Bridget Almas
Director of Operations, Community Supported Technologies
Lyrasis
Maggie Hughes
Chair, ArchivesSpace
Manager of Special Collections Processing & Cataloging, Getty Research Institute
Scott Hanrath
Steering Group Member, DSpace
Associate Dean, Research Engagement, University of Kansas
Scott Prater
Chair, Fedora
Digital Library Architect, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Brian Lowe
Chair, VIVO
Software developer/owner, Ontocale, LLC
There is always tension between an ideal and the reality on the ground. The ideal of a community and an organization working in partnership to ensure the sustainability of open source software was the impetus for the Lyrasis Organizational Home for Community Supported Technologies. Through the Organizational Home, Lyrasis serves as a fiscal agent and sponsor for open technologies for digital cultural heritage and scholarship. After more than ten years, the Organizational Home has evolved to include five very different community-supported programs: ArchivesSpace, CollectionSpace, DSpace, Fedora, and VIVO. In 2024, an analysis was conducted to assess the model’s effectiveness and identify changes needed to sustain its mission as a program partner, while ensuring the sustainability of these programs and itself. This effort was undertaken in collaboration with the staff and governance of the five programs and with the intention of full transparency into the process. The project briefing will present a review of the process, including its findings and outcomes, with the Director of Community Supported Technologies at Lyrasis and the Organizational Home program chair. The panel will explore whether Lyrasis met its goals (from the perspective of Lyrasis as well as from the programs) and what lessons might be shared and applied about the challenges and hopes for an open and sustainable technical infrastructure for scholarship and cultural heritage.
