use?

MacSphere uses a software called DSpace which "enables easy and open access to all types of digital content (About DSpace)." To learn more about MacSphere and DSpace visit the help page.

How can I add my work to MacSphere?

To contribute to McMaster's Institutional Repository, please sign on to MacSphere with your MAC ID. Click "Start a New Submission" and select the collection in which you would like to make your submission. If you do not see the appropriate collection, or if you have any other questions about the submission process, please contact the Office of Scholarly Communication.

Students wishing to deposit their PhD or Masters thesis, please follow the instructions outlined by the School of Graduate Studies.

Related Links

Deposit in MacSphere

Access MacSphere

Related Links

MacSphere

Related Links

Online Repositories Explained

Why Use MacSphere?

Why Use MacSphere?

Making submissions to MacSphere is quick, easy and accessible by using your MAC ID . Benefits of using MacSphere include making research:

Visible

Content in MacSphere is indexed in search engines such as Google and Google Scholar which exposes McMaster research to a worldwide audience.

  • Global reach and search engine accessibility may transfer to higher impact or citation rates for authors.

MacSphere complies with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications and with Open Archives Initiatives (OAI) standards.

  • Enchances the searchability and visibility of materials freely available online.

Permanent

MacSphere aims to provide long-term preservation of, and accessibility to, institutional materials and publications.

  • Automatically generates a persistent identifier or "handle" that will migrate to new systems or hardware allowing for the materials to be cited with confidence.