Community and Collection Admin Roles

Understanding Community and Collection Admin Roles in DSpace 8

In DSpace 8, roles are designed to distribute responsibility while maintaining proper control over content. Two important roles in this system are Community Administrator and Collection Administrator. Here's what each role can (and can’t) do — explained simply.

Community Administrator

The Community Admin helps manage a section of the DSpace repository — known as a community. This could be something like a faculty, department, or research unit.

Here’s what a Community Admin can do:

Create sub-communities within their community — for example, adding a department under a faculty.
Create and manage collections that live within their community.
Update community details like names, descriptions, and even upload a logo.
Assign roles within their community — they can choose who manages sub-communities or collections.
Oversee and review submissions* made to any collections under their control.

However, there are some limits:

They can’t create user accounts (E-People) — only Site Admins can do that.
They don’t have access to global settings or system-level configurations — that’s also reserved for the Site Admin.

Collection Administrator

The Collection Admin is in charge of a specific collection, such as a group of student theses or a journal's published articles.

Here’s what a Collection Admin can do:

Edit collection details — including the title, description, and licensing terms.
Manage the submission workflow — they can assign Submitters, Reviewers, Editors, or Final Editors.
Approve or reject submissions during the workflow process.
Edit items in the collection after they’re submitted.
Control access settings — deciding who can view the collection or individual items.

But they’re also limited in scope:

They can’t create new collections — only Community Admins can do that.
They can’t create or manage user accounts either.

Quick Comparison Table

What They Can Do	Community Admin	Collection Admin
Create sub-communities	Yes	No
Create collections	Yes	No
Assign and manage workflow roles	Yes	Yes
Moderate or review submissions	Yes	Yes
Edit metadata and descriptions	Yes	Yes
Assign admins for sub-sections	Yes	No
Create user accounts (E-People)	No	No
Access global site configuration	No	No