Samvera Community Newsletter October 2025: Samvera Connect Online, Free Workshops, 2026 Events Poll

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Heather Greer Klein

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:18:04 PM (6 days ago) Oct 7
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In this issue:

  1. Samvera Connect is Free and Online October 28th - 30th! Register today

  2. Share your repository or give a lightning talk at Samvera Connect Online

  3. Free Workshops in October: Samvera 101, Flexible Metadata in Hyku, Allinson Flex in Hyrax

  4. Nominations are open for the Samvera Board Election

  5. Samvera Community In Person Events Poll: Help us plan for 2026

  6. Working and Interest Group meetings for the month of October

  7. In case you missed it: other news from the Samvera Community email list

1 – Samvera Connect 2025 is now a free, online conference, October 28th - 30th

While we had planned to gather in Mexico City, budget cuts and travel restrictions have made it impossible for most of our community members to attend in person. So we're shifting to an online format and inviting everyone to join in.


We have a full schedule of excellent presenters ready to go, AND lots of slots are open for anyone in the community to share repository showcases, lightning talks, and working or interest group updates.


I invite everyone in the community to help us make the most of this event:


  • Register to attend Samvera Connect 2025, October 28th - 30th, at no cost;

  • Register for one of three workshops (space is limited!);

  • Participate in the event by sharing a 7-minute Repository Showcase or Lightning Talk to highlight your work, whether it is a project update, a new initiative, or a challenge you are navigating. You have the option of a live or pre-recorded presentation.


The conference will run for three hours each day in Zoom meeting format for maximum participation. 


We hope you can join us for this year’s reimagined Samvera Connect!


2 – Share your repository or give a lightning talk at Samvera Connect Online

You have an opportunity to participate in Connect Online this month by signing up for a 7-minute Repository Showcase or Lightning Talk.

  

A repository showcase or lightning talk is a great way to preview your work-in-progress, demo your repository, or share an idea or challenge. The whole community benefits from seeing examples of the repositories, collections, exhibits, processes, code experiments, and all the other work we do around digital repositories.


3 – Free Workshops in October: Samvera 101, Flexible Metadata in Hyku, Allinson Flex in Hyrax

Flexible Metadata in Hyku

with Nic Don Stanton-Roark, PALNI, Hyku Product Owner

Date: Monday, October 27th, 2025     Length: 90 minutes     

Time: 9 AM PDT/12 PM EDT/4 PM GMT

This workshop will introduce participants to Flexible Metadata in Hyku, including the creation of schema contexts, editing metadata profiles, and updating works based on new metadata fields. Whether you're managing an institutional repository or a cultural heritage tenant, this session will help you tailor your metadata to fit your content.


All Things Allinson Flex: A Technical Deep Dive Into Flexible Metadata in Hyrax

with Randall Floyd, Indiana University, Hyrax Tech Lead

Date: Friday, October 31st, 2025 Length: 90 minutes 

Time: 9 AM PDT/12 PM EDT/4 PM GMT

Hyrax is a Ruby on Rails Engine that provides a foundation for creating digital repository applications. There has been growing interest in the Samvera community for Hyrax to allow customization of metadata without developer involvement, which led to the development of Allinson Flex, an optional component that offers configuration-driven "flexible metadata."


Though Allinson Flex was designed to minimize direct developer involvement to accommodate differing requirements for metadata, it does present a technical layer on top of Hyrax that a developer needs to be able to navigate to effectively support the use of it.


This workshop will focus on technical concepts and implementation details from a developer’s or application administrator’s perspective. Using a simple Hyrax application, we will take a hands-on approach to explore the various effects of having Allinson Flex running, such as:


  • Peeking at code to see how things get mixed itself into models

  • Observing behavior of metadata properties in the console

  • Manipulating profile versions and thinking about migration scenarios

  • Working through common problems or misunderstandings that users may encounter


Samvera 101: Technology and Community

with Heather Greer Klein, Samvera Community Manager

Date: Friday, October 24th, 2025 Length: 90 minutes 

Start Time: 9AM PDT/12PM EDT/4PM GMT

Get a full overview of what Samvera means: the community, supported technologies, how development work happens, and how you can contribute to the community without ever writing a line of code. Learn how work gets done collaboratively, and meet others who are new to the community.


This session is designed for repository managers, librarians, and others who are potentially interested in using Samvera solutions or who are currently involved in the Samvera Community at any level and would like to ask questions or get a refresher on how the Samvera Community collaborates.

4 – Nominations are open for the Samvera Board Election


It's time to nominate candidates for the annual Samvera Board election!


Every year, the nine-person Samvera Board has three seats up for election. Board members in those seats can choose to run for re-election, or to step down. 


Newly elected members start in January and serve a three year term. This year, one existing Board member will run for a second term, and two are stepping away. 


We also have three Board members who need to step down from their seats and require elections off-cycle. This means there are two one-year term seats and a two-year term seat that will be open in this election as well. 


See the wiki for full details about the Samvera Board responsibilities, nominations, and elections.


 Anyone supported by a Samvera Partner institution or organization can run for the Samvera Board, and the Board benefits from members who represent a wide variety of roles including developers, managers, librarians, metadata specialists, executive leaders, and others. 


Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself and help make the Samvera Community the most responsive and welcoming community we can be.


5 – Samvera Community In Person Events Poll: Help us plan for 2026

For 2026, the Samvera Board is exploring the feasibility of regional meetups and/or meetups co-located with existing conferences of interest to the community. With many institutions facing travel restrictions and budget limitations, it is especially important to plan carefully for in person events. 

Please complete this short poll by November 1st and share it with any colleagues who might wish to attend a Samvera event.

6 – Working and Interest Group meetings for the month of October

See all Samvera calls, meetings, and events on the Samvera Public Calendar

7 – In case you missed it:

Heather
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Heather Greer Klein (she/her/hers)
Community Manager
Samvera Foundation
Working from Durham, NC (US Eastern Time Zone), on land traditionally cared for by the Shakori and Eno peoples. 
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