2022-08-12 Partner Call

Facilitator: @Heather Greer Klein

Note Taker: @Esmé Cowles

Attendees

• @Rosalyn Metz

• @Glen Horton

• @Esmé Cowles

• @Carolyn Caizzi

• @Heather Greer Klein

• Marijane White

• @Emily Lynema

• @Jon Dunn

• @Mike Korcynski

• @Alberto Martinez

• @Nabeela Jaffer

• @Kirsten Leonard

• @Jim Halliday

• @Rachel Lynn

• @Chris Awre

• @Robin Lindley Ruggaber

• @Karen Cariani (late, sorry)

• @Simeon Warner (last 30 mins)

Agenda & Notes

1. Any other items for the agenda? 
   
   

2. Presentation: Marijane White from Oregon Health and Science University, re-presenting from 2022 Virtual Connect “So you think you want to self-host Samvera: A how-not-to-do-it guide”

   1. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ZsKW6y99M

   2. Marijane is the Data and Research Engagement Librarian at OHSU, with a strong technology background as a semantic modeler/ontologist, content manager, tech writer, software tester/QA

   3. Implemented Hyrax with the intention of consolidating ETDs, digitized books, images, and datasets. Started with ETDs as a first step.

      1. Hired DCE to implement Hyrax for ETDs, deployed in early 2018. Migrated Bepress content and launched in January 2019.

      2. Some staff departures, and hired (then) Notch8 to upgrade the system in summer 2019.

   4. They have a system with limited scope they have little control over. Wanted a system to handle multiple types of content, and have more control.

      1. Messy and missing metadata, wanted authority control.

      2. Wanted dashboards for stats and configuration, but need to do this on the command line.

      3. Updating is a bigger challenge than expected, want smooth, frequent updates.

   5. Some limits that led to the current situation

      1. Divided attention, limited budget, hard deadline.

      2. Few options available in the market, no developers on staff (hiring freeze)

   6. Gaps in planning and understanding

      1. Didn’t have developers on staff, or plans long-term maintenance

      2. Didn’t understand how limited the implementation was

      3. Didn’t understand how facets would work, that back-end interfaces were accessible

      4. Wound up using the system for more than ETDs, expected existing staff to cover gaps

      5. Didn’t have plans for supporting additional content types, authority control, or long-term maintenance

   7. Mismatch between staff strengths and Samvera

      1. More of a go fast/go alone type, lots of workarounds, different deployment approaches

      2. Struggled to engage with community

      3. Conceptualized the repository as a catalog, expected metadata records to be the first-class (objects instead of Works)

   8. How could Samvera community help?

      1. A lot of things have happened to make the situation better today (Hyku, Bulkrax, Allinson Flex)

      2. Hyrax documentation could use a lot of love

      3. “Anything is possible” thinking is only true if you have the resources to do it yourself

   9. Questions

      1. What’s next? Did a big requirements analysis, came down to close call between Ubiquity and Tind (https://www.tind.io/)

      2. Can you share your requirements spreadsheet? Want to check with colleagues, but expect to share this.

      3. Do you think consortial approaches scale better to make open source adoption more workable? Yes, and we have some consortial systems. But a shared repository isn’t coming fast enough for us.

      4. It’s challenging to know what the requirements are at the beginning of a project, and things can get more complex as you dig into the details. Having good guidance on what’s achievable would be good, maybe a flow chart asking what resources you have and suggesting what options might work for you.
         
         

3. Partner meeting poll results, discussion about when to meet in person again

   1. Results point to better availability for Spring 2023

   2. Will consult with partners to find the best time
      
      

4. Ithaka S+R Report on Digital Preservation – opportunity for questions/discussion

   1. Heather encouraged them to encourage DuraCloud or other preservation-focused services instead of Samvera

   2. Some of the statements about e.g., finances were very sweeping generalization that don’t seem accurate in all cases

   3. Hard to make apple-to-apples comparisons between for-profit and non-profit orgs

   4. Know Ithaka reports are widely read and respected, want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to ask questions about Samvera in this area

   5. Would encourage a written response to this report, more than just this conversation or answering questions in various venues, published sources get more exposure than e.g. a blog post

   6. Digital preservation is a set of activities, most of which aren’t even related to software (e.g., funding, staffing, organizational commitment, etc.), which aren’t represented in the report. The report seems to view preservation as something a single system can just do, but we see it as a far more complex area where a multi-faceted strategy makes more sense than expecting any single system to be a silver bullet

   7. Feel like there is a general lack of knowledge about how to evaluate non-profits, which could be a good presentation topic
      
      

5. Other Updates:

   1. Heather on vacation next week August 15-19

   2. Interest Group for Conference Management and Planning Charter – coming soon

   3. Register for free for Samvera Connect Online 2022

      1. Presentation CFP extended to September 2nd

      2. Poster and lightning talk CFP open through September 30th

   4. Hyrax-Valkyrization Community Sprint September 6th - 16th

      1. Please consider helping to staff this effort. Issues and testing are being organized by Julie, Daniel, and a volunteer from SoftServ. Testing and dev roles.
         
         

Anything for the Samvera Board? (Standing item)

Date of next call: September 9th, Repository demo from University of Hull

Notetaker for September call: