ArcLight

Owned by Bill Branan
Last updated: Apr 28, 2022 by matienzo
2 min read

ArcLight is an effort to build a Blacklight-based environment to support discovery (and digital delivery) of information in archives, initiated by Stanford University Libraries.

Collaboration and Communication

To better support the relevant objectives of other institutions interested in the solutions ArcLight could provide,Ā we've been collaborating with other institutions during the ArcLight Design ProcessĀ and the ArcLight MVPĀ andĀ ArcLight Phase II work cycles. We expect that development of ArcLight will continue to involve contributions from multiple institutions. If you're interested in contributing to development or testing ArcLight, please let us know!

Email list:Ā To get updates or communicate with us about ArcLight, please join the ArcLight Google Group (arclight-community@googlegroups.com).Ā 

Slack channel: To communicate with us more informally, please join the #arclight channel on the Code4lib Slack team. If you're not on the Code4lib Slack team, you can request an invitation using this form or by contacting us via the email list.Ā 

Objectives

We began the design process with a few high-level and preliminary objectives for ArcLight:

  • Discovery of physical and digital objects (e.g., finding aids described using EAD, full text search for digital archival materials, presentation and delivery of digital materials)
  • Compatibility with Samvera and ArchivesSpace
  • Developed, enhanced, and maintained by the Samvera/Blacklight community

Process and History

Our project has been community focused from the beginning:

  • 2015-2017: a thorough user-centered design processĀ (2015-2017), with the goal ofĀ producing design documentation to guide development
  • April 10-June 2, 2017: development of a minimum viable product (ArcLight MVP) on which to base further development, between Stanford and University of Michigan. See demo videos from this work cycle.
  • August 13-October 11, 2019: continued community-focused development, between Stanford, Duke, Michigan, Indiana, and Princeton

ArcLight in Production

Several institutions now have ArcLight in production: