Samvera Community Newsletter February 2026
Heather Greer Klein
In this issue:
Special Interest Group Topics in February
Welcome Rob Kaufman, Hyrax and Hyku Technology Coordinator for 2026
Call for your 2025 community stories
Getting Help: Office Hours in the Samvera Community
All Upcoming Working and Interest Group calls in February
In case you missed it: other news from the Samvera Community email list
1 – Special Interest Group Call Topics in February
Everyone is welcome to attend Samvera Community Interest Group monthly calls. Here are some special topics on the agenda for February:
Hyrax Interest Group - next meeting is Wednesday, February 11th at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT
A call for all implementers to share local implementation updates; upcoming fundraising for Bulkrax CSV validation and UI improvements.
Documentation Interest Group - next meeting is Tuesday, February 17th at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT
Prioritizing documentation tasks for the next community sprint.
Outreach & Engagement Working Group - next meeting is Wednesday, February 18th at 12PM ET/9AM PT
Improvements for demo environments; samvera website; sharing community stories.
Samvera Metadata Interest Group - the next meeting is Tuesday, February 24th at 2PM ET/11AM PT
A call focused on accessibility, with overviews from institutions on digital collections/accessibility/AI work.
Hyku Interest Group - the next meeting is Thursday, February 26th at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT
Shaping the future of hyku survey; release notes for repository administrators; fundraising for Bulkrax improvements.
reviewing a recommendation for a vote to move forward with a new Samvera Community fiscal sponsor.
The Samvera Board invites any current interested institution to become a Samvera Partner! Email hea...@samvera.org if you’re interested in supporting our shared community infrastructure and helping to guide community strategy.
2 – Welcome Rob Kaufman, Hyrax and Hyku Technology Coordinator for 2026
We’re excited to welcome Rob to the new role of Technical Coordinator for the Hyrax and Hyku platforms! This role combines the previous volunteer roles of Hyrax Tech Lead and Hyku Tech Lead, and provides essential technical leadership and coordination at a moment when many institutions are facing funding constraints and reliance on Hyrax and Hyku infrastructure continues to grow.
Read on for full details about the priorities of this contracted shared staffing role and how those priorities will provide immediate value to Hyku and Hyrax implementer institutions.
About Rob
Rob brings more than 22 years of development experience and a proven leadership track record. He is the former head of Notch8 and prior to this role served as the Hyku Technical Lead. His deep knowledge of Samvera’s ecosystem, combined with long-standing relationships across the community, uniquely positions him to help us strengthen technical continuity today while building sustainable processes for the future.
What Technical Coordination Will Do for Hyku and Hyrax
Hyrax and Hyku are critical infrastructure for many institutions. They support repositories, preservation, access, and discovery services that our organizations depend on every day. At the same time, institutional funding cuts have reduced the capacity of individual teams to carry coordination, maintenance, and strategic alignment on their own.
The Technical Coordinator role is contracted for 20 hours per month and designed to multiply community capacity by providing high-impact coordination, shared visibility, and continuity across projects so that no single institution has to carry this work alone.
Technical Coordinator Priorities & their Value to Hyrax and Hyku Institutions
Technical Triage & Support - 6 hours/month
Bi-weekly "office hours" for technical questions from current and potential implementers
Rapid routing of community technical questions to knowledgeable community members
Maintained knowledge base of common issues and solutions
Direct technical communication channel for developers
Value to institutions: Your teams get expert guidance without hiring additional staff. Questions are answered more quickly, reducing blockers during implementation and upgrades.
Maintenance Coordination - 5 hours/month
Documented, sustainable maintenance schedule across projects based on shared dependencies
Identification of efficient cross-project maintenance opportunities
Tracking of critical security updates and dependency vulnerabilities
Coordination of volunteer efforts for high-priority maintenance tasks
Review and completion support for maintenance work
Value to institutions: Proactive coordination helps prevent crisis situations. Shared planning reduces duplicated effort and makes better use of limited developer time across institutions.
Community Process & Communication - 4 hours/month
Active participation in weekly tech calls as the connecting voice between projects
Streamlined GitHub processes with reduced developer confusion
Clear communication channels between Hyrax and Hyku development efforts
Documented and improved contribution workflows to lower barriers
Identification and resolution of community process gaps
Value to institutions: Developers spend less time navigating processes and more time doing productive work. New contributors and staff onboard faster and more confidently.
Strategic Planning & Alignment - 3 hours/month
Quarterly roadmap alignment sessions between Hyrax and Hyku
Brief quarterly technical status updates for stakeholder communication
Tightly aligned technical roadmap across projects
Documented single points of failure in community expertise
Prioritized community developer time allocation
Strategic direction for Hyku community developer work, including mentorship and pairing
Value to institutions: You gain clearer insight into where the community is headed and how to align your local roadmap with shared priorities.
Documentation & Reporting - 2 hours/month
Living technical health dashboard for both projects
Annual comprehensive technical report (achievements, challenges, priorities)
Updated critical technical documentation based on community feedback
Value to institutions: Improved visibility into project health supports long-term planning and helps justify continued institutional investment.
What This Role Cannot Do (Given Current Constraints)
This role is scoped at 20 hours per month, and it does not include:
Extensive hands-on development work
Comprehensive documentation or training creation
Detailed accessibility testing
Ongoing community website maintenance beyond critical fixes
Large-scale mentorship programs
These are all areas where the community could grow as funding for this support grows. The current focus is on high-impact coordination work that multiplies the effectiveness of community contributions.
Funding Shared Staffing for our Shared Responsibilities
This role exists because the Samvera Community recognizes that shared infrastructure requires shared staffing.
To sustain this position beyond 2026 and to further expand it to incorporate priorities like training and documentation, everyone who relies on Hyrax and Hyku for critical infrastructure must contribute what they can to Samvera. No single institution can carry this work alone. Shared funding enables shared leadership, reduces burnout, and protects the long-term health of the software we all depend on.
Supporting Samvera is not just an investment in code but in people, coordination, and continuity. We’ll have more information available in the coming weeks about how to support Samvera through annual financial contribution or by becoming a Samvera Partner.
We are grateful to Rob for stepping into this role. Please join us in welcoming Rob as Samvera’s Technical Coordinator, and in committing together to the shared responsibility that makes this work possible.
3– Call for your 2025 Community Stories
The Outreach & Engagement Group wants to collect and share your community stories from 2025. We want to show people outside Samvera what actually happens here, remind ourselves why this community works, and recognize the folks who've helped us out along the way.
We're not looking for polished marketing copy. We want real moments! Someone helped you debug a problem, you learned something from a conversation, you contributed something you're proud of, and so forth.
Short submission guidelines:
Be specific (names, situations, what actually happened)
Keep it brief (150-300 words is plenty)
Get permission if you're naming someone
Post it yourself on LinkedIn/Bluesky/your blog, post it in the #outreach-engagement Slack channel, or send it to hea...@samvera.org and we'll help amplify
If you've got a story but aren't sure if it fits, just share it. We'll figure it out :)
4 – Getting Help: Office Hours in the Samvera Community
There are lots of open office hours in the Samvera Community this year! Save this list and join us for any of the following regular office hours.
Anyone is welcome to join any of the following office hours, whether you join every once in a while or regularly.
Weekly tech call with community developers and the Technical Coordinator
Anyone is welcome to join the weekly tech call, Wednesdays at 12pm ET / 9am PT. This call is an opportunity to discuss ongoing development work, check on community pull requests, follow up on questions from the Slack channel, and for developers or anyone else to connect with our Hyrax/Hyku Technical Coordinator Rob Kaufman, and to discuss challenges or get connected with others who are currently active in community development across Samvera Community platforms.
Notch8 x Samvera Office Hours - talk to developers about Hyku or Hyrax
The Notch8 development team open a huddle in the #hyku channel in the Samvera Slack workplace every Wednesday at 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET. You’re welcome to drop in to observe and hang out, or bring Hyku or Hyrax-related questions and the team will do their best to help find solutions. Use this form if you need to join the Samvera Slack workspace.
Samvera Community Orientation/Community Manager Office Hours Tuesdays and Thursdays or on your schedule
Join the Samvera Community Manager to ask questions, get oriented to the Samvera Community, learn how to connect with other Hyku, Hyrax, or Avalon Media System users.
If you aren't sure where to get started with Samvera, start here.
Join the Zoom meeting most Tuesdays at 10am ET / 3pm GMT, or Thursdays at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Or, schedule a time that works best for you.
Community orientation and how to get started participating in the community
To share or request feedback or ideas
To get more information about Samvera or Samvera platforms and tools
To find others in the community with similar implementations
To learn more about Samvera Partnership
Heather will be happy to answer questions or point you in the right direction for help with anything related to the Samvera Community or platforms.
Hyku Product Owner Office Hours
Join Nic Don every first and third Friday starting February 20th, 12:00–12:45pm ET / 9:00–9:45am PT, for open conversation about Hyku. Bring your questions, ideas, and anything on your mind. Join in to stay connected and help shape what’s next for Hyku.
5 – All Working and Interest Group calls for the month of January
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
Hyrax Interest Group - next meeting is Wednesday, February 11th at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT – Add the Hyrax Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Avalon User Roundtable - next meeting is Monday, February 16th at 1PM ET/10AM PT – Add the Avalon User Roundtable meetings to your calendar
Documentation Interest Group - next meeting is Tuesday, February 17th at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT – Add the Documentation Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Outreach & Engagement Working Group - next meeting is Wednesday, February 18th at 12PM ET/9AM PT – Add the Outreach & Engagement Working Group meetings to your calendar
Samvera Metadata Interest Group - the next meeting is Tuesday, February 24th at 2PM ET/11AM PT – Add the Metadata Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Hyku Interest Group - the next meeting is Thursday, February 26th at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT – Add the Hyku Interest Group meetings to your calendar
Repository Management Interest Group each month’s meeting is scheduled by a vote in the #repository-management channel on Slack.
Monthly Samvera Partners call - all staff of Samvera Partner institutions 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
6 – In case you missed it: other news from the Samvera Community email list
DLF Open Source Capacity Resources Group Inaugural Meeting
IIIF Travel Scholarship: Application open through February 24th