Evan Williamson
Head, Digital Scholarship and Open Strategies | Co-Director, Center for Digital Inquiry & Learning
University of Idaho
Librarians at the University of Idaho created CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for building digital collections, and have developed it over seven years in collaboration with a growing community of adopters, including Iowa State University. Unlike proprietary and large-scale open source platforms that abstract away technical decisions or require more resources than most libraries can sustain, CollectionBuilder takes a minimal computing approach that keeps infrastructure small and limits dependencies. In practice, its use requires direct engagement with structured data and web development workflows—intentionally trading out-of-the-box simplicity for investment in staff’s fundamental technical skills that transfer across projects and platforms. This approach has yielded nearly $500,000 in grant funding, full institutional adoption at both universities, and hundreds of implementations worldwide. More importantly, it has fostered a culture of technical self-sufficiency: staff trained through CollectionBuilder now contribute to data services, digital scholarship, and AI workflows without dependence on product roadmaps—a growing strategic advantage as libraries face pressure from consolidating vendors, shrinking budgets, and rapidly shifting technology landscapes. This lightning talk highlights practical approaches for libraries to make strategic infrastructure decisions that prioritize building organizational capacity over purchasing vendor solutions.
