[Irtalk] Fwd: [dspace-community] NEWS: LYRASIS and DuraSpace Boards Approve “Intent to Merge”

[Hilton Gibson]

FYI.

*Hilton Gibson*
Stellenbosch University Library
*http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X
<http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X>*


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carol Minton Morris <cmmorris at duraspace.org>
Date: 27 January 2016 at 16:23
Subject: [dspace-community] NEWS: LYRASIS and DuraSpace Boards Approve
“Intent to Merge”
To: fedora-community at googlegroups.com, DSpace Community <
dspace-community at googlegroups.com>


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

January 27, 2016

Read it online: http://bit.ly/1QAuvbo
Contact: Carol Minton Morris cmmorris at duraspace.org; Meg Blum
meg.blum at lyrasis.org

*LYRASIS and DuraSpace Boards Approve “Intent to Merge” and Seek Your Input*

*January 27, 2016, Atlanta, GA* - The Boards of LYRASIS and DuraSpace, two
leading member-based non-profit organizations serving archives, libraries,
museums, as well as the broader scholarly, cultural heritage and technology
communities, have unanimously approved an “Intent to Merge”. LYRASIS, which
serves more than 4000 members and information professionals by delivering
eResources, strategic licensing, training and digital technology resources
and DuraSpace, a leader in the development and deployment of open source
technologies and services that promote durable access and discovery of
digital data, will begin next steps to determine the feasibility of a
combined organization. These next steps will include a deeper assessment of
the individual organizations and how they might partner effectively,
seeking community feedback on the proposal and a more public phase of due
diligence investigation.

The respective boards unanimously approved an “Intent to Merge”, which
means the organizations, having done a careful initial investigation, will
move into a public phase to consider an official plan and pathway for the
potential coming together, including a full analysis of member benefits.
The decision to eventually come together is not yet final. In this more
public phase of investigation, each organization seeks feedback from
members of their organizations and will investigate carefully the value of
all services, projects, membership models and organizational cultures to
ensure a smooth transition for members of both organizations. The missions
of both organizations are deeply rooted in the needs of the research,
archives, library, and museum communities and a shared mission must serve
the combined organization membership equally well.

The proposed new organization will continue to serve the LYRASIS and
DuraSpace communities by sustaining and growing their combined open source
platforms (Fedora, DSpace, VIVO, ArchivesSpace, CollectionSpace) and hosted
services (ASpace, CSpace, Islandora, DuraCloud, DSpaceDirect,
ArchivesDirect). When finalized, the combined organization will expand its
portfolio by offering new technologies and services that further their
existing work in the management and preservation of digital scholarship.
The new organization will focus on supporting current communities with no
reduction in the delivery of services offered by LYRASIS and DuraSpace,
while engaging a larger and more diverse group of stakeholders. LYRASIS
will continue to support and advance all established commitments, programs
and services as well as the commitment to strategic licensing of
eResources, products and services which will continue without interruption.

The planned, new organization would be led by an executive team consisting
of Robert Miller (Chief Executive Officer) and Debra Hanken Kurtz (Chief
Operating Officer) and operate out of existing offices in San Francisco,
California, Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas.

The organizations are now seeking the input of members and the wider
research, archives, library and museum communities. More detailed
information is expected to be released in the coming weeks and months.
Members of either organization are welcome to send comments, suggestions,
questions to synergy at duraspace.org.

“Combining the teams and technologies of LYRASIS and DuraSpace will allow
us to deliver better and more cost effective end-to-end digital solutions
and services to the communities we serve,” explained Robert Miller, CEO of
LYRASIS.

Debra Hanken Kurtz, CEO of DuraSpace, said, “By joining with LYRASIS,
DuraSpace will be able to bring our services to a wider membership
audience. We will also expand and support our services, and continue our
commitment to steward the development of community-supported software. Our
members and the archives, libraries and museums communities will all
benefit.”

“The new organization has the potential to transform the larger landscape
of libraries, archives and museums by providing multiple pathways for them
to connect, collaborate and participate at a local, national and
international level. If this merger is finalized, LYRASIS will be able to
offer value to members that goes far beyond fairly priced e-resources. The
merger will create a robust offering of technical solutions, enriched
training and the creation of a unified platform that can meet its members’
diverse needs. says Kathlin Ray, Dean of Libraries and Teaching & Learning
Technologies at the University of Nevada, Reno and Chair of the LYRASIS
Board of Trustees.

Paul Courant, former Provost and former Dean of Libraries at the University
of Michigan, who is Chair of the DuraSpace Board, added that the combined
organization "have the opportunity to provide a full suite of services that
will serve as a foundational platform for digital scholarship to manage
research and cultural heritage materials for a broad range of institutions.
We have the opportunity to become the home for community source software,
providing cost effective solutions for research institutions, libraries,
museums, archives, and cultural heritage organizations to ensure that their
collections are preserved and accessible for future generations."

Key points regarding the LYRASIS and DuraSpace “Intent to Merge”

• The DuraSpace and LYRASIS boards have voted and approved an intent to
merge.
• Coming together will unite each organization’s open-source technology
programs under one roof, along with Licensing and Partnerships, training
and membership services.
• The organizations have not yet come together, and are moving into a more
public phase of investigation at this time.
• The DuraSpace and LYRASIS boards have conducted some due diligence, and
more will follow in the coming months to determine final feasibility of a
coming together.
• DuraSpace is home to community supported software (CSS) programs DSpace
<http://dspace.org/>, Fedora <http://fedorarepository.org/> and VIVO
<http://vivoweb.org/> and the hosted services ArchivesDirect
<http://archivesdirect.org/>, DSpaceDirect <http://dspacedirect.org/>,
DuraCloud <http://duracloud.org/> and DuraCloud Vault
<http://duracloudvault.org/>.
• LYRASIS is the organizational home for CSS services ArchivesSpace
<http://archivesspace.org/> and CollectionSpace
<http://www.collectionspace.org/>, and offers digital hosted services for
ArchivesSpace, CollectionSpace and Islandora <http://islandora.ca/>.
• Bringing the organizations together will mean 5 CSS programs and 7 hosted
services under one roof, with no changes to the delivery of other services
currently offered by each organization.
• Next steps will be determined by the respective boards and we will share
any new information as it arises.
• No services currently offered by each respective organization will be
interrupted.
• Robert Miller will be CEO of the proposed joined organization, and Debra
Hanken Kurtz, currently CEO of DuraSpace, will become the COO of the new
organization.

*Key Benefits of a Combined LYRASIS and DuraSpace Organization*

• Operating as a single entity, LYRASIS and DuraSpace can pool their
resources and provide expertise to a broad array of problems the community
is tackling.
• Together they have strong technical expertise to solve the problems,
robust processes and systems in place to deliver customer and community
solutions–a full suite of services that could serve as the foundational
platform for digital scholarship for a broad range of institutions managing
scientific and cultural heritage materials.
• LYRASIS and DuraSpace represent strong adjacencies for each other’s core
missions, communities of service and suite of products/services.
• Coming together will represent an opportunity to deliver end-to-end
services for core members.
• A combined LYRASIS and DuraSpace organization will pursue a broad
mission, including the continued development of open technologies and
services.
• The organization will also reach out to new communities who manage,
preserve, and provide access to digital content.
• The new unified organization will provide significant economies of scale,
synergies in developing open technologies and services, and a strong
position for long-term sustainability.

*About LYRASIS*

LYRASIS (http://www.lyrasis.org), a non-profit membership organization,
partners with member libraries, archives and museums to create, access and
manage information with an emphasis on digital content, while building and
sustaining collaboration, enhancing operations and technology, and
increasing buying power.

*About DuraSpace*

The DuraSpace (http://duraspace.org) organization is an independent
501(c)(3) not-for-profit providing leadership and innovation for open
technologies that promote durable, persistent access and discovery of
digital data. More than 1800 institutions use and help develop DSpace,
Fedora and VIVO open source software in partnership with DuraSpace.

Our values are expressed in our organizational byline, "Committed to our
digital future."

*To Submit Feedback:*

We need your input! For more information or to share your thoughts on the
proposed merger, please contact synergy at duraspace.org

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