Samvera Community Newsletter, July 2026
Heather Greer Klein
In this issue:
June Community Sprint Wrap-up and Poll for Future Sprints
Seeking Volunteers to Lead a Community GitHub Issue Workshop, and Ideas for Future Workshops
Samvera Metadata Interest Group Meeting Time Poll
Hyrax Interest Group monthly call begins 30 minutes earlier starting July 8th, 8AM PT/11AM ET
Upcoming AI Solutions Showcase #9 - California State University & The University of Vienna
In case you missed it: other news from the Samvera Community email list
1 – June Community Sprint Wrap-up and Poll for Future Sprints
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Community Sprint last week!
Patrick Burden, West Virginia University
Eleni Castro, Amigos Library Services
Sarah Cogley, University at Buffalo
Chris Colvard, Indiana University
Julie Hardesty, Indiana University
Nick Homenda, Tufts University
Rebekah Kati, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Tracy McCormick, West Virginia University
Morgan McKeehan, Oregon State University
Daniel Pierce, Indiana University
Dolsy Smith, George Washington University
The sprint participants made progress on several items from the sprint board and completed or moved to review a number of complex documentation issues.
Just a small sample of the community benefits from the efforts of the sprint participants:
Content submission guides documentation for Hyku with step-by-step submission tutorials for different work types
A feature comparison guide for Hyrax versions as well as Hyrax vs Hyku and Avalon
A nearly complete draft of documentation explaining Hyrax 5 Metadata Architecture (with Fedora 6+)
Documentation of Hyrax Viewer Technologies comparing information on the Universal Viewer, PDF.js and Ramp (this is nearly complete and still being reviewed by volunteer reviewers in the sprint)
A variety of bugs and small accessibility issues from Hyrax and Hyku, and progress on RAMP-related issues for Hyrax
The group decided on a few changes to improve the next sprint:
A 1-question poll to select at least 2 additional sprint dates for 2026 - please respond to help select the dates that work best for the most participants!
Two optional times for check in every day (noon ET and noon PT), except for Wednesday. The group liked leaving Wednesday to Slack check-in only.
Exploring how to re-introduce small team work for specific tasks, and paired programming for novice and experienced community developers.
Thanks again to our sprint participants!
2 – Seeking Volunteers to Lead a Community GitHub Issue Workshop
Based on a community sprint participant discussion, the Samvera Community Manager is looking for volunteers to help lead a workshop this fall. Right now it is conceived as a one hour workshop that would walk non-developers through how GitHub is used in the community (for Hyrax and Hyku specifically), and best practices for writing different types of issues (a bug, a feature request, documentation) in a way that is most helpful to someone who would complete the work outlined in the issue.
We already have one developer volunteer but would like to find others to help shape and/or deliver the workshop. If you’d like to volunteer please email hea...@samvera.org. If you have ideas for other one hour community workshops, please email those as well!
3 – Samvera Metadata Interest Group Meeting Time Poll
Anna and I are trying to identify if the current SMIG (Samvera Metadata Interest group) time still works for everyone or if there would be a better time to regularly meet. Please fill out the following form identifying when you are free. Regardless of your regular attendance you are welcome to fill out the form. All of the times are in EST. This will not take effect until the August meeting, so the July dates are just examples. Let Anna or I know if you have questions.
SMIG monthly meeting time poll
Thank you,
Emma Beck (University of Louisville) and Annamarie Klose (Ohio State University)
4 – Hyrax Interest Group monthly call 30 min earlier beginning July 8th, 8AM PT/11AM ET
The Hyrax Interest Group call is the second Tuesday of each month, and now begins half an hour earlier, at 8:00 AM PT/11:00 AM ET, and runs for the full hour. The meetings are open to anyone and include updates, repository and local feature showcases, discussions of upcoming releases, relevant activity in the Hyku community, and more.
5 – Upcoming AI Solutions Showcase #9 - California State University & The University of Vienna
The Solutions Showcase Series is a virtual event series hosted by Lyrasis bringing together individuals and institutions from across the GLAM sector to demo practical solutions they've implemented to mitigate the negative impacts of AI bot harvesting on their systems, including repositories, websites, catalogues, and more. The next series features a presentation from a Hyrax implementer, David Walker from the California State University System.
Date: Wednesday, July 24th, 2026
Time: 12:00pm Eastern
Location: Zoom - Register here
Each session will feature a live demo and time for Q&A.
California State University - Presenter David Walker will share information about CSU's current Cloudflare implementation and discuss some of the differences they have experienced across different Cloudflare offerings.
The University of Vienna - Presenters Rastislav Hudak and Matthias Heiserer will discuss the different approaches they are currently implementing to help control their bot traffic.
6 – All Working and Interest Group calls for the month of July
See all Samvera Community calls, meetings, and events on the Samvera Public Calendar
Weekly Samvera Tech call - all are welcome to the weekly call on Wednesdays at 12PM ET/9AM PT to share local technical work, discuss any and all technical issues from all versions of software, documentation requests, and open pull requests. Add the weekly Samvera Tech call to your calendar
Repository Management Interest Group – Next meeting is Monday, July 6th at 3:00PM ET/12:00PM PT. Each month’s meeting is scheduled by a vote in the #repository-management channel on Slack.
Hyrax Interest Group - next meeting is Wednesday, July 8th at 11:00AM ET/8:30AM PT – Add the Hyrax Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Outreach & Engagement Working Group - next meeting is Wednesday, July 15th at 12PM ET/9AM PT – Add the Outreach & Engagement Working Group meetings to your calendar
Avalon User Roundtable - next meeting is Monday, July 20th at 1PM ET/10AM PT – Add the Avalon User Roundtable meetings to your calendar
Documentation Interest Group - next meeting is Tuesday, July 21st at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT – Add the Documentation Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Samvera AI Working Group - the next meeting is Wednesday, July 22nd at 11:30AM ET/8:30 AM PT – Add the AI Working Group meetings to your calendar
Samvera Metadata Interest Group - the next meeting is Tuesday, July 28th at 2PM ET/11AM PT – Add the Metadata Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Hyku Interest Group - the next meeting is Thursday, July 30th at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT; the May meeting is May 28th – Add the Hyku Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Monthly Samvera Partners call - all staff of Samvera Partner institutions, or those interested in becoming Partners, are welcome to join the monthly call for discussion, demos, updates, and information about Samvera governance. Add the monthly Partner call to your calendar
Chat with Heather Greer Klein, the Samvera Community Manager, by scheduling time during Community Manager Office Hours