OR2013 Hydra for Managers

Owned by Bill Branan
Jun 16, 2017
2 min read

Following a brief clarification on the need for Hydra information tailored for current and prospective managers, we received the following calls for information. The format is a synthesis of the information Karen and I received but then organized for a wider Hydra partner discussion.


  1. Management Issues
    1. Framing the problem – Chris A indicates this is needed in order to show how Hydra can address needs.
    2. In addition to information for managers, different types of product owners, service providers, subject matter experts are in need information and they could be enrolled to contribute. - Claire Stewart
    3. We need something that describes how Hydra meets needs of core services for Libraries and how that complements core services of IT departments.
    4. What kind of resources & skills do we need?
    5. We want it all, how do we get started?
    6. How does Hydra facilitate the use of Fedora? Institutions have experience of Fedora being hard and resource intensive – how does Hydra address that?
    7. What is the balance of investment vs. return?
    8. How does this impact risk?
    9. What is the value proposition vs. Dspace or Islandora? What does it offer that is distinct from the others?
  2. Technology
    1. Hydra Core Documentation
      1. What do you get out of the box?
      2. What are the components and what purpose do they serve?
      3. How well does it inter operate or integrate with other systems and databases?
    2. Matrix of Heads
      1. Core Focus
      2. Basic functionality
      3. How they complement or interrelate with other heads
      4. What skills are needed to deploy?
      5. How much time is needed to configure & deploy?
      6. Minimum hardware requirements
      7. How/Where to start?
      8. "How do I leverage the best code of all the code?"
    3. Matrix of Gems
      1. Purpose
      2. Basic Functionality
      3. Example/Source Heads
  3. Dspace
    1. Some interest expressed in Hydra over Dspace
    2. What do we leave behind if we migrate away from Dspace
    3. Dspace has served us well but…
      1. Interested in more customizations
      2. Desire many heads with one body