2025-09-11 Partner Call

Facilitator: @Heather Greer Klein

Note Taker: @Jon Dunn

Attendees

• @Jon Dunn

• @Jim Halliday

• @Kate Lynch

• @Former user (Deleted)

• @Chris Awre

• @Kirsten Leonard

• @Nora Zimmerman

• @Jenny Basford

• @Annamarie Klose

• @Paul Walk

• @Alicia Morris

• @Robin Lindley Ruggaber

• @Jessica McMillen

• @Nick Steinwachs

Agenda & Notes

1. Additions to the agenda?
   
   

2. Latest Updates on Samvera Connect 2025 Mexico City Samvera Connect 2025 Online Schedule & Directory

   1. We remain well below our minimum goal of 30

   2. Barring a number of intended registrants, we’ll discuss a pivot to a virtual Connect: timing, other participation options, etc.

   3. Is there anyone present who was planning to attend and has not registered? No

   4. Plan to cancel in-person conference and pivot to online Virtual Connect

   5. Reflection on state of higher education budgets, not Samvera community

      1. Attendance at regular monthly meetings of various groups has been higher than usual lately

   6. Heather working on messaging to send to registrants, partner list, community

   7. Will launch free Virtual Connect as an alternative - include most presenters as well as virtual workshops

      1. Tentative plan to start at 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT to better accommodate North America west coast

         1. Could be a problem for UK / Europe / Asia presenters

      2. Heather will talk to presenters individually

      3. Possibility for some recorded presentations

   8. Financial impact on institutions/individuals who have nonrefundable travel booked

   9. Do we have to have Virtual Connect during the original planned dates, or could we reschedule?

      1. Other conferences/meetings in November could conflict, e.g. Fedora Virtual Showcase, Blacklight, DLF

      2. Push back by one week?

      3. Heather will send out poll, first to presenters and then to wider community

      4. Want to announce dates and get registration open by sometime next week so that people can get the dates on their calendar
         
         

3. Feedback needed on 2026 Events poll

   1. Working with Board to figure out 2026 budget

   2. Had planned to alternate full Samvera Connect conference with regional meetings, so 2026 would have focused on regional meetings

   3. Poll to look at whether regional meetings or tacking on a meeting to another conference might make sense

   4. Send suggestions to Heather of other events to add

   5. Revise to address to individuals, not managers to reply on behalf of staff

   6. Add optional institution name question
      
      

4. Proposal for streamlining Community Helpers

   1. Community Helpers: Volunteers who have a special emoji in their Slack name, and short bios in a canvas in the #welcome channel listing the software they use and their interests. They would be available in the Welcome channel to welcome new Slack members and answer questions; agree to be on the lookout for questions in Slack generally and help direct people to resources; share ideas with the Community Manager for ways to make the community more vibrant, welcoming, and accessible.

      Virtual and in person Event Helpers: A call goes out after event registration for Helpers, especially for any Slack Helpers who will attend; aiming for roughly 1 Helper per 15 attendees when in person. Help with registration tables, answering questions, and helping to direct attendees to resources.

      Incident Response Team: process remains the same.

   2. Positive feedback on this approach from meeting participants
      
      

5. From the GitHub Processes Working Group: feedback on component depreciation rubric

   1. Framework to track usage of components - figure out when we need to consider deprecating/sunsetting a component based on use

      1. e.g. ActiveFedora, other older core components

   2. Kate will talk with James about getting a message out to the partners list for feedback
      
      

6. Board Elections - nominations open, election in November

   1. Three regular cycle seats, two off-cycle seats (one year and two years). All regular cycle members are eligible to run again.

   2. Please consider running or encourage colleagues to consider running!

   3. Kirsten will be Chair in 2026

   4. Will need a new Treasurer

   5. Heather happy to talk more with potential nominees about what the role involves
      
      

7. Other Updates: 

   1. Notetaker for next call (October 9): Esmé Cowles

   2. Notetaker for November 13: Paul Walk

   3. Call for AI Working Group participants

   4. Sign up to present or facilitate a topic (5 - 30 minutes) at a 2025 Partner call - see list of ideas on the page

   5. Hyrax/Hyku developer training in Pittsburgh taking place next month, led by Mark Bussey - 5 total participants

   6. Reminder: Recruiting for a Hyrax Tech Lead for 2026

      1. Daniel and Randall are cycling off at the end of 2025

      2. Board will discuss options next week

   7. Anything for the Samvera Board? (Standing item) 
      
      

Date of next call: October 9th, 2025