Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a transformation engine which can be used to convert an existing institutional repository installation into a Linked Open Data repository. Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe how the data that exist in a DSpace repository can be semantically annotated to serve as a Semantic Web (meta)data repository. Findings – The authors present a non-intrusive, standards-compliant approach that can run alongside with current practices, while incorporating state-of-the art methodologies. Originality/value – Also, they propose a set of mappings between domain vocabularies that can be (re)used towards this goal, thus offering an approach that covers both the technical and semantic aspects of the procedure.