PALNI and PALCI awarded IMLS grant to enhance and sustain Hyku open-source community

INDIANAPOLIS and DREXEL HILL, Pa.—The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI) and the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a $248,600 grant for Sustaining the Hyku Repository Platform: Addressing Hyku’s Unique Community Coordination and Collaboration Challenges. 

The two-year grant is one of 85 given by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support libraries and archival services across the country and was made through the National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. It aims to strengthen collaborative efforts to ensure Hyku remains a viable, efficient, and sustainable solution for managing and preserving digital content across a diverse range of institutions.

"Open-source infrastructure software like Hyku allows libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions to create customized solutions while enabling them to collaborate on managing these services more effectively and cost-efficiently," says Kirsten Leonard, PALNI Executive Director. "This project aims to support a community organizational structure that enhances software development efficiency while allowing each project to prioritize its specific needs."

Partners in digital repository development

Hyku, a multi-tenant repository software within the Samvera open-source community, provides a cost-effective and user-friendly platform for institutions to manage, preserve, and provide access to digital collections, including academic papers and archival materials. Since 2018, PALCI and PALNI have played a significant role in Hyku’s development, supported by two previous IMLS grants under their Hyku for Consortia initiative.

With this newly awarded grant, PALCI and PALNI will enhance Hyku’s community stewardship overall, leveraging the expertise, resources, and investments of diverse Samvera community members—including both large and small Hyku implementers and users, Hyrax users, and service providers like Software Services by Scientist.com (SoftServ). 

Affordable, open-source solutions that scale

Hyku offers a customizable, open-source alternative that meets the specific needs of diverse institutions, providing much-needed relief from budget constraints many libraries face. This initiative will benefit a wide range of organizations by making Hyku a more reliable and efficient tool for managing digital content. In addition to fostering collaboration among Hyku’s user community, the project will ensure that development efforts align with the needs of all users.

“This grant is a significant step forward in ensuring Hyku remains a sustainable and accessible option for libraries of all sizes and budgets,” says Jill Morris, PALCI Executive Director. “We are stewarding limited community resources and sharing capacity and expertise across organizations to provide the high-quality digital repository services that are increasingly crucial in today’s digital landscape.”

Long-term code and community sustainability

By investing in Hyku’s development, PALCI and PALNI are helping to create a more inclusive and accessible digital infrastructure for the library community now and in the future. “As more institutions adopt Hyku,” adds Amanda Hurford, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director, “it’s essential to have a solid collaborative and governance framework for ongoing development and support. This grant will ensure libraries can continue to provide customized access to important and unique digital content through greater coordination among the various groups and developers working on Hyku.”

For more information, visit the Hyku for Consortia website at https://hykuforconsortia.palni.org. You can also visit PALNI (www.palni.org) and PALCI (www.palci.org) online.

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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.

About Scientist.com

Scientist.com’s mission is to empower and connect scientists worldwide. By transforming the way scientific research is performed, our Science as a Service® platform accelerates discoveries that cure disease, address climate change and help secure global food and energy supplies. We combine sophisticated AI technology with white-glove Research Concierge® support to enable researchers to run more innovative experiments faster and cheaper. Scientist.com acquired Notch8, a San Diego-based company offering application and software development services, in 2022. The acquisition of the company—now called Software Services (SoftServ)—enabled Scientist.com to begin offering web services—such as web and mobile application development, code audits, framework upgrades, deployment optimization and monitoring and support—to its existing global network of researchers and service providers. Visit Scientist.com for more information.