Hyku for Consortia transitions from pilot phase to full production

INDIANAPOLIS and DREXEL HILL, Pa.—The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI) and the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) are proud to announce the successful transition of Hyku for Consortia from pilot phase to full production—now serving 40 libraries across four prominent partners in the Hyku Commons: PALCI, PALNI, the Boston Library Consortium (BLC), and the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA).  

This milestone marks a significant achievement for the project, as Hyku for Consortia moves beyond initial testing to provide stable, production-level service supported by a robust, community-driven infrastructure. Additionally, collaborators recently received another round of funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to enhance and sustain the Hyku open-source community.

“The transition to production includes rigorous testing of our business model to ensure that Hyku can sustainably meet the needs of consortial libraries,” says Amanda Hurford, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director. “As we continue to refine and adjust this model, our focus remains on creating an open-source, adaptable repository platform that scales efficiently across institutions. Ongoing funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is helping fuel this process, ensuring we have the resources to both sustain and enhance Hyku for long-term success.” 

Achieving financial sustainability through collaboration

Through this transition, the partnership and applied business model have allowed the project to operate at full cost recovery, thanks to the sharing of personnel supporting the project and the fees collected for hosting and support. In practice, this means Hyku for Consortia can provide a highly affordable service by leveraging the contributions and resources of partnering organizations at scale. This innovative approach ensures financial sustainability while maintaining accessibility for participating institutions.

By the numbers

After one year in full production, Hyku for Consortia has reached several key milestones:

• 12 months in production providing live repository services for four library consortia
• 40+ active tenants across the Hyku Commons
• 25,000 items hosted in the live repository
• 100 staff support hours per month contributed by two consortial teams
• 78,000 full-time students served by participating institutions
• $668,822 in IMLS grant funding supporting development and sustainability

Getting involved

As part of the global Samvera Community, Hyku for Consortia contributes to a network of libraries, archives, and cultural institutions dedicated to open-source solutions for digital repositories. Additionally, the Hyku for Consortia Collaborative Repository Toolkit is available to guide other consortia in building and managing their own shared repository services. 

Project partners encourage interested consortia to explore the Hyku platform, consider joining the Samvera Community, and see first-hand how open, collaborative repository solutions can provide a sustainable path forward for managing digital collections.

For more information, visit the Hyku for Consortia website.

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About the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI)

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is a non-profit organization that supports collaboration for library and information services for 24 colleges, universities, and seminaries throughout the state. From its inception in 1992, the PALNI collaboration has been a key avenue for its supported institutions to contain costs while providing more effective library services. More recently, PALNI has adopted a model of deep collaboration that pools resources and people as a tool to expand services while containing costs. Simultaneously, PALNI is expanding collaboration within its institutions and with external library partners to address challenges and build cost-effective services. Visit www.palni.org for more information. 

PALNI Supported Institutions

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary | Anderson University | Bethel University | Butler University | Concordia Theological Seminary | Christian Theological Seminary | DePauw University | Earlham College | Franklin College | Goshen College | Grace College | Hanover College | Huntington University | Manchester University | Marian University | Oakland City University | University of Saint Francis | Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College | Saint Mary’s College | Saint Meinrad’s Seminary and School of Theology | Taylor University | Trine University | University of Indianapolis | Wabash College

About The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration & Innovation (PALCI)

The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization that originated in 1996 and was incorporated in 1998 as the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. Today, PALCI’s membership has grown to include more than 70 academic and research libraries in Pennsylvania and contiguous states. PALCI’s mission is to enable cost-effective and sustainable access to information resources and services. PALCI is known for its highly-regarded EZBorrow consortial interlibrary loan (ILL) service. PALCI members collaborate to serve over 800,000 students, faculty, and staff, focusing on collaborative collections programs, resource sharing services, and innovative technology projects and approaches to library services. Visit www.palci.org for more information.

About Samvera

Samvera is an Icelandic word meaning “togetherness.” The Samvera Community is a global community of technologists who create and maintain repository software; you can’t install Samvera, but you can install the repository solutions we develop together including Avalon Media System, Hyrax, and Hyku. Institutions worldwide rely on Samvera Community-supported software to provide access to their digital content. Samvera is also a community of practice where software developers and library technologists can support and learn from one another. We have active participation from metadata specialists, repository managers, user experience professionals, and others who contribute their expertise to ensure the software stays relevant and responsive to changing needs. Samvera software is free and open source, available under an Apache 2 license. It offers flexible and rich user interfaces tailored to distinct content types on top of a robust back end – giving adopters the best of both worlds. Visit www.samvera.org  for more information.